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Post Info TOPIC: That Fine Line
Dave Harm


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That Fine Line
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Last August or September when I was still chairing the jailhouse group I started there were three inmates who I believed then and I still believe will achieve long term sobriety.They are no longer in that jail, they have all been transferred to the state pen.

 

Their lows bordered on being totally insane.And those months of being locked up in a county jail, they had a lot of time to fall into deep shame and depression.

 

So one week, I took a reading from As Bill Sees It, and talked about our insanity.And I used a quote from Albert Einstein.He once said that there is a fine line between insanity and genius.And I used this to describe the alcoholic.

 

My drinking and the things I did when I was drunk was pure insanity.When I found sobriety, I began to tap into my God-given genius.The things that I have been able to achieve sober were never possible when I drank.

 

As I spoke, you could see the grins coming from those three inmates.They began to understand that while they may have done bad things they werent bad people.I went on to say that I have never met a dumb alcoholic.Dumb people arent stupid enough to become alcoholics.Thats not a mocking statement, thats a fact.Its only the genius who can keep the insane games alive for so long.Personally, I kept my game alive for over 20 years.

 

We analyze our sobriety, we intellectualize how we got to this point in time, and we struggle with accepting our acceptance.

 

I share this quote tonight because of the recent threads and how I walk a daily line bordering on insanity and genius.

 

Thanks

 

That Fine Line

 

believing that insanity is forever
is simply insane
it's a choice made in destruction
self-will run riot
lost jobs... lost wives
with the delusion that control
was never in question

it didn't take a genius
to understand the depths
of despair and defeat
scared to go forward
couldn't go back
while the present
was numb... frozen

such a fine line
between insanity and genius
insanity says... try again
over and over again
the result has to change
insanity filled with pride
refusing to change

genius says surrender
admitting defeat brings peace
walking on a path destined
just for one soul
a journey shared by many
the goal... Thy will be done

©2008DaveHarm



-- Edited by Dave Harm on Wednesday 8th of April 2009 09:27:12 PM

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"A busy mind is a sick mind.  A slow mind, is a healthy mind.  A still mind, is a divine mind." - Native American Centerness

Creating Dreams, from the nightmares of hell...
Dakota


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Very good! Those could be lyrics for a song...

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lani


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Thanks for the share...can def relate!

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"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. "
toni baloney


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Hi Dave,

How very true, the insanity of drinking, and then the numbness that follows, when we, by the Grace of God, with his miracle of Recovery, we begin to feel at last.  And then it get so different, then it gets better, and at times goes right back to different. and then there are those moments of Joyeous moments when we dicover that God is doing what we could never do. We are so very Blessed.

Thanks for the Post, also for that Poem, very in depth and makes us think, which is something we all can do as well these days.
Thanks again Dave, will be looking for that Book, let me know when it is is available, ok?

Best regards, Toni

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Wiley


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My experience was that my 'insanity' wasn't  the crazy things I did while drunk - you're supposed to do crazy things when your thinking and judging machine (your brain) is overdosed with alcohol.

My craziest, most insane moments came when I was completely dry. After waking up hung over in jail, after spending $1200 I didn't have getting a bailbondsman to get me out, after finding a message that my Probation Officer wants to see me ASAP, after going home to find my wife packing her bags, after being forbidden contact with my kids until I quit drinking and got my job back........... after all this craziness I would still, despite having zero alcohol in my system and despite knowing full well my drinking was the cause of all of it - I would decide to go right out and drink again.

THAT, I submit, is the definition of insane.

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lucaskywalker


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"Its only the genius who can keep the insane games alive for so long.Personally, I kept my game alive for over 20 years."


Interesting point, and thank you for sharing it :) We ARE very good at rationalizing, justifying, manipulating, etc., aren't we?

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