Reflective Years of Benjamin Bird

This story about the life of a closeted bisexual male is dedicated as an expression for tolerance to the untold number of closeted homosexuals and bisexuals like Benjamin Bird (and the author himself, M. D. Gage) who remain in the closet throughout their entire lives because when they need to come out and be fulfilled and true to themselves, they feel threatened and unsupported and lack the courage and bravado to confront the anticipated dreadful damaging prejudices alone.This story also is meant to provide insight to closeted individuals (and to those who care for them) on how difficult it is to sustain a life of deception and survive its emptiness without resorting to even more unnatural behavior, such as turning to drugs and alcohol or settling into a dulling depression, risky promiscuity, or, like Benjamin Bird, feverishly overachieving in their careers and endeavors, trying to replace the loneliness with busyness to ignore the guilt of being deceptive, hypocritical, and self-condemnatory.