I was invited to speak at an A.A. Convention a few years back and my oldest son, himself a recovering addict, introduced me.
History does repeat itself - in more ways than one.
As a teenager I vowed that I would never, ever, drink like my mother did. The trouble was that from my first experience with alcohol to my last, after I took the first drink, I simply could not guarantee that I would not go off on a binge. The binges became more frequent and more long lasting. It wasn't that I lacked seriousness about the problem - it was simply that I could not not return to drinking. Willpower, guilt, remorse, vows, pledges were to no avail.