09/05/2024
My history with Joshua Myers dates back 15 years.
I met him while he was working full-time at a national bank’s call center; I was a new-hire, he was a tenured representative.
We sat across the wall from each other, but I’d always pause between my calls to listen in on his. I don’t know if it was his tone of voice, his wisdom, the way he just knew how to speak to people and what to say to make them feel comfortable, but it just resonated with me.
I was new in the field and it was my first full-time job. I wanted to learn all I could, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to learn from than him. He was a professional, to say the least.
I began to know Josh on a personal level in the couple of years that followed. The sincerity that he showed over the phone shined through in real life, as well. He was one of the kindest people I’d ever met.
I got to know his story, I met his kids. When I had my first son, I brought him to the bank during my maternity leave, specifically so Josh could meet him. When I learned of Josh’s divorce back then, I was heartbroken for him. A little of the spark in his eye had dimmed.
I knew he worried about the impact it would have on his kids, and I knew he loved his wife. It’s notable that while Josh did make efforts to rekindle his marriage, he allowed his now ex-wife her space and autonomy to do what she desired; I never witnessed him go to extremes or act selfishly when it came to her.
Through all of his heartache, he just wanted what was best for her - a theme that resonates throughout his life. He wants what’s best for everyone else, even if he’s suffering.
In the years since, we’ve grown apart in physical distance but have kept in touch pretty steadily.
I’ve seen Josh explore his passions, try new things, and apply himself wholeheartedly to every endeavor he undertakes. I’ve seen him endure more heartache, and push through in spite of them.
From personal experience with heartache and imperfect relationships, I know that they take their toll after a while - it’s hard to keep going when you’ve consistently been beaten down. If I could use one word to describe Josh, it would be ‘resilient.’
Josh has loved and lost countless times in his life - whether it be in romantic, family, or platonic relationships. He’s endured pain in ways that many people wouldn’t be able to fathom. But he has loved, and continued to.
Though the spark in his eye has dimmed, the one in his heart never has.
Josh, as anyone, needs to be able to seek help for heartache that he has never fully dealt with. In making sure everyone around him stays happy while he is hurt, he has learned to push his own pain aside; ignoring it, not healing it.
Any logical human being knows that allowing things to bottle up inside us will inevitably cause us to implode.
Josh not only needs, but deserves to be granted the mercy and opportunity to seek wholeness, and mend the broken parts of himself that he has never prioritized over making sure everyone else is OK.
I’ve never known someone who loves as genuinely as he does. To support that point, all you’d need to do is ask his kids. Josh loves them more than anything and anyone in the world.
While I understand that certain indiscretions are beyond clemency in the eyes of the law, I am confident that Josh has and would never hurt anyone.
I’m not sure he has the ability to inflict any kind of pain on another human being. I humbly endorse Josh’s character and ask that you consider my words as a testament to the type of person I’ve known him to be for almost two decades.
If there is a human being on this earth deserving of a chance to make peace with himself and amends with what is broken inside of him, it’s Joshua Myers.
- Kathrine Weiler
