Reading one man’s story the other night, an awful drunk story, this man winds his story up with a number of impressions at the end of his hospital stay under Dr. Bob. One of those impressions was of a big man, who came into his room and sat and talked to him for a couple of hours. He said he kept wishing this man would leave because he went on and on about his drinking. It was only as the man was leaving that something happened. He suddenly realized that this man was free of alcohol and was happy.
The second thing that impressed him was the group of men, who came to see him. One of these men really impressed him. He said he didn’t know this man, nor did the man know him. Yet the man, in order to save bus fare, had walked three miles in the snow and slush just to come and talk to him about what they had found, which had freed them from alcohol. He couldn’t get over that.
Those two impressions made an impression on me. The first is do I show others that I am not only free of alcohol, but am I happy because I am? The second is something my sponsor asked me right at the beginning: to what lengths was I willing to go to overcome alcohol? The man, who didn’t know him, was willing to walk three miles in the snow to come to the hospital and carry the message to him.
I’m again reminded of my friend Phil on his trip to Australia. Driving through the desolate and hot Outback and finding a woman walking the twenty miles to a meeting.
I also heard from a friend of mine about a woman we know, who just the other day, was found naked and drunk at the edge of death from too much alcohol and was committed to a mental institution. She was willing to go to any lengths to drink. I also heard from two men of two other men, who recently died from drinking. I need to hear these stories to remind me of the fatal nature of this disease and why we are here. There was a time, when I was willing to go to the lengths they did.
I need to thank the God of my understanding and the people and the program, who gave me a second chance at the life I have today.
Just some thoughts.
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