During the summer of my 15th birthday, after several years flirting with rebellion, my willful descent hit full swing. Within the first year, I had dropped out of high school, and had given myself over to selfishness, criminality, and addiction. I had forsaken choice and accountability for my desires, emotions, and appetites. My hope resided in the next experience, the next stimuli, rarely projecting far into the future. I was lost. Misery,...