A real mind fuck

I was listening to a man talk the other day; let's call him "Harry" (I am a die hard Harry Potter fan).  I suppose I could say I was having a conversation with Harry, but really, I didn't do any talking.  Here's the thing... Harry has this friend, his name is "Ron".  Ron recently realized he has a drinking problem after experiencing multiple seizures as a result of his alcohol consumption.  Harry, being the good friend that he is, went to visit Ron and talked with him about his experience, his plans to take care of himself better for the future, about attending AA and about a lifetime of not drinking (from here on out).

Here's the mind fuck: Harry is an alcoholic.  He is not an admitted alcoholic, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck... you know how the saying goes...

Everything that Harry had to say about Ron, could have been said about Harry - minus the seizures.  Harry sounded like he really had an understanding of the situation and what Ron was going to have to do.  Harry fully supported Ron.  He expressed anger with one of Ron's friends, who also had a seizure a while back, because he told Ron not to believe that the seizure was actually from the alcohol consumption.

At one point he said to me, "Ron said, 'as far as I'm concerned, anyone that drinks more than 6 beers in a night has a problem.'"  Harry's response was, "Hey now, I think many of us have had 6 or more..." so Ron replied, "Well...everyday.  If you drink 6 or more everyday, you've got a problem."

Really?

It's scary to see addiction and denial in action.  It's sad. It makes me wonder where the real Harry is.  Hidden behind all that denial...

And just to clarify - this is not a judgment.  It's a mind fuck.  I am not saying that I am immune to addiction or denial (because I am not), but I do believe that I had a very clear view of it during this one sided conversation. And I felt myself getting sucked into it a bit...like if someone lies to your face day after day, you finally just accept the lie as truth.  You join the denial.  Shit, Harry's not an alcoholic.  He doesn't drink 6 beers EVERY day.  Sheesh...

But as I watched Harry fill up his wine glass after he told me last week that he wasn't going to drink on weeknights, I realized the mind fuck I had just experienced.

Thank you God for the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.