One of those emails you don’t forget quickly. Name redacted at sender’s request.

Dear Mr. Derb — … Your latest column, “The Husks of Dead Theories,” is particularly relevant to me. My father, Capt. [Name], took the FDNY chief’s test around 1991/92. He did pretty well and expected to make chief after the lawsuits made their rounds. He died in the line of duty in 1994, a few months before he was expected to be promoted, so my family and I really did lose someone we love due to political correctness and bureaucracy.