DOCSLIB.ORG

Sheets of Sobriety August 2020

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 Subscribe Past Issues Translate RSS Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 [email protected] IN THIS ISSUE But For the Grace of God: What this AA Slogan means to you Interview with an "Old-Timer": 27 years of sobriety Your Submissions: AA Fellowship SOS Funnies: Joke overload! History of AA: Remembering the roots of AA Committee Announcements: Indianapolis Intergroup will be meeting in August via Zoom https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 Topic Time: Finding Hope in AA Your responses as to what this slogan means to you! https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 But for the grace of I was headed down a God go I......no dark and deadly path judgement! bc it’s and God stepped in to only by Gods grace stop me. that I’m not where that person is and I could be at any time I would be totally if I don’t stay screwed but for the spiritually fit. grace of God. I don't know why I have been so blessed but I sure I have been saved am grateful. several time by the grace of God How I'm alive, while so many close to me Willingness is an have passed, I'm not attitude that can sure. But I am change every persons blessed to still be life forever here. God has given me grace and mercy, and when I've I would still be accomplished what I drunk, homeless, in signed up for in this that state of life, he will bring complete me home. And I won't demoralization, know exactly what it hopelss state of mind is until then. and body BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD That moment of clarity or window of Only by the grace of opportunity. That was God grace. The fact that https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 I'm still here is mercy. I'm alive Humility "that could've been me, but God chose differently" God gave me a gift I did not deserve I couldn't figure this out of my own, God's grace was but the grace of God always there I just made a way for me to had to find the be shown. willingness to accept it Gods Grace is something he bestows upon us but based on I am only here now by our past behavior we God’s Grace and mercy are not deserving of. Example You pray for a new job which you get despite having His will not mine been fired from the last jobs because you showed up drunk. Gods To me it means don't grace allowed this to judge other happen. alcoholics for their f Ed up lives and choices. I was The piece of God in blessed with my us that isn't our moment of clarity and will. that I had the https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 support and ability to have it take hold and keep me sober. To stay humble and There, but for the not judge...to Grace of my Higher believe that God is Power, go I. It could doing for us what we have been me. I'm cannot do for eternally grateful ourselves and that it's not. maybe just maybe all will be well. We be fucked........but by There but for "grace Gods grace. We be of God go I" in unfucked. reference to another individual active in Some one write that their addiction.... down And that I am no God reached into that better or worse than dark scary place I any other person, was at in my life and that if I hadn't pulled me back into surrendered and the light of love. picked up the kit Even when I didn’t laid at my feet I'd deserve it. be worse than I ever was. I'm no one to judge. And I'm humbly Grace is the walking in a new way undeserved favor of of life so freely God that let me live! given. If I hadn't accepted There go I. a new life shown by https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 God's light, I'd still be the person I sometimes it means was. Good orderly Direction to me..the grace of By his mercy I am Good walking Orderly Direction But for the Twelve Steps, jails, institutions and death would be my fate. Sometimes a miracle is what didn't happen to you!! Indy Online AA Meetings https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 Interview with an "Old-Timer" Interview with an Old-Timer John- D.O.S. 03/21/93 1. Why did you come to AA? How did you get https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 here? How did you know you were powerless over alcohol? I first came to AA in 1988 after flunking out of college, drinking more and more daily and after a failed suicide attempt and after my 21st birthday. My psychiatrist helped me understand that if I was always drunk when I was in trouble, it might be that I needed to stop drinking if I wanted to stop being in and having trouble. My dad was in AA already so the door to it had been propped open by his success. I knew I was powerless over alcohol for sure was when I had relapsed, gone out for a good six month binge, and woke up in my tub covered in vomit with no idea how I’d made it home. 2. What was your first meeting like? I remember little about my first meeting in 1988, other than it was in a dark church basement in Boston on Newbury Street, just across the street from where I had begun to work and that I heard, “Don’t Drink, Go to Meetings, and Ask for Help.” That has stuck with me over 32 years later. 3. What was the most memorable thing someone did or said to you and your first years of sobriety? Not sure that I remember anything specific that stuck with me in the early days, mostly because I think I killed too many brain cells. But I do remember what I wrote in #2. https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 4. Why have you stayed and why do you keep coming back? I have stayed, and I keep coming back because I am 100% positive if I don’t, I’ll get drunk again, somehow- someday. It’s in AA where I have found happy, joyous, and free from the pain that my drinking caused me. 5. What does Hope mean to you? Hope is the belief that it can always get better, even if only a little bit. It means that if I can make it through today, sober, I've won, and I've built one more arch in the foundation that will help keep me sober. 6. What does fear mean to you? Fear is such a powerful and real fear in my life, and I’m so bummed that it still is the case these many years later. I like the phrase “False Evidence Appearing Real,” because it reminds me that much of my fears are imaginary and made up by me- not freed in me. Which means if I use my tools to deal with it, I can overcome it and “Face Everything And Recover.” 7. Have you had a spiritual awakening? Tell me about it. I think I have had many spiritual awakenings, with perhaps the strongest one when I completed my 5th Step and when I felt https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 I had finally completed my 9th Step. I felt the presence of my Higher Power in a very real way on both occasions. I think I had one too when I had my first 5th Step as a sponsor. It was so real and powerful to be trusted with such a personal moment. And I have them at meetings all the time as I listen to others share their success, pain, fear, hope- all the elements of their sobriety. 8. What was your hardest amends? My hardest amends was to my wife, who had never seen me drunk but experienced all of the character defects that I'd never worked to remove by working the steps for the first 6 years or so that we knew each other. 9. Tell me about how you work steps 10 and 11? Not well. I try to review my day before going to sleep and 10 if I had any amends to make- then I wake up the next day, find something to be grateful for, thank God for it, ask for help to stay sober, and make the amends at some point in the day.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • JULY 2020 I Am Responsible When Anyone, Volume 44, #7 Anywhere, Reach- Es out for Help, I Want the Hand of A.A
    JULY 2020 I am responsible when anyone, Volume 44, #7 anywhere, reach- es out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there, and for that I am respon- life·line | \ ˈlīf-ˌlīn : 1. A rope or line used for life-saving, typically one thrown to rescue someone in difficulties in water. 2. A thing on which someone depends for a means of escape from a difficult situation. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com An early criticism Washington D.C.- of Alcoholics Anony- Washington Colored mous was that its pro- Group later rechris- gram of recovery was tened The Cosmopoli- drawn primarily from tan Group) and details the collective experi- the experiences of ences of white men early Black AA mem- and thus unsuitable bers drawn from inter- for people of color. views and taped AA Such declarations talks with five key fig- have since been chal- ures (Bill Williams, lenged by surveys Jimmy Miller, Harold within communities of Brown, Dr. James C. color indicating AA as Scott, Jr., and John one of the preferred Shaifer). Heroes of choices for people Early Black AA closes seeking help with alcohol problems, recent surveys of with the story of Joe AA membership revealing significant (11-15%) repre- McQuany, widely known for his role in the Joe and sentation of non-White ethnic minorities, and studies of Charlie Tapes (Big Book Study Guide) that are revered treatment linkage to AA indicating that people of color by many within the AA fellowship. are as likely, or more likely, than Whites to participate in Three qualities distinguish Heroes of Early Black AA following professional treatment.
    [Show full text]
  • Spirituality and Drug Addiction Recovery
    Spirituality, Substance Use and Recovery Presenter Dr. Tracy Nichols DISCLAIMER In compliance with ACCME guidelines, the following speakers have no financial or other relationships with the manufacturer(s) of any commercial services(s) discussed in this educational activity. Domestic ATTCs’ Mission Established in 1993 by SAMHSA, the domestic ATTCs: Accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence‐based and promising addiction treatment and recovery-oriented practices and services; Heighten the awareness, knowledge, and skills of the workforce that addresses the needs of people with substance use and/or other behavioral health disorders; and Foster regional and national alliances among culturally diverse practitioners, researchers, policy makers, funders, and the recovery community. Spirituality, Substance Use and Recovery Presenter Dr. Tracy Nichols OBJECTIVES Learn the benefits of Spirituality in recovery. Learn how to implement Spirituality through recovery. Learn different ways of embracing Spirituality. Learn how to connect to your higher power within you. "The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the INNER ATTITUDES OF THEIR MINDS, can change the OUTER ASPECTS OF THEIR LIVES." - William James What is Spirituality? What is Substance Use? Spirituality is the experience and Addiction is characterized by inability to integration of meaning and consistently abstain, impairment in purpose in life through behavioral control, craving, diminished connectedness with self, others, recognition of significant problems with art, music, literature, nature or a one’s behaviors and interpersonal power greater than oneself relationships, and a dysfunctional (Burkhart and Solari-Twadell). emotional response. Three dimensional cognitive– What is Recovery? behavioral process-relationship Recovery is a process of change through with self, others, and a higher which individuals improve their health power (Brown, Peterson, & and wellness, live a self-directed life, Cunningham,1988).
    [Show full text]
  • Nature Coast Journal June 2020
    1 NATURE COAST JOURNAL JUNE 2020 How Alcoholics Anonymous Got Started In 1931 an American business executive, Rowland Hazard, after trying all the possibilities of medi- cine and psychiatry in the United States, sought treatment for alcoholism with the famous psychia- trist Dr. Carl Jung in Switzerland. After a year of treatment, Rowland H. the alcoholic felt confident that his compulsion to drink had been removed. However, he found himself drunk shortly after leaving the care of Dr. Jung. Back again in Switzerland Rowland H the, dejected and depressed, was told by Dr Jung, that his case was nearly hopeless (as with other alcoholics he had treated) and that his only hope (might be) a spiritual conversion with a religious group of his choice. On his return to the United States , Rowland got in contact with the Oxford Group and soon so- bered up. The Oxford Group was an Evangelical Christian Fellowship founded by American Christian mis- sionary Dr. Franklin Buchman. Buchman was a Lutheran minister who had a conversion experi- ence in 1908 in a Chapel in Keswick , England . As a result of that experience, he founded a move- ment called A First Century Christian Fellowship in 1921, which had become known as the Oxford Group by 1931. The Oxford Group’s concepts were, total surrender of un-manageability of the problem, self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects (public confession), restitution for harm done, and working with others. The Oxford Group was not confined to members of alcoholics only; a mixed bag of ‘troubled souls’ were also welcomed. A chance meeting with Ebby Thacher, another chronic alcoholic who was about to be admitted to a Lunatic Asylum; Rowland H passed on the message Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • June 2019 Lifeline
    I am responsi- ble when any- JUNE 2019 Volume 43, No. 6 one, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there, and for that I am respon- sible. life·line | \ ˈlīf-ˌlīn : 1. A rope or line used for life-saving, typically one thrown to rescue someone in difficulties in water. 2. A thing on which some- one depends for a means of escape from a difficult situation. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com On a Friday night, September 17, 1954, Bill Dotson died in Akron, Ohio. "That is, people say he died, but he really didn't," wrote Bill Wilson. "His spirit and works are today alive in the hearts of uncounted AA's, and who can doubt that Bill already dwells in one of those many mansions in the great beyond." Bill Dotson, the "Man on the Bed," was AA number 3. At his death, he had not had a drink in more than nineteen years. His date of so- briety was the date he entered Akron's City Hospital for his last detox, June 26, 1935. Two days later occurred that fateful day when two sober alcoholics visited him: Dr. Bob Smith of Akron, Ohio, and Bill Wilson, a guest of Dr. Bob's from New York. A few days before, Dr. Bob had said to Bill: "If you and I are going to stay sober, we had better get busy." Dr. Bob called Akron's City Hospital and told the nurse, a "Mrs. Hall," that he and a man from New York had a cure for alcoholism.
    [Show full text]
  • What's What in Aa History
    PLACES & THINGS IN AA HISTORY (Many heartfelt thanks go out to Archie M., who compiled this!!!) REFERENCES: (A) ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE (AA) (B) BILL W. by Robert Thomsen (C) CHILDREN OF THE HEALER by Bob Smith & Sue Smith Windows as told to P. Christine Brewer (D) DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLD TIMERS (AA) (E) A.A. EVERYWHERE ANYWHERE (AA) (G) GRATEFUL TO HAVE BEEN THERE by Nell Wing (H) THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART (AA) (L) LOIS REMEMBERS by Lois Wilson (N) NOT-GOD by Ernest Kurtz (P) PASS IT ON (AA) (S) SISTER IGNATIA BY Mary C. Darrah (SM) THE SERVICE MANUAL (AA) (TC) TWELVE CONCEPTS FOR WORLD SERVICE (AA) (W) A.A., THE WAY IT BEGAN by Bill Pittman (Note: Each snippet is referenced: example (B 147)=Bill W. page 147, (N 283)=Not-God page 283,(P 111)=Pass It On page 111.) 1st psychiatrists recognize A.A.'s effectiveness Dr. Harry Tiebout (A 2) (E 19) (G 66) (H 369) 1st Trustees Frank Amos (G 92) 1st 3 Steps culled Bill's reading James, teaching Dr. Sam Shoemaker & Oxford Group; 1st Step dealt calamity & disaster, 2nd admission defeat 1 could not live strength own resources, 3rd appeal Higher Power help (P 199) 1st 13th step Lil involved 13th step Victor former Akron mayor (D 97) 1st A.A. archivist Nell Wing (E 78) 1st A.A. Cleveland group meeting May 12, 1939 home Abby G. Cleveland Heights Cleveland, 16 members (A 21) (N 78) (S 32) 1st A.A. clubhouse 334 1/2 24th Street, 1940, old Illustrators Club (A viii,12,180) (B 304) (G 86) (H 47,147) (L 127,172) 1st A.A.
    [Show full text]
  • The God(S) of 12-Step Recovery* Anonymous
    GOD ANONYMOUS: The God(s) of 12-Step Recovery* Anonymous Introduction: The only prerequisite for joining any 12-Step recovery program is a desire to be free of our addictive behavior. While the program uses the terms “God” and “higher power,” it is also explicit about not imposing any religion, creed or dogma. In this way, anyone can participate regardless of their belief system. The founders of AA were committed to making the program accessible, not only to Christians, but to people of other faiths or no faith at all. That said, the program does lead people on a journey of surrender to one’s “higher power,” including practices such as prayer and meditation, even if only “as if” God exists. These practices are meant to improve the addict’s conscious contact with their higher power, trusting that this will also deepen and heal their understanding of God. In that context, I see two notions of God at work within the program: 1. the God of the addict’s understanding and 2. a God whose nature and attributes are described in the program. I. The God of our understanding: Whether one comes from a dogmatic religious background or has no faith at all, when we speak of “God,” we admit that our ideas of God are incomplete and biased, formed by our culture, family and experiences. These ideas form “our understanding of God,” however immature, broken or twisted. Some of the most distorted images of God arise from early childhood trauma or overdeveloped fundamentalist training. Some addicts may be unable to entertain any idea of a God, so they may begin by thinking of their higher power as the principles of the program or embodied by the fellowship they attend.
    [Show full text]
  • Sobriety Variety Pages
    Sobriety Variety Pages VOLUME 7, ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2007 long form of tradition 10 No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., ex- press any opinion on outside controversial issues-particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups op- pose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever. step 10 Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. service concept 10 Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal service authority — the scope of such authority to be always well defined whether by tradition, by resolution, by specific job description or by appropriate charters and bylaws. P A G E 2 letter from the editor This month’s issue focuses on the 10th step, tradittraditionion and service concept. We hope you enjoy the information and activities each month. We also hope you will pass your copy on to an alcoholic who has not read Sobriety Variety Pages and send us your thoughts and ideas at [email protected]. If you or a friend would like to receive a PDF version by email each month just drop us a line at our email address. As always, thanks to the volunteers that “carry thethe message” by answering the intergroup phones and working in a myriad of ways to keep our groups and service structure on the move. Yours in Service, the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous American understanding of alcoholism in the 1930s “… the only Public opinion in post-Prohibition 1930s America saw alcoholism as a moral failing, and possibility for a the medical profession saw it as a condition that in many cases was incurable and lethal.
    [Show full text]
  • An Existential Approach: an Alternative to the AA Model of Recovery
    An Existential Approach: An Alternative To The AA Model of Recovery Maria A. Rogers Debra Cobia Auburn University schizophrenia, for example, they have a 47% lifetime history of substance abuse Abstract or dependence (Regier,et al. 1990). Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the most In the past, it has been noted that mental widely used organization for the health professionals have not performed treatment of alcoholism. AA’s well in their treatment of substance philosophy has changed how many abuse disorders (Brown, 1985; people view themselves and their Khantzian, 1985; Vaillant, 1995). substance use. The majority of Professionals argued that the spread of substance abuse programs in the United self-help groups such as Alcoholics States use the 12 steps, either by making Anonymous (AA) occurred because of them the basis of their treatment the ineffective responses by mental program, or by introducing AA to clients health professionals to substance abuse as a means of recovery. Research is not problems (Khantzian, 1985). According clear, however, as to whether working to Shaffer (1986), professionals were the AA program is helpful in achieving confronted with an array of treatment sobriety. Based on a review of the models, professional and self help, for literature, this article examines substance abuse problems, and none of differences between AA and them appeared to demonstrate a high professional counseling, and explores degree of effectiveness. Additionally, AA’s philosophy. An existential some reviews of the history of the approach to therapy is reviewed with treatment of substance abuse have regard to case conceptualization, argued that the traditional assessment and interventions in treating psychodynamic approach to treating individuals suffering with alcohol- individuals with substance abuse issues related issues.
    [Show full text]
  • When Pain and Sin Take Over Our Lives, Sometimes It Can Be a Bit Like a Flood of Destruction
    When pain and sin take over our lives, sometimes it can be a bit like a flood of destruction. We might make progress, only to have it come back again, or the sins and struggles can have an affect on the lives of others much like the waters of a flood. It’s easy to see why some people can despair. But as a Christian, we are not sitting around on earth waiting for an escape. Earth is not hell. Rather, we as Christians pray the Lord’s prayer, and say “on earth as it is in heaven” and “thy Kingdom come.” Throughout the season of Easter, as we’ve read through the readings from revelation and reflected on the victory of our Lord over sin and death, we’ve been invited to also think about how the new heaven and new earth that John writes of in our second reading we can begin to make present here and now. For while sin is powerful, far more so is the love of God at work through you and me. And it has such amazing power to do great things. In the 1970s, Bill Borchert found himself doing research, though he didn’t know it at the time, for what would become a film and a book. The film was “My Name is Bill W” about the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the book was called the Lois Wilson story: When Love is Not Enough. Page 1 of 15 You may know the name Bill W. But I knew very little about Lois until I read about Bill’s experience with her when he interviewed her.
    [Show full text]
  • Members Ofthe Clergy Ask About Alcoholics Anonymous
    P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa_P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.qxd 3/22/16 3:27 PM Page 2 This is A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature Members of the Clergy ask about Alcoholics Anonymous P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa_P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.qxd 3/22/16 3:27 PM Page 2 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOU S® is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recov - er from alcoholism. • The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. • A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. • Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Copyright © by A.A. Grapevine, Inc.; reprinted with permission Copyright © 1961, 1979 Revised 1992 According to 1989 Conference Advisory Action Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. 475 Riverside Drive New York, NY 10115 Mail address: Box 459, Grand Central Station New York, NY 10163 www.aa.org This is A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature 15M—03/16 (DG3) Revised per 53rd Conference 2 P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa_P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.qxd 3/22/16 3:27 PM Page 3 Members of the Clergy Ask About Alcoholics Anonymous 3 P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa_P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.qxd 3/22/16 3:27 PM Page 4 4 P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa_P-25_membersoftheclergyaskaboutaa.qxd 3/22/16 3:27 PM Page 5 No matter how grievous the alcohol obsession, we happily find that other vital choices can still be made.
    [Show full text]
  • A Higher Power Obsessions with Cocaine, Drugs, And/Or As Long As You Are Willing, Your Belief Will Alcohol
    The Twelve Traditions of The Twelve Steps of Cocaine Anonymous Cocaine Anonymous A Higher 1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery 1. We admitted we were powerless over cocaine and all other depends upon C.A. unity. mind-altering substances – that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – Power a loving God as He may express Himself in our group 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do restore us to sanity. not govern. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of 3. The only requirement for C.A. membership is a desire to stop God as we understood Him. using cocaine and all other mind-altering substances. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the other groups or C.A. as a whole. exact nature of our wrongs. 5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of to the addict who still suffers. character. 6. A C.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the C.A. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gift Economy in Early Alcoholics Anonymous
    Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny: The Gift Economy in Early Alcoholics Anonymous History and the Creation of The Big Book A Senior Project presented to the Faculty of the History Department California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Arts in History By Timothy Joel Parker March, 2021 © 2021 Timothy Joel Parker Parker 1 In November of 1934 William “Bill” Wilson was released from his third stay at Towns Hospital in New York City for what was deemed a medically hopeless addiction to alcohol. Heavily in debt and without work as a stockbroker following the 1929 market crash, Bill was offered a gift that would upend his life and eventually influence the lives of millions of other people.1 Visited by an old schoolmate named Ebby Thacher, Bill proceeded to uncork a bottle of gin and drink liberally as he listened to his friend explain that a spiritual solution had cured him of his desire to drink. The appearance and demeanor of the man hardly matched the Ebby of Bill’s memory. Five years prior, in more prosperous times, the two men had chartered a barnstorm flight from Albany to Manchester, Vermont during one of many inspired all-night benders. The arc of both men’s drinking and fortunes declined swiftly in the intervening years and Ebby had only recently been released from a psychiatric hold due to his habits. Bill would soon write, “The door opened and he stood there, fresh-skinned and glowing. There was something about his eyes.
    [Show full text]