One of the things that I think of often is the second step. For me it was an announcement that there was a solution to my problem with alcohol. It was the doorway to freedom. I know so many others, who obviously feel the same way. I hear them in meetings, when the leader asks for a subject and there’s this long deafining silence, pipe up and say, “why don’t we talk about the second step”. I do it myself and sit back and begin to listen to so many others share there ideas and experiences with that step. It is always comforting to know that others feel just as I do.
I sometimes imagine how Bill must have felt, when he and Ebby sat in that kitchen on that fateful day, when Ebby brought his message to him. Bill with his gin and Ebby with his enthusiasm that there was a way out. Bill closing his mind to the idea that Ebby had gotten “religion” and Ebby prying Bill’s mind open with his words that Bill could choose a Higher Power of his own making. That moment was cherished and revered in the minds of the first wave of those recovering in beginning of this movement we call AA. We might say that the program began with the second step. It was really the moment, when AA was born. It was such an important moment that, no matter how many times Ebby slipped and drank, no matter how long he drank, no matter his condition, the early members cherished and took care of Ebby until his death. What mattered was that he came to Bill with a message, which literally changed the world. Bill took it from there.
Here we are, so many years later, with everything so organized for us. The steps are in order, we have a book of instructions, which are simple directions on how we can put this program into action. It is a book replete with a wealth of information on the nature of this disease, the whys and wherefores of what plagued us, and then all the answers to what had kept us in bondage for so many years. It is filled with examples, which are an inspiration for those of us seeking a way out. We have been given traditions to guide us all through the pitfalls which could sabatoge the program. They are guidelines for all of us, who would let our lack of discipline pull us back into darkness. And there is so much more.
When I think of the second step, my thoughts are focused on the hope it brought into my hopeless life. It raised me from despair. It was the stepping off point, which would gradually, through the process of the succeeding steps, would neutralize the obsession which I had lived with for so many years and restore me to sanity. I was to be relieved from the insanity of that first drink. I would no longer have to think about it.
There is a picture in my mind of those two men, sitting in that kitchen. I need to remember that moment.