Nuns, Ninjas, and the Dark Side of Boystown’s Rainbow
My boyfriend Justin claims to hate hearing stories about Cleveland, which I use to illustrate just about everything. You can take the guy out of Thunderdome, but you can’t get him to stop talking about growing up in Northeast Ohio, evidently.
Justin is just jealous, I think, of all the myriad wonders of “The Land of Cleve”, as he’s taken to calling it, because his family moved around a lot before finally settling in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (where he went to high school). He’s, thus, not really “from” anywhere…whereas I get nostalgic when passing chemical plants near Chicago, because their sulfurous belching sends me on olfactory time treks back to my 80s boyhood when LTV Steel still employed tens of thousands and kept Cleveland encircled in a forest of job-producing fiery smoke stacks.
There isn’t a day that goes by when Justin doesn’t hear something about my hometown…and about the nuns who taught me in grade school.
Justin plays some sort of online computer game with elves and warlocks and the like, where he creates these little characters that run around chasing dragons, taking him on all sorts of adventures. “Quests”, he calls them.
I watch him playing this game on his computer some days and I think about the last time I played a video game (you guessed it…back in Cleveland!)….and how the nuns in grade school always said these things were stupid, and wastes of time.
It makes me smile, remembering them scolding us for talking about “We Are the World”, “Dirty Dancing”, or “Thriller”, or whatever was big in pop culture that year, because the nuns never minced words and refused to tolerate nonsense.
They still wore the big black and white habits, still had massive wooden rosaries draped around their necks, and still carried those foreboding rulers.
I thought about these nuns last night as my friends and I ambushed our friend Cassie in a bar to confront her on her drunk driving.
Apparently, others I knew have been aware of Cassie’s problem for a long time, though I have only appreciated how much trouble she’s in this last month. I knew Cassie drank too much, but thought she lived nearby and was stumbling home in Boystown with the other drunks after last call. Because I used to work special events in Chicago, and I cover the Boystown beat as a writer, I know all sorts of people who drink too much…but none of them, to my knowledge, drink and drive.
Except Cassie…who I learned actually lives across the border in Indiana, and drives home drunk after working in a popular Boystown bar every night…where her coworkers very stupidly ply her with shots and she even more stupidly guzzles them down.
When I was in grade school in.Cleveland, I went to three funerals for young people who were killed by stupid, reckless drunks who drove their cars after being overserved.
The first was my cousin Lisa, who babysat me once when my parents went to see “Poltergeist” and thought it was too scary to take me along. Lisa had seen it already with her boyfriend, so while my parents were gone we ate Rascal House pizza and she told me all about the movie, in the dark with a flashlight aimed at her chin like we were at a campfire in the woods. She made all the scary voices and sounds retelling the highlights of the movie. Afterwards, she turned back on the lights and got out my crayons and we drew pictures of our favorite parts of the story…probably so I wouldn’t go to sleep scared chased by nightmares.
Lisa was a great babysitter, who only watched me a handful of times.
She was killed by a drunk who ran a red light one Friday night not long after Lisa reenacted that movie for me. She was crossing the street, in the crosswalk, and never saw the car that killed her.
It was the first funeral I ever went to, and the first time I ever saw any of my teachers outside of class. Every nun from my grade school was there, because they had taught Lisa, too, a decade before…and the nuns never forgot their students or stopped caring about their lives.
Before I hit high school, two more people I knew were killed by drunk drivers, both neighborhood kids around my age. One of them went to my school; he was the lunch lady’s son, and kind of a bully, four years ahead of me. Brian’s funeral was held during a school day and it seemed like all of Cleveland, even the Mayor and Bishop, turned out to not just say goodbye to him but to personally drill into all of us kids that we must never drink and drive or allow anyone we knew to do so either.
That was more than 20 years ago, but I can still smell the incense and can still see the red in the nuns’ eyes after that funeral. I never saw them cry, because those women were all tough as steel and masters of their turf…but I knew they had been stealthily sobbing somewhere, because the loss of life was so senseless and the tragedy so great.
When I walked into the bar last night to confront Cassie, something Justin jokes often about popped into my head. Whenever I get revved up over something, he tells says, “Lookout, you’ve got the nuns and ninjas thing happening again”.
He claims that instead of having angels on one shoulder telling me to calm down and be passive, I’ve got a gaggle of ghost nuns from Cleveland brandishing rulers, all set to crack skulls.
“And on the other side you’ve got ninjas telling you to kick even more ass, or to tell you to talk about voter fraud or Pigford or the other things you go on about that make people mad at you”.
Contrary to what Justin believes, I do not enjoy being the guy who has to confront people about terrible things or write about something bad that’s happening so people are shamed into stopping it.
I especially hate when people I love do terrible things warranting the nuns and ninjas treatment, but even good people need to feel the rulers every now and again.
Like a bar here in Boystown that’s one of my favorite places in the world…but whose owners kept playing nasty anti-woman, misogynistic videos (in particular some aimed at Governor Palin, and one showing a dog raping an old woman). I called them out on those selections for “comedy night” and apparently hundreds of calls and emails came in telling them to clean up their act. To this day, that bar is still actively mad at me for writing about the darker side of Boystown’s rainbow…but they sure stopped playing those disgusting videos, you betcha.
Running HillBuzz for three years now has made me as used to being a petpetual pariah in some circles as a person could ever be…all because this site calls it like we see it, and calls out those who need tough love (or more).
It is also a site that asks people to pray for various individuals who seem to need wisdom and grace, which is a surprisingly controversial thing for me to do apparently. I still get absurd hatemail from people who tell me that since I am gay (and now live with my boyfriend) that I can’t pray for anyone since God no longer wants to hear from me.
Simultaneously, my anti-fanclub on the Left insists if I was “really gay” I wouldn’t turn to prayer because religious people allegedly hate gays…according to what the Left and DNC-media alliance wants you to believe (and what damn fools in the Cocktail Party GOP establishment ALLOWS the Left to get away with in terms of the lies they spread).
Well, considering the fact Justin’s snoring away next to me as I type this on my phone, I am “really gay”…as well as being the product of 13 years of Catholic school who, at the age of 33, finally understands the immense and world-changing power of prayer.
I was both horrified and terrified at the thought if having to confront Cassie about her drunk driving. Cass is not a close friend; in truth, I know her from my days as an event planner back when she was in the business too. I consider her a friend, but I see her once a month, twice tops. I doubt very much I am on Cassie’s speed dial.
So, I was indeed at first afraid of confronting her about her drunk driving.
Then I prayed on it.
That convinced me to get my facts together and make sure things were as bad with Cassie as my gut told me they were. I did my due diligence, saw her behavior firsthand, and knew she had to be confronted and that I was the only one on the field who would do it.
So I prayed on it some more…and it came to me that I should reach out to HB readers for not only their advice to Cassie, but their prayers too. I asked all of you to pray for a woman you will never meet, who works in a Boystown gay bar, and the prayers just poured in.
Sunday night, not long after I went to bed, I wrestled with what I wanted to say to Cassie and how I was going to confront her. Because she posts her work schedule on Facebook, I knew what time she’d get off work Monday…and as a friend I knew where she would head for after hours.
I honestly felt this surge of calm and reason wash over me as I planned this intervention. It was a sense of peace and strength I know was summoned by your prayers. Very clearly, I instinctively knew just who on the ground I could ask for help with Cassie…and when I reached out to them, they all agreed to do whatever they could for her, including joining me in the intervention.
As soon as Cassie saw a group of us walk into that bar and head towards her, she knew something was up. I told her directly that we loved her and were concerned about her drunk driving. I told her that she was drinking too many shots after work and that it’s been noticed…and that much more than just me believe she is going to kill someone if she does not stop her drinking. I commanded her attention with the stories I shared above about those I’ve known who were killed by drunks, and I read her many of the comments readers shared on posts the last several days on this topic.
Cassie listened calmly. Her eyes reddened, but she did not get mad.
“I know I have a problem. And I know I should not be driving. But I need help to stop,” she said.
What followed was a three hour conversation with her and my friends where we got to some of the roots of what’s been happening and brainstormed between us a workable solution to this that keeps Cassie from drunk driving ever again. We incorporated many of the ideas that were shared by all of you in the threads.
I honestly and truly do believe God was with Cassie last night, because of your prayers, because she stepped up and took responsibility for what she had been doing. She didn’t just promise to never go overboard and get behind the wheel again, she took action…starting with marching back to the bar she worked and telling the bartenders who have been overserving her that she will no longer be doing shots from them.
I hope you can appreciate what a big deal that was for her, because the woman’s honestly been scared of losing her job for saying no to these guys. This, too, is part of the dark side of the Boystown rainbow, where bullying is very prevalent. Getting a job in these bars is a competition most often based on looks, where guys age out and are fired once they hit their mid-30s and women are included as tokens here and there on gay bar staffs. Cassie has always felt that if she said no to the shots, she would be punished in some way, since her coworkers don’t like her to begin with because she is a woman (and refusing the shots would give them ammo to call her antisocial and start to make problems for her).
But, Cassie went up to the three worst offenders in all this and told these men that she’s felt they have been pushing shots on her after she’s said no and that she’s been driving home drunk as a result — and she pointed to us saying that she’d just received an intervention and that it was her wakeup call to stop. One of the bartenders got upset with her…and incredibly defensive saying he never pushed shots on her, but Cassie didn’t argue with him. ”You know how you are, John,” is all she said, and left it at that.
In terms of her driving, Cassie honestly wants to get rid of her car altogether, as it’s too expensive to have in the city anyway. Part of the drunk driving problem for her was the draconian parking measures in place here in Chicago. If Cassie got too drunk to drive home, she couldn’t just take a cab back to her place because if she did at 6am when the parking meters started back up again she’d be ticketed and/or towed…and she can’t afford that. In Chicago, it’s either $1.50 an hour to park or it’s $5.00 for a residential permit (available only to residents of the neighborhood, and only good on certain streets). Since Cassie doesn’t live in Boystown, she doesn’t get those residential permits and has to have her car out of its parking spot before 6am…which she would not be able to do if she cabbed it home (even incurring the massive expense of a cab ride to Indiana).
Cassie has been wanting to move to Boystown to be closer to her job, and last night we helped facilitate that because during the intervention my friend Althea worked her phone emailing everyone she knew to see if someone who lived nearby would be looking for a roommate soon….and it turns out a mutual friend who knows Cassie is indeed looking for someone to live with starting in June. She and Cassie are going to meet tomorrow to talk about making this happen, and Althea is going to be there too to make sure this works out.
That leaves us with two months in which Cassie will be watched like a hawk to make sure she indeed does not drive drunk. Cassie’s managers and coworkers now know she is not to be plied with shots after her shift and when she says no this will indeed mean no in terms of forcing these drinks on her.
Through Facebook, Foursquare, and other social networking sites, Cassie’s friends have pledged to keep track of her every night to see where she is and what she is up to…and if she ends up at an after hours bar, she’s going to have a buddy there to make sure she does not drink too much. Getting her to stop drinking entirely is impossible, as much as I would like her to just give it up. But we negotiated a no shots rule for her that she has promised to stick to until she moves back to the neighborhood. She can drink one free beer after her shift and can have a beer at afterhours, but no more than two drinks in a night for her…AND if she drinks she has to stop for an omelette at IHop or the Melrose Diner before she gets in her car.
I have volunteered to be her breakfast buddy since I am up all night anyway and Justin loves omelettes…and we are close enough to be able to meet Cassie for breakfast every night if she needs it. Both Justin and I set our alarms for 145am on our phones to remind us to text Cassie and find out where she is and what she is up to every night before after hours starts, until she moves and is no longer driving.
I don’t delude myself into believing we have solved this problem with Cassie entirely in one night, but I marvel at the ground we covered. I didn’t expect Cassie to be anywhere near that receptive to the intervention. I thought she’d scream, cry, and bluster over being called out. Instead, she said she knew this was coming and thanked us for caring.
She would NOT accept the idea that she is an alcoholic and insists she doesn’t drink to function, but instead drinks because she is scared of telling her coworkers no. I believe only Cassie can accept an alcoholic’s label and don’t think it’s my place to push that on her…but I asked her if she would be willing to talk to someone in AA who has had drunk driving problems and knows about peer pressure and she said she would be open to that. It just so happens that in reaching out to people to find Cassie a new roommate, Althea discovered that someone we all know (who used to work in the nightclub industry) had a similar situation to Cassie’s and he is willing to meet with her this weekend. Althea is taking ownership of this as well, to make sure that talk happens.
I don’t think this issue should end with Cassie, though, as I think a wakeup call should be sent to all the bar owners in Boystown telling them that they need better training for their employees so NO ONE, ever, pushes anyone to take shots when he or she says no…especially people who are going to be driving. I won’t name Cassie’s bar (and I’ve changed her name) because I don’t want to get them in trouble before they have a chance to correct this, but Cassie admits she and her coworkers have been drinking too much, for free, once the bar closes every single night. I don’t think the owner knows what’s going on, so I’m going to speak with him. And if he doesn’t get a handle on what’s going on, I will write a story about what’s going on, naming names, here on HB so the whole world will know how he’s letting his staff get bonzo drunk after their shifts before some of them get into cars. But he deserves a chance to correct what’s happening…and I think every bar owner here in Chicago should preemptively take a look at their own operations because I can’t believe Cassie is the only “Cassie” in town.
Maybe reading this story you can think of bars near you that should take a look at what’s happening after hours to see if their staff needs retraining and coaching as well.
I am beyond exhausted this morning from a very, very late night dealing with this but as I close this out I just want to thank all of you out there who chimed in with comments on how to help Cassie…and most importantly I want to thank all of you who prayed for her. Cassie, without being told about the prayers, said that in the last few days she’s felt something egging her on to face this problem but she didn’t know where it was coming from. When she read all of your comments — which I let her keep — she was visibly upset by the horror stories of drunk driving you sent her, but she was touched by the concern for strangers’ well-being evident in everything that was written.
I think that love, and those prayers, set the tone last night. It is going to be a battle to break Cassie’s drunk driving habit and it is going to require a lot of work on the part of me and my friends, but we are committed to seeing this through and to making sure she does not drive drunk again. Between now and the time she moves back to Boystown and gives up her car, Cassie knows she is being watched…at work and after hours.
She also knows that if I catch wind of her slipping up, we’re going to the cops and getting them involved to watch her drive every night. This is her one shot to resolve her problem without getting a DUI and she knows it.
For those of you who sometimes wonder if prayer ever makes a difference, I just want you to think of this instance and know that it does. In fact, every single time I have ever reached out and asked HB readers to pray for anyone I know, that person has benefitted from it. Things have not always worked out the way we wanted them to, but a sense of peace, love, and strength appeared when needed as if sent directly by God. I do not believe that would have happened without your prayers.
I am so humbled to have so many good people stop by here every day, who care so much about people they will never meet. I hope one day to be able to return a fraction of that kindness. Your prayers and kindness inspire me to keep speaking out like this unafraid of blowback when what needs to be said comes from the heart and is what’s needed in the moment.
Thank you so very much for that. And for everything.
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- Side-by-side comparisons of McCain and SoetorObama at Saddleback
- The Puma and the Elephant, side by side, country first
- RESEARCH NEEDED: Illinois drunk driving statutes pertaining to bars
- Have a safe and fun night out – see you on the other side of 2011
- ADVICE NEEDED: How to confront a regular drunk driver to get her to stop
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I am glad things turned out so well. And the fact that you are not that close to her makes me even prouder of you. Nice job.
If she lives in Indiana, and is crossing state lines either to or from Illinois while committing a crime, isn’t that a federal matter?
I can totally relate to gay bullying, especially of women. The kind of vile stuff I’ve had directed my way…well, you want to keep the language here clean and I respect that.
(It’s one of the reasons I think parents need to be open with their gay kids – I’ve pretty much been out all my life, but I see so many whose parents have basically given up on any moral instructions.
They either learn morals elsewhere, or they shut down as teenagers and end up as adults with the same experiences as straight 11 year olds.
Sorry if that’s out of line – it’s just a pet peeve, for both parents and kids.
Kevin, if God wants to hear from anybody it’s you. You keep His teachings in your heart and daily demonstrate care and compassion for others. God knows your heart better than anyone, and He knows it is pure.
FYI: Justin, some say the Messiah has already returned. Perhaps He lives in Boystown. Were I you, I’d tone down the Nuns & Ninja rhetoric … just in case.
That’s awesome, Kevin. It’s like one of those intervention shows…
Karma. We all should do good deeds and increase the good karma. As long as we have the will to be good we will be okay. It spreads and flows to those around us. That’s why Good will always conquer evil.
You are such an inspiration Kevin! Thank you so much for that story.
Thank you for your courage.You may have saved many lives.I encourage anyone who is thinking of doing an intervention to not wait.I lost a close relative because no one would intervene.Peace.
WOW! What a testimony of the power of prayer! Thank you so much for sharing this power message. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for being so courageous…in every thing you do.
You are an inspiration.
Here’s something interesting:
“Stressed at work? How to move up or out.”
http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/03/22/stressed-at-work-how-to-move-up-or-out/?section=magazines_fortune
Sounds like it went really well. Glad to hear it. Will keep praying for Cassie. It’s great how things worked out with the roommate situation.
Rest assured, not all Christians hate gays. I’m Christian and I certainly don’t feel that way. However, if you’re a Democrat….(just kidding!)
Who said conservatives don’t have a heart?
Kevin -
When I was growing up, I never thought a 33-year-old gay guy would be one of my heroes, but you are. Thank you for sharing and for being yourself.
Wow Kevin…had to get a kleenex. I’ve battled alcoholism with a loved-one and it is tough (abuse, alcoholism, whatever). You are amazing–you really did stand in the gap and have committed to do so going forward as Cassie works through the immediate issues. And I agree 100%–there is no way your actions would have been as affective in this young woman’s life if not completely covered in love. Your community does love you, and we will continue to pray for your actions and heart and for Cassie’s life.
Incidentally, I run a local substance abuse prevention group, and we see a three-legged stool to helping ward of abuse: prevention, law enforcement and intervention/treatment. It is great that you have recognized the over-serving that occurs and are willing to work to change that–it is a good portion of the battle. As cate007 said…you are most definitely one of my heroes.
Kevin, nice going. You probably will never know how many lives will be saved, how many other situations you may have addressed through this website discussing the problem. And guess what, it did not take a govt program.
Wonderful…I have tears in my eyes! Kelly you are right, it does not take a Gov’t program for people to get involved, nor did it take a bunch of money! It just show community is where its at…and not a community organised to be greedy but a simple kindness & caring of others!
I am also happy to hear Justin is still in the picture Kevin…you have been so busy we don’t hear much from you on that & I for one am very happy you guys still have a good thing going. I grew up Lutheran (Cath-lite instead of Catholic) so we did not have nuns but I simply love hearing your point of view on the nuns & ninjas…fantastic!!!
Now what is the next mission everyone??? Feel the good Karma power???
yep it is gonna be a great day!!!
Love ya Kevin…
Kevin – hugs from across the Big Pond!
Your intervention is awesome, and indeed, you’re right, the power of prayers is immense.
Praying is tapping into the indescribable well of love which is our God.
And those ‘Christians’ who tell you He won’t hear you because you’re gay – tosh and piffle!
He hears everybody who prays, because they believe in Him.
Thank you for your courage and your love.
colliemum I try and remember to pray for your government everyday. I know how hard you are having it right now with the “no cut” activity. Just saying.
I’m so glad it worked out. I’ll keep you and your friend in prayer. *hugs*
And I’ll always, always be grateful for you, the nuns & ninjas angel.
I’m originally from the Southeast side (South Deering)about two miles from Hammond. That is a real long drive from where you are. By all means she needs an intervention before she kills somebody.
Way to go Kevin!
You are a lovely person and “Cassie”i s veery lucky to have you as a friend.
Not to get too far off track here but…
You wrote all that on your PHONE!?!? 0.o
Geez, my thumbs can barely handle a quick text on my Blackberry.
The only bad thing about doing this on the phone is that I cant go back and edit, so I have to wait until I get home to correct any spelling mistakes.
In the meantime, I get 10-20 emails pointing out all the spelling errors…some in a nasty way but most I think trying to be helpful.
There is no spellcheck function on the phone…but I am a quick thumb typer and am good at freeforming an essay.
Once again, something the nuns taught me back in Cleveland.
Kevin, thank you so much for sharing Cassie’s story with us. I am so impressed that you asked for help, got our advice and acted on it immediately! Please keep us posted on Cassie’s progress. What an amazing friend you are to be willing to give to much of yourself to help someone who you admit you don’t even know THAT well. I hope that one day Cassie realizes what an incredible friend she has in you.
Just an aside, in his job my husband has had the opportunity to require employees to go into rehab (after they were caught using alcohol or drugs at work). I can’t tell you how many times we’ll be at a company function where a spouse will come up to him and thank him from the bottom of his/her (usually her) heart for intervening and getting their loved one to get help. Often the spouse has tried and tried with no luck. But we hear time and time again how he “saved my life” or “Saved my spouse’s” life or “saved our marriage” by forcing the alcoholic/druggie to get help. Kevin, you and your friends may have saved this woman’s life. I hope she appreciates that. We’ll continue praying for you and her.
Kevin…we are humbled by your goodness and tireless energy to help make your corner of the world a better place. Believe me, the witness you conveying through your blog and to Boy’s Town is being noted. Sarah would be proud of you for standing for what is right. Yes the power of prayer is amazing. Don’t let anyone tell you God doesn’t love gay people. For whoever is without sin can cast the first stone. You are His child Kevin. He knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. Thanks for this special story.
Kevin, I am absolutely moved to tears. You are a remarkable person. You are one of those people that the world needs more of! This couldn’t have been easy, but you stepped up. Cheers to you! Prayers with you and all your friends and with Cassie as you all face the road ahead. You are fantastic. (from a Christian who presumable “hates gays” and all that stuff. [eye roll] Good people are good people! Simple as that!)
As a practicing RC, I can say with all honesty that I have never been indoctrinated to think badly of gay folks nor any other of the looney RC’s that I hang with. That being said, Kevin, you are a warm and caring human being who deserves massive kudos for all that you do.
Alcoholism is a tough row to hoe and it’s tentacles are endless, the power of prayer is a huge part of recovery and it’s very difficult as an outsider looking in to take part in saving those who need it.
God Bless you for all that you do.
I pray that your friend Cassie finds health and happiness.
She is blessed to have such a great cadre of caring friends.
Hang in there, those nuns and ninjas are a a terrific army to have behind you!
Kevin, you have shamed me – and rightly so. When you first told all of us about Cassie, my reaction was nothing but anger. I did not feel sorry for her nor did I even think of praying for her; instead I told you to “Call the cops on her!” Well, I’m ashamed of that now. You’ve just shown me what I should have done but did not do. So I’m taking a well-deserved lesson from your loving example and will genuinely try from this moment on to give the same kindness to others that you did. And I’ve started by giving up a loving prayer for Cassie. Thank you, Kevin, and God bless. (Btw, she’s very lucky indeed to have you in her life – and the wonderful thing is that I’m positive she knows it.)
I pray God will hold you both in palm of His hand and the safety of His love now and forever.
we all have “Cassies” whom we love and adore, and only can help when they reach bottom…
Thank you for doing this. I know how hard it must have been. You are a blessing in so many ways.
I hope some of the nuns in Cleveland read this site every day. They should know what a wonderful person that they helped train. And they would be overjoyed to see what a gifted writer you are.
Thank God things went well so far, Kevin. Thanks so much for caring enough to bravely do what you did for your friend. Not many would have. Our prayers continue for Cassie. God bless!
Well done Kevin, well done.
That truly was God’s work you did, Kevin. It took real courage and because of it, you and your “team” may have saved Cassie’s life, and the lives of others as well. Very, very well done.
When I was little, my favorite grandma always said to me “I ADORE you”. It was the greatest compliment in the world for me, as she was such a special, loving person. Well, Kevin DuJan, I ADORE YOU! You have such a special gift which blesses us all. And even though we’ve never met, I will always consider you a friend. Much love always…
Very well done so far Kevin. Big HT to you and your friends close and far away.
Keep after the bar owners cuz I know they will not approve of their bar boys drinking up the nights profits.
I was going to post on your first thread, but the crowd pretty well had it well covered. I think what you have done is excellent and well beyond what most would do.
I hope all continues to go well with your friend. Relocation of either job or living is a very wise decision. Really the only workable solution to the challenge as well. Sans of course stopping drinking, yeah right, serves all night and don’t partake? Fat chance there.
Good job
Thanks for letting us know how it went. It always helps to know that the prayers are being answered, we don’t always get to hear the results. Even though I know that the prayers are heard. *wink* And as far as those “gay prayer haters” God knows the heart of a man. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. God bless
Kevin, you are a “diamond of the first water”. Everyone should be so lucky to have a friend like you. You are amazing and I thank you for sharing this story. We love you! God bless.
Cassie was receptive because deep down inside she understands that her life has become unmanageable and wants to change but didn’t know how. She will know she’s an alcoholic if she is unable to limit herself to 2 or 3 drinks. That is the final test those of us in the AA fellowship assign to anybody who isn’t sure.
I was unable to post my story yesterday and it seems self-serving to do so now because you’ve already spoken to her, but I did e-mail it to HillBuzz. Please forward it to Cassie if you think it will help.
Your prayers and love made all the difference and touched Cassie at the energetic level. G-d bless you Kevin DuJan! We need more people like you in the world
Kevin here is another high-profile – but unreported – DUI arrest to help “Cassie” further understand the likely negative outcomes with binge drinking –
The Director of the US DOJ Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Harley Lappin, arrested last week for DUI – then announced his retirement!
http://www.mainjustice.com/2011/03/30/bureau-of-prisons-director-faces-drunk-driving-charges/
No mention of his DUI just days earlier!
http://www.bop.gov/news/PDFs/lappinretirement.pdf
We better keep out eye on who Eric Holder picks to replace him – as we know the DEMS are itching to get Big-D player and Sarah hacker David Kernel out of prison early! Remember he already got the light sentence of ONE YEAR and ONE DAY!
Keep your eyes on this during the transition at BOP.
There are no alcoholics.
There are only people trying to deaden the pain.
Alcohol is not the problem. Pain is the problem.
If she (with help if needed) can fix the pain the need for alcohol will go away (or reduce).
This is also true of the drug problem in the country – we are punishing people for being in pain.
Thank you for this update. You and Cassie will continue to be in my prayers.