A Gift
I’m not an alchoholic, but I know a few.
Normally, I only do fun stuff on Fridays, but this is important. Today is the birthday of Alcoholics Anonymous, at least, according to the e-mail I get from the Writer’s Almanac. Started by a stock broker and a surgeon, who had both lost everything, they started a program that would save countless lives. I doubt that they knew how far their program would go seventy years ago. Just two guys with problems trying to make it through another day.
When I was a teen-ager, I knew a guy who used to work for the CIA. He was a friend of my Dad’s, though, I don’t know how they met. I do know that he managed agents in the field once and saw some of them get killed right in the street, in front of his eyes. It was done, I was told, as a message that the government on whom they were spying knew about him, and them. A pretty strong message. Well, as you might imagine, this had a fairly strong effect on this guy. So strong that he couldn’t cope with it and, instead, he started drinking. A lot. He lost everything. His job, his family, most everything he owned. Then, he found Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps saved his life. I know because I saw him after he got sober. He was a nice guy, but he was a little quiet and, well, a little “spooky”. Working for the CIA just has to do things to you, I guess. But, he was sober and he had a new career and he was doing pretty well. So, when folks try to tell me that A.A. and the Twelve Steps are just a crutch or a cult or even just an excuse, I shake my head in wonder. I’ve seen them save lives. Me, personally. Not third-hand accounts or anecdotal stories passed down from cousins. I’ve seen first hand recovery. So, why would someone else care? If it works for those folks, does it matter if you don’t believe? Isn’t there enough room for all of us to find our own way, as long as we aren’t hurting anyone else? Even if we did once, but learned better?
I always wonder what it is that those folks who are so against the Twelve Step programs are fighting against. Is it so bad that other people find hope and joy and renewal this way? Maybe it is. Maybe those poor unfortunates just can’t let go of their own familiar maladapted coping skills long enough to try and find a better way. More’s the pity.
In any case, there’s a good article that sums up my response to those “nay sayers” of the Twelve Step programs on Beliefnet: A.A.: Not Religious, Not A Cult.
Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after."
--Ernest Hemingway
