I went back in the BB today and was reading the chapter There Is A Solution. That was right after reading The Doctor’s Opinion, where he asked the question, what is the solution? Guess what? I was once again struck by the remark that we are people who ordinarily would not mix. And yet, here we are.
I stopped and thought about the people I have met in here and had to agree. I’ve known Congressmen, psychiatrists, medical doctors, men and women, who spent time in prisons, street persons, ministers, priests and nuns, atheists and agnostics, ex patients from mental institutions, heads of corporations, even a close relative of a president. And yes, policemen and criminals. Not what I would call anything in common.
Yet, like others, I find myself not only in the mix, but enjoying a close relationship with so many, regardless of our backgrounds. And the reason we all are so willingly together is that we are not just sharing a disease we have in common, but a solution to this disease which we all have a share in.
However it’s more than just that. Like so many of us, I have found that I need the people I have met, in order to maintain what I have discovered in this program; my sobriety. And having discovered the solution, I have also found out that to keep it I have to give it away, to share it with others like myself. Alcoholics.
Probably the most amazing thing about this fellowship is the solution itself. Because regardless of our backgrounds, thoughts, and beliefs, or unbelief’s, it is spiritual in nature. The first stumbling block for so many of us. And yet after a long time in this program, I can look around and see so many, who have all kinds of approaches to this solution, who are at peace with each other. Willing to support and help the man or woman next to them.
And that brought up another miracle directly associated with all of this. Here we all are, alcoholics, whose very nature is one of destruction and conflict. Anger, resentment, even hate. Depression and isolation. Many of us, had death wishes before we came here. And yet there is happiness, joy, peace, friendships, and yes, even love for one another. A total change in personality for the most of us.
As I was reading and thinking about this today, I had to take a step back and contemplate on what has brought us together and what keeps us here in the mix. Something to think about and for which I need to be grateful.