From: suhre@meltami.dsd.trw.com
Newsgroups: alt.recovery
Subject: Re: RULES....
Date: 15 Apr 92 21:55:21 GMT
Reply-To: uunet!mdcsc!ah
Distribution: alt
Organization: TRW Space & Defense
Originator: suhre@meltami.dsd.trw.com


==========Posting for Alex==========================

Summary: The person who has the answer may not have an answer you'll
         like very much at first if you are an alcoholic.

Hello Diana Sparks,

You write:
> Actually, the 'oldtimers' in AA seemed to know this. I have been told 
> stories about how members of the first 100 sober drunks were 'strongly 
> encouraged' (made to!) do all physical tasks differently--put on the 
> left sock and shoe first instead of the right, shave (yes!!) with the 
> other hand (whichever they didn't use), etc.  It was one of Dr. Silkworth's 
> ideas, I believe.  Maybe they had something there, huh?  There was 
> a friend of mine who would have been sober 45 years this year if he 
> had lived, and he was told to do all that stuff.

> Just a little bit of history......

Well...I never thought I would be considered a bit of history :-).
Fourteen years ago I was "strongly encouraged" to change the way I put
on my socks and shoes.

I was also "strongly encouraged" to pray *on my knees* at least once a
day.

I was "strongly encouraged" to attend 30 meetings in 30 days and to
identify myself to at least ten people and call myself an alcoholic.

At the seeming whim of my sponsor, I was "strongly encouraged" to show
up a half hour early to a meeting and greet each person that walked in
the door, and say, "Hello. I'm an alcoholic, and my name is Alex."
There was standing room only at the door and we were constantly
elbowing each other as each person that entered had to go through a
gauntlet of outstretched hands. It was a popular thing for sponsors to
do with their babies (that's me).

Did they hold a gun to our heads? Yes. I think they did. I knew that my
life was on the line. They knew it too. I had tried therapists, and
drugs and changing environments. Nothing had worked. I was convinced
that if they didn't help me, I would surely die. Looking back in cool,
objective reflection, I judge that I was correct and so were they.

Was it necessary? Yes. I have sponsored people. The winners seem to be
the ones who are willing to do damned near anything to get sober. That
is just a fact. I learned a lot from the things that my sponsor made me
do. Each one of them seemed on the surface to be stupid, silly and
useless. Yet, upon completing each task, I came to understand the
importance of it. For a few moments I felt transformed. I felt some
peace. I was making progress in an area where I had known none. I was
following a path that I saw work on cases that the best medical,
psychological, and spiritual experts had failed to help. *I* was one of
those cases. I judged correctly that if AA couldn't help, I was a dead
man.

AA is not the panacia for everything and everybody, but for me it was
the only thing that worked. Looking back, it was the only thing that
could have worked. Not everyone in AA sponsors as my sponsor did. If
this is not your cup of tea, you will likely find someone who is, but
don't look for too long. The person who has the answer may not have an
answer you'll like very much if you are an alcoholic.

"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has throughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are those who cannot or will not completely
give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are
constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves."
	- Alcoholics Anonymous, second edition, page 58.
	
Alex Herrera
uunet!mdcsc!ah
=========End Posting for Alex===========
-- 
Maurice Suhre
suhre@trwrb.dsd.trw.com