I just got back from my 23rd group birthday. It was sad to see the man who brought me to AA and saved my life. The book says there are those who do not recover. I was fortunate to take the AA program seriously and work it diligently. Principles before personalities. I worked on the principles. The personalities did not concern me. Just over 21 years later I see the terrible damage that non recovery has inflicted upon those who did not take AA seriously. Some had squandered the earlier opportunity for putting in the hard work required for recovery. New comers "We beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start." Also "Do not be discouraged............" Also "If we are painstaking.................."
You know the one thing I notice about my friends that are still around and sober from the last 20 years, and we are still pretty much the same group of people, is every single one of us grabbed on to this thing with the desperation of a drowning man grabbing a life preserver and did the work, we are all still here, along the way we have watched thousands of others come and go
We can provide everything but the willingness and desire to change (well, that and the honesty and openmindedness)
one man can lead a horse to water but 10,000 can't make him drink Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.
It's a shame and I think indicative that many people are told "our path" is "don't drink and go to meetings" when in fact "our path" is :
If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get itthen you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power that One is God. May you find Him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. we asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery
It's my experience, that for many of us alcoholics there is no "middle of the road" solution, that half measures, such as "don't drink and go to meetings" do in fact result in no results in many cases, by the time we get to AA most of us are pretty beat up, in many cases have admitted complete defeat, not all, but many, in my case I walked into AA completely whipped by something for the first time in my life, for the first time in my life I had marshaled my resources to combat an enemy within and was helpless to make a change on my own.
Human Power had failed me, being locked up had failed me, my will power had failed me:
When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or to permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of alcohoholics throughout history. But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations. So many want to stop but cannot.
There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self- searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at out feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.
The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.
If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort.
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Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a night, light a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
Well AGO did an awesome job in his response, as he usually does, thank you AGO.
I just want to say what a Privledge I feel when I see you postings, always, and so happy you are here with us, I can feel your heart in all that you write.
Thanks Toni & Ago. For the short while that I have been posting on this forum, it is encouraging to see you give so much of energy and passion to this recovery. It makes me glad. The new ones need to be motivated by us. Thanks, Gonee.
You know the one thing I notice about my friends that are still around and sober from the last 20 years, and we are still pretty much the same group of people, is every single one of us grabbed on to this thing with the desperation of a drowning man grabbing a life preserver and did the work,
Andrew,
You have been reading my mail again LOL
I frequently share that I grabbed on to this thing with the desperation of a drowning man grabbing a life preserver and would not let go. No matter what.
Thanks,
Larry, ----------------------- I Didn't Sleep On My Lawn Last Night
-- Edited by Larry_H on Wednesday 28th of April 2010 07:34:44 PM
I frequently share that I grabbed on to this thing with the desperation of a drowning man grabbing a life preserver and would not let go. No matter what.
When I finally accepted the fact I could not do this alone and honestly put myself in the capable hands of AA, I too clung to it like a drowning man.
I did (as was advised by my sponsor) jump right into the middle of the AA life boat and nobody was going to budge me - that was for sure.
Situation is much the same today, possibly the only difference being that I now am one of the ones already in that lifeboat ready to help others in!
