Guys Like Louie and Me

I remember standing next to Louie (not his real name) as we closed the Thursday night men's meeting with the Lord's Prayer. His entire body was shaking and drenched with sweat although it was the middle of December. I could see his face out of the corner of my eye, a mixture of fear and grim determination, tears streaming down the hollows of his cheeks as he relived the private agony of the last stop on his long slide down. Louie would get sober. He would stay on to become a power of example to other alcoholic men and women who followed him into AA.