The Past Is Prologue

In Rachel Abramowitz’s profile of actor Mark Wahlberg (“In a Whole New Jungle,” July 22), she paints a pretty picture of a young man who’s risen above his troubled youth to become a Hollywood renaissance man. His reform apparently includes not only career and financial success, but a renewed sensibility of right and wrong, seeking redemption in good deeds at his local Boys Club and through living a proper Christian lifestyle, complete with a permanent rosary tattoo.

While Wahlberg seems much improved from his days of thuggish exploits and criminal drug abuse, I wonder how he has come to terms with his irreversible act of violence that caused an innocent man to lose an eye. Forty-two days in jail does not seem adequate judgment against one who perpetrated such a pathetic and outrageous crime.

If a reformed Wahlberg has truly turned his life and heart around, not just for publicity but in reality, I hope that he has done the only responsible thing and taken it upon himself to compensate the man he harmed years back.

It’s the very least he can do, and worth more respect and praise than a hundred underwear ads or movie roles. That is the “mark” of a true star.

MICHELLE WU

Los Angeles