Just considering this whole program. It’s history and how it works.
As I looked at the Doctor’s Opinion and There Is A Solution, two words jump right out at me. Chronic alcoholic. In the first, the doctor said that medical doctors held little hope that chronic alcoholics could recover. And that’s exactly what Dr. Jung in the second tells the young man. You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic and I’ve never seen one single case recover.
But after the program was founded, chronic alcoholics like myself have found the solution and have recovered. I don’t know exactly what the tally is over these years since Bill W. and Dr. Bob opened the doors to people like me, like them, but I would have to guess it would be fantastic. I know presently the number is well over a million.
When I think about all of this, I have to ask myself, who am I? Nothing special, that’s for sure. I’m just one of many alcoholics sober in this program. It’s certainly is humbling, but it’s also wonderful, as far as I’m concerned. I have to be grateful for this program. It saved my life and gave me a wonderful life in addition. The best thing that ever happened to me.
And looking back, I know what it is that worked and did all of this. It was the introduction of the 12 Steps, which introduced me to my Higher Power and a spiritual way of life. But it also introduced me to a lot of people just like myself, who opened their arms and welcomed me into this program. How could I not but be grateful? I owe thanks to so many and my Higher Power.
I really have to pause and think about all of this. What a miracle for someone like me. I sure couldn’t come up with the solution to what was wrong with me. But two men, sitting and talking together, sharing their story with one another, opened the door, when Dr. Bob suggested to Bill they needed a third man. And the third man became hundreds of thousands. Even a million or millions more.
Looking back at all of this, it makes me grateful that I became an alcoholic. It allowed me to come in to this program and find the solution I have found. My sobriety and my sober life. Who knows what life would have been like if I wasn’t an alcoholic. But why think about that. The fact is that I am.
But it’s more than that. The solution I found, we all have found, is spiritual in nature. And that’s what makes all of this so wonderful. And it began with the 2nd Step introduction to my Higher Power to whom I owe so much. Relief from the bondage of alcohol and relief to so many of the problems I have had to face. The spiritual answer.