“Believing in yourself is important—but once in a while, you gotta have someone else see that fire your mind is envisioning… and when they do… when those two worlds collide—that’s when magic happens.”
I wrote those words from a place of scars and second chances, where hope was a flicker I fought to keep alive. My life’s been a wild ride—prison, meth, betrayal, redemption. It sounds like fiction, but I lived it. I’m still living it. They called me a failure, a criminal, a lost cause in Mitchell, South Dakota. But I’m still here, burning brighter than ever, because a few rare souls saw the fire in me when the world saw only ashes.
This isn’t just about cannabis. It’s about resurrection. It’s about being seen.
To Javier Hasse, Editor-in-Chief of High Times, I was just another email in a crowded inbox—a felon with a dream, pitching a story from the margins. But your response? It was a fucking lightning bolt: “Thanks again for your trust and for sharing this with me. I’m really looking forward to finding the right way to bring your voice into the pages of High Times.” Those 31 words weren’t just kind—they were a war cry. Tears streamed down my face as I typed a reply, not from pain, but from the shock of being recognized. Not as a rap sheet. Not a punchline. But a man with a story that could set the world ablaze.
Javier, you may never know the weight of your words. That fire was already burning in me, but your belief? That was gasoline, pouring straight into my soul. Whether I ever grace High Times’ pages or not, you gave me something no one can take away: …
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Author: Aaron Bradley Cooper / High Times
