Today at our meeting the subject was alcoholism and recovery. That made me grateful to be able to sit and listen to others talk about their alcoholism and how they recovered. I need to have this called to my attention everyday and to be able to hear about it was a real treat for me.
Earlier I had been awakened by an alcoholic, who has never been successful in staying sober. After his last binge he ended up in a psych ward and is now in a specialized rehab in the Adirondacks Mountains. Anyway, he told me that I was the only “family” he had and that the counselor wanted to talk to me. He put her on the phone and said she wanted to talk to me about his “addiction”. I told her that I didn’t know much about addiction, but if she wanted me to stay on the phone we could talk about his alcoholism.
What she wanted from me was me to intervene on him. An intervention. Whew! I’m not big on interventions. I remember way back when a good friend of mine and I were trained in interventions and we didn’t have all that much success with these. In fact, for myself, I don’t think they’re all that effective. The only intervention I’ve seen work is what I really believe in; a very painful bottom.
I heard a woman today, who talked about this. She came in a few years back and had ten years away from a drink, but she always questioned whether or not she really was an alcoholic. So she went back out and drank again. The result was that she ended up in an awful place with herself and her family. She said she’s back and is willing to do anything asked of her. She said she is now willing to do whatever the program asks of her.
No amount of listening to people at the meetings she attended ever reached her. No one could convince her that she was an alcoholic and needed help to survive. She had tried everything, but working the program. She couldn’t stand authority and wouldn’t listen to any of how it works.
Anyway, I listened to others talk about their lives of pain in their alcoholism and how they came here and surrendered to their being powerless over alcohol and just how this program worked for them and changed their lives. I thought how this program changed me and how blessed I am. How grateful I am that I was able to find AA. I’ve come to believe that it is an honor and a privilege to be a member of this program.