What a treat last night. We read from the BB “A Vision For You”. The reaction from the group was one of wonder. They all were so enthusiastic. Almost all of them remarked on how wonderful it was to hear others reading and then giving their thoughts on what they had just read. And to me it was what meetings were all about, when I came in.
As the meeting went around the room I was drawn back into thinking about all those old timers I had met. One in particular came to mind. When they read those words about the person, who would not personally be in touch with those who wrote this book, he was one of those.
In 1945, he was sitting on an oil barrel up in Thule Greenland, in the land of the midnight sun, reading the BB. He was in the service, World War II was just ending, he was 25 yrs. old, and he had no contact with the program. But he was beginning sobriety.
After his time was up, he came back, found meetings, and eventually met Dr. Bob and his wife. They became close friends. Then one day, on a trip to the East Coast, I came in contact with him. I wasn’t all that long in the program and he picked that out, when we met. He was the man, who encouraged me to proceed to the 8th and 9th Steps. A move, which introduced me to the Promises and a return to sanity.
I was also reminded of the Chapter “There Is A Solution”. Back to that moment, when Dr. Carl Jung said to the young man that he had the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I remember when I first read that I knew that that was me. That’s exactly what was wrong with me. Then, when Dr. Jung told the man what the solution was, a spiritual experience, it was, as Bill W. said in a letter to Dr. Jung, what really got this program underway. His letter in The Language of the Heart is worth reading.
I also was thinking about Dr. Harry Tiebout, who ran a NYC psychiatric hospital and became one of the leading supporters of this program. He had wards filled with alcoholics and was always searching for relief for the alcoholic. He somehow got hold of a copy of the BB on Ditto paper, before it was printed. He had one of his women patients read the copy and she asked if she could meet the people, who wrote it. He got her to a meeting and she came back and walked on the ward and announced to the other patients, “We’re not alone anymore”. She and others got sober.
Anyway, as we sat there reading this chapter, these thoughts were running through my mind. How grateful I am to be sober and a member of this great program.