THERE ARE 2 TYPES OF PAIN

THE PAIN THAT HURTS, and

THE PAIN THAT ALTERS.

DENZEL "EQUALIZER 2"

I remember an old alcoholic, Bill Stokes, wonderful man. Bill was the companion of Helen Pilsner, a legend in the recovering community 40-50 years ago. Bill used to say repeatedly, that it was hard being an alcoholic. I did not understand what he meant. Bill was in his late sixties,(I was 30) and his his face wore the lines of decades of drinking. Bill went on to explain that the alcoholic has to endure a lot of pain as he continues drinking his way to death. Excessive alcohol use takes a toll on the body. if an alcoholic isn't drunk, he probably isn't feeling good. Yet the alcoholic pushes through the physical pain time and time again. Physical pain rarely gets the best of an alcoholic. It only hurts for a bit and every drug has its physical price. Until one day something happens with him that leaves him so spiritually and morally bankrupt that he can no longer live with himself if he continue on the road he has been traveling. He is depleted. He is defeated. He has lost his soul. This is the pain that alters.