The Gift That Never Dies

Meeting Bernie didn't seem like an encounter that would so completely change my life. He was a bouncer in a bar, hired to get rid of exactly the sort I was: a twenty-seven-year-old washout of a drunk. At first glance, we seemed very different. Most noticeably, he was straight and I was gay. However, he spotted a similarity far more fundamental. We were both alcoholics. To Bernie, the only important difference was his spiritual recovery facing my own insane denial.