I went to my home group tonight only to find out one of our members died during the week. He was a great young guy, only 22. He hanged himself during the week. Everyone was really upset, couldn't believe it. That brings to two in the last 2 months. The other member died after going back out after 5 years sobriety. He was 40.
How many coffins do we have to walk behind.
If I don't get it, and live it - someday it could be mine, or anybody else here.
Hi Malcom, that's the unfortunate part of this disease, it kills people in so many ways. Every time that you take a seat at a meeting, you're sitting in a dead man's chair. It even talks about it in the BBook "there are some of us that will die...".
The statistics provided by the census of 1990 (that i was included in ) said that only 1 in 20 of us will make it to 5 years of sobriety. I only had a year when that census came out so I asked myself almost daily for the next 4 years "What am I going to do to work my program better than the other 19 people that have to leave in order for me to stay sober?" It's a very sobering question. I've seen a lot come and go and knew of many that died. Many of them (at the time) I thought had as good or better a program that I did.
This is where "one day at a time" comes into play. We are "only granted a daily repreve based on our spiritual condition...". What am I doing today to maintain my spiritual fitness so that my sobriety is up to any task that life can throw at me? (paging dr. Phil ). Sorry Malcom, didn't mean to get so somber, but this is where the rubber meets road in our determination to claim our seat here (on day at a time) for the long haul. It's an incredible journey, hop on.
I have seen this type of things many times as well. It is one of the most painful parts of being a member of AA; the cold hard fact that some of us do not 'get it', and die as a result.
A very very close friend of mine named Annie passed away as a direct result of alcoholism. She was only 26, and a fulltime college student, after having spent some time behind bars. Her new start seemed so promising. It was tragic.
The best way I know how to honor those that have lost their lives accidentally due to the disease, or made the supreme sacrifice, is to work as hard as I can to save my own life, by staying sober. I know in my heart that she would have wanted me to do this, and not to make the same fatal mistake she made.
RIP, Annie, and Malcolm's friends.
Joni
__________________
~~"It's hard to be hateful when you're grateful."~~
No one dies in vain. There are lesson to be learned. That report Dean mentions grabbed me too. Its a devastating disease. I am grateful that after Millenia of mans suffering that God decided it was time to give us a way out. There wasn't always a way out. I cannot remember a day when there was no option for an alcoholic but it was only a generation ago that people lived and died without ever hearing that they did not have to drink. When I came in a fellow with no voice box explained that alcoholics often died in a pool of blood in the alleys. The arteries along the throat would erode and burst and they would drown in their own blood in the night.
At least we have a choice today. There was once a time where there was no choice. We live in a miraculous time.
) said that only 1 in 20 of us will make it to 5 years of sobriety. I only had a year when that census came out so I asked myself almost daily for the next 4 years