Thinking back, I seem to remember a line from the Book of Wisdom. In it, Wisdom itself is speaking and one the lines is “and my delight was to be with the children of men”. A line from the Maughm’s “The Razor’s Edge”, Larry Darrow, says, in response to a question about his studies, what was he going to do when he acquires wisdom, that if he did achieve wisdom, he might be wise enough to know what to do with it.
Of course, like the word humility, wisdom has had a bad time of it over the years. The slang for hit men and thugs is “wise guys”. I’ve been told not to be a wise ass. I don’t think they were telling me that I had anything of wisdom in my bag of tricks. A song from the musical How to Succeed in Business, has a line, which says that the devious hero, is a seeker of wisdom and truth. Hardly.
Now, why bring this up? I was thinking this morning about the men, who went before us, who seemed to have reached a level of truth and wisdom that it’s staggering. Dr. Silkworth was certainly one of them. His wise counsel to Bill and AA is undeniable. The book itself is a compilation of wisdom, when it comes to alcohol, is a proven fact. My sponsor, although not a very educated man, dispensed wisdom to me and to so many others, which has stood the test of time. We’ve all been touched by men and women just like that in our time in the program. Most of us wouldn’t have been here, if not for these people, who embodied wisdom.
Think of how many other programs have reached out to AA for the wisdom contained in it.
But now I want to change the direction of this. I want to talk about the wisdom of gratitude and tolerance. And nothing says this more than the words and actions of Bill himself. I’m talking about the man they called “the troubled messenger”, Ebby T., the man, who brought Bill the message, which started this whole movement that has saved millions of lives and maybe souls.
I’m reading the biography “Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W.” Ebby was an historical slipper. He successfully got the message through to Bill, but he himself could not hold onto it. He was constantly going in and out over the years, yet Bill always stayed faithful to him and his friendship for him, and always introduced him as his sponsor in public and private.
The man, who wrote the forward to this book, says about this relationship, that “It is a good lesson to AA members, who become too critical of sponsors and members, who return to drinking.” Then he refers to page 84 and the statement that love and tolerance is our code. Not just for other members, but for everyone. Bill certainly showed us what this meant, when he showed so much love and tolerance toward Ebby, who was so unsuccessful.
How many times I have been tempted to write someone off as a loser. In fact I have. But over the years, I have seen so many “losers”, slippers, who have tried again and again to come back. Most have been treated with an intolerance, which can be seen in the actions and eyes of those around them. Rejects and rejected. I recently saw this a few weeks back. A man, who has been in and out dozens of times. A man just like Ebby.
Ebby had his own wisdom. He had the knowledge necessary to hand it over to a drunk like Bill. Bill was hardly a sober man at the time. In fact, Bill went through some of his worst drinking after that meeting and Ebby, who was sober, never gave up on him. Ebby himself was homeless and living in a mission in downtown NYC and he went out of his way to visit Bill and protect him. He greeted Bill with open arms, when Bill was at his unloveliest. He visted him on his last hospital stay and continued to give him instructions on how to get sober. And, Bill did.
Bill never forgot that and stuck with his friend through the Ebby to the end of Ebby’s life.
Just thinking about this.