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Freedom "So far, upon the total problem of several million "In medicine, we have learned a great deal about the physical treatment of the alcoholic. We have learned about nutrition and the importance of a fully rounded diet, and vitamins and minerals. But we do know that these things are necessary in the physical treatment and rehabilitation of the alcoholic. We know also that various kinds of drying out and other forms of therapy have failed. They are not enough by themselves. We need something more. "We know also that religious exhortation has failed, as has exhortation from people who have no grasp of the problem, who oversimplify, people in whose view an alcoholic is a person who is perpetually thirsty with a fierce craving for alcohol, people who do not know that a great many alcoholics hate alcohol worse than poison when they are sober, because they know that it is poison. "[A]s time went on I became less and less astonished as I saw the effectiveness of your work, as I saw a man of great talent, a close friend of mine, a man who was almost on the verge of genius. I saw alcohol make its insidious inroads upon his career, upon his relationships with his family and children, upon his standing in the community. "I saw him on the verge of losing his job, and I saw him lose his job; and then I saw him surrender. I saw him throw up his hands and quit, saying, 'I can't do it by myself. I've got to have help.' And with the spiritual help of his clergyman and A.A., I have seen that man come back to a commanding position in his field, a man who is as sober today, as clear-eyed and bright, as any person in this audience." Dr. W. W. Bauer, 1955 2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 241-43
actual and potential alcoholics in the world,
we have made only a scratch.
In all probability, we shall never be able to touch
more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem
in all its ramifications.
Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself,
we surely have no monopoly.
Yet it is our great hope that all those
who have as yet found no answer
may begin to find one in the pages of this book
and will presently join us on
the highroad to a new freedom."
Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. xx-xxi
Thought to Consider....
"Within our wonderful new world,
we have found freedom from our fatal obsession."
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
SOBRIETY
Stay Off Booze Recovery Is Everything To You
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
TRUE TOLERANCE
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 139
I first heard the short form of the Third Tradition in the Preamble. When I came to A.A. I could not accept myself, my alcoholism, or a Higher Power. If there had been any physical, mental, moral, or religious requirements for membership, I would be dead today. Bill W. said in his tape on the Traditions that the Third Tradition is a charter for individual freedom. The most impressive thing to me was the feeling of acceptance from members who were practicing the Third Tradition by tolerating and accepting me. I feel acceptance is love and love is God's will for us.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Guide to a Better Way
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 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 our feet.
<<<>>>
Implicit throughout A.A.'s Traditions is the confession that our Fellowship has its sins. We admit that we have character defects as a society and that these defects threaten us continually. our Traditions are a guide to better ways of working and living, and they are to group survival and harmony what A.A.'s Twelve Steps are to each member's sobriety and peace of mind.
1. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 25
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 96
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.
Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will
make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every
imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery,
followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are
familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a
normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish
this, but it hasn't done so yet."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 30~
~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~
A.A. Thought for the Day
We who have learned to put our drink problem in God's hands
can help others to do so. We can be used as a connection
between an alcoholic's need and God's supply of strength. We
in Alcoholics Anonymous can be uniquely useful, just because
we have the misfortune or fortune to be alcoholics ourselves.
Do I want to be a uniquely useful person? Will I use my own
greatest defeat and failure and sickness as a weapon to help
others?
Meditation for the Day
I will try to help others. I will try not to let a day pass
without reaching out an arm of love to someone. Each day I
will try to do something to lift another human being out of
the sea of discouragement into which he or she has fallen. My
helping hand is needed to raise the helpless to courage, to
strength, to faith, to health. In my own gratitude, I will
turn and help other alcoholics with the burden that is
pressing too heavily upon them.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be used by God to lighten many burdens.
I pray that many souls may be helped through my efforts.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
