Transcript

[00:02.2 – 00:09.5] My feelings towards this wonderful woman that's going to talk to you next, but I don't have. [00:09.5 – 00:17.4] She will go down in history as one of America's great women. [00:17.4 – 00:23.7] And I know that you're anxious to hear her, whatever she might want to say. [00:23.7 – 00:28.2] She's been kind enough, each one of these meetings, to help me on this program. [00:28.2 – 00:38.2] And I didn't want to impose on her tonight, but I asked her if she would– if she didn't want to do anything but get up and introduce herself, would she [00:38.2 – 00:38.7] do that? [00:38.7 – 00:42.4] She said, "I'll do anything you want me to do," so Marty, would you please come up? [00:42.4 – 00:48.4] Thanks, Al. [00:48.4 – 00:50.5] It's true. [00:50.5 – 00:59.3] I couldn't refuse Al, even though I hadn't planned to speak tonight, and even though I think this was a more than adequate program. [00:59.3 – 01:03.0] I feel a little bit like a pointless period. [01:03.0 – 01:12.2] I've sat here listening to the three speakers that have made up this program, and I've been deeply impressed. [01:12.2 – 01:21.8] And I thought as they were talking of how difficult it is to say what AA is. [01:21.8 – 01:27.0] It is so much to so many. [01:27.0 – 01:31.4] It is so many different things to so many different people. [01:31.4 – 01:41.3] But there's one thing that came through each of the three talks, and it would have with Al if he'd given his story, and it would with me if I told mine. [01:41.3 – 01:48.4] AA is the bridge whereby the lost will come from. [01:48.4 – 01:51.6] All of us were lost. [01:51.6 – 01:55.4] That's what alcoholism does to you. [01:55.4 – 01:57.9] It's been called the loneliest disease. [01:57.9 – 02:08.0] And I think you heard in what each one of these men said, each with their different backgrounds, [02:08.0 – 02:16.6] each with their different lives, the loneliness came through, the feeling of separation. [02:16.6 – 02:27.6] You know, the moralists, and the clergy, and the churches, and many of the people for hundreds of years have [02:27.6 – 02:31.1] looked upon this as a sin, a terrible sin. [02:31.1 – 02:33.5] Alcoholics were sinners. [02:33.5 – 02:35.5] Alcoholism was a sin. [02:35.5 – 02:46.5] I found this very difficult to bear as I came to learn what it really was, a [02:46.5 – 02:58.5] difficult and complex illness, a sickness of body, mind, and soul, a condition beyond the control of the person who had it, a [02:58.5 – 02:59.9] thing that no one seeks. [02:59.9 – 03:04.2] No alcoholic ever set out to become an alcoholic. [03:04.2 – 03:08.1] No one ever sought alcoholism. [03:08.1 – 03:13.9] It came upon them when they were seeking things that other people also seek. [03:13.9 – 03:21.6] Just remember that when alcoholics start drinking, they're doing what everybody else is doing, too. [03:21.6 – 03:24.4] They're not committing a crime. [03:24.4 – 03:28.7] They're not doing anything peculiar. [03:28.7 – 03:32.6] They're not doing anything that is against all social custom and acceptance. [03:32.6 – 03:34.8] They're doing what everybody does. [03:34.8 – 03:45.0] They don't start out to become the kind of people that alcoholism makes them, the kind of people that gain only the [03:45.0 – 03:50.6] contempt and the hostility of the rest of the world as their alcoholism progresses. [03:50.6 – 04:01.3] When I began to learn this, after I discovered that what was wrong with me was called alcoholism, I [04:01.3 – 04:11.3] felt a deep resentment at those people who persisted in blaming it on the alcoholic, calling the alcoholic a sinner, and [04:11.3 – 04:21.4] speaking of this terrible condition which had come upon us against our own wills and without any desire on our part as a sin. [04:21.4 – 04:26.9] Because I felt that sin must be something that you chose. [04:26.9 – 04:37.7] If the whole fact of it was the power to choose between right or wrong or good and evil, and the alcoholic has no power of choice. [04:37.7 – 04:47.8] That is the nature of alcoholism, the loss of the power of choice over whether to drink, when to drink, where to drink, and how [04:47.8 – 04:48.4] much to drink. [04:48.4 – 04:50.5] And so I couldn't see this. [04:50.5 – 05:00.5] Some years ago, it must be about ten years ago, at one of our annual meetings of my organization, we [05:00.5 – 05:04.1] had an Episcopal bishop as our main speaker at our luncheon. [05:04.1 – 05:08.3] I seem to be joining this procession of eccentrics lately. [05:08.3 – 05:12.7] And this bishop talked on sin. [05:12.7 – 05:17.4] This was at a meeting of the National Council on Alcoholism. [05:17.4 – 05:23.6] And when he was finished, he had resolved many doubts in many minds, beginning with my own. [05:23.6 – 05:33.8] For he had a definition of sin which not only made sense to me, but gave me some understanding of how that word [05:33.8 – 05:36.5] could be applied to alcoholism. [05:36.5 – 05:46.7] He said that in his belief, sin was separation, separation from God, and [05:46.7 – 05:48.3] therefore separation from man. [05:48.3 – 05:57.0] To put it in my words, sin means that you've either been kicked out or you've walked out on the human race. [05:57.0 – 05:58.4] You've resigned from it. [05:58.4 – 06:04.5] Many of us who have been through alcoholism don't believe that we resigned. [06:04.5 – 06:06.4] We know we were kicked out. [06:06.4 – 06:16.4] Many of us continue our drinking, I think, far longer than we otherwise might because we [06:16.4 – 06:23.6] do not believe there is anyone who will let us come back. [06:23.6 – 06:24.7] We are the lost. [06:24.7 – 06:27.2] We are the separated. [06:27.2 – 06:37.5] We are those who have lost the ability to communicate with others or to be communicated [06:37.5 – 06:38.5] with. [06:38.5 – 06:44.4] We're on the outside, looking in maybe, but looking in through thick glass. [06:44.4 – 06:54.6] It's quite likely that nothing might have come along that would have shown [06:54.6 – 07:03.4] the way back into the human race and back into contact with our creator if A.A. [07:03.4 – 07:04.4] had not come into being. [07:04.4 – 07:06.6] For this is what it really is. [07:06.6 – 07:16.7] This is the means by which the alcoholic finds acceptance back into the human race, acceptance [07:16.7 – 07:27.3] by people like himself who were also separated, who were also lonely, who were also rejected, [07:27.3 – 07:29.3] unwanted, unloved. [07:29.3 – 07:37.3] And here is a group that opens their arms, and that says, "Come in. [07:37.3 – 07:38.2] You're one of us. [07:38.2 – 07:39.5] You belong here. [07:39.5 – 07:41.9] You're wanted here. [07:41.9 – 07:47.7] More than that, you're needed here." Because A.A. [07:47.7 – 07:49.8] says to every newcomer, "We need you. [07:49.8 – 07:52.6] We need more workers. [07:52.6 – 07:56.1] Come in and get sober so you can go out and help others. [07:56.1 – 07:59.6] There are so many whom we haven't reached yet. [07:59.6 – 08:11.0] We need all those we can get." And for the first time perhaps in many, many years, the [08:11.0 – 08:12.8] alcoholic is no longer separated. [08:12.8 – 08:20.1] This, I think, is what the essence of A.A. [08:20.1 – 08:30.2] is: this bridge that restores the lost to the human race and at the same time [08:30.2 – 08:35.4] heals the separation between the lost soul and God. [08:35.4 – 08:44.5] Marty M. [08:44.5 – 08:52.2] That's awfully hard for me to introduce her like that. [08:52.2 – 09:02.2] And get these guys fixed up with their calling [09:02.2 – 09:04.1] spices. [09:04.1 – 09:14.1] You know, I rather agree with Ray that for me to be introduced as [09:14.1 – 09:14.9] Marty M. [09:14.9 – 09:17.8] at this point at this institute is a little silly. [09:17.8 – 09:27.9] But this kind of thing happens to me very frequently, and I usually explain to people that [09:27.9 – 09:29.3] actually I'm a schizophrenic. [09:29.3 – 09:38.2] I am two quite separate people, and the person that they have been listening to at the institute, known as Mrs. [09:38.2 – 09:45.6] Marty Mann, wouldn't possibly be there if it weren't for this anonymous individual called Marty. [09:45.6 – 09:55.9] For had there not been a Marty who developed the disease of alcoholism and suffered intensely [09:55.9 – 10:05.2] from it and was fortunate enough after five years of searching to find a way out, there certainly couldn't be a Mrs. [10:05.2 – 10:08.5] Mann who works in the field of alcoholism. [10:08.5 – 10:14.0] That's putting it personally. [10:14.0 – 10:15.6] But I think since this is an A.A. [10:15.6 – 10:25.9] meeting for the benefit of a great many people who are not members of A.A., who may have no cause whatsoever to even consider they'll ever become [10:25.9 – 10:36.0] members of A.A., many of whom may not even drink, that it ought to be said right here and now that this [10:36.0 – 10:46.1] institute at the University of Texas and all of the talks that have been heard here and all of the work that has been done [10:46.1 – 10:56.1] everywhere which made the talk possible in the way of research and studies and all of the rest of it, none [10:56.1 – 11:02.1] of this, I don't believe, could have happened had it not been for A.A. [11:02.1 – 11:04.3] A.A. [11:04.3 – 11:14.3] is the other side of the coin in the field of alcoholism, just as in my own personal case, Marty the [11:14.3 – 11:21.2] alcoholic, recovered through A.A., had to be there first before anything else could happen. [11:21.2 – 11:25.8] You see, until A.A. [11:25.8 – 11:31.9] came along, the general impression was that drunks were hopeless. [11:31.9 – 11:38.4] There was very good reason for that impression. [11:38.4 – 11:40.4] Not very many of them ever got over it. [11:40.4 – 11:51.7] I don't think anybody's ever been able to make a count because while here and there throughout history, there [11:51.7 – 12:01.8] are records of people whose names we know who stopped drinking and went on to make something of themselves, and the founder of this [12:01.8 – 12:04.4] state that we're in is one of them. [12:04.4 – 12:13.3] I don't know how many Texans know that Sam Houston had been drunk among the Cherokees for many years. [12:13.3 – 12:18.8] Constantly, consistently, and hopelessly drunk. [12:18.8 – 12:28.8] When friends went and found him there and told him there was a job to be done that they felt only he could do. [12:28.8 – 12:39.1] And in his particular case, this is what put the light back in his eyes and gave him the enthusiasm [12:39.1 – 12:49.3] and faith and the reason to stop drinking and go ahead and become [12:49.3 – 12:51.2] the man that is revered in this state. [12:51.2 – 13:01.2] And if you should do any historical reading with this in mind, you would find that there were others. [13:01.2 – 13:05.4] But all put together, they don't make very many. [13:05.4 – 13:15.6] And there was never a case on record in any of them where they were able to form about them a group of people [13:15.6 – 13:16.5] like themselves. [13:16.5 – 13:23.1] Because apparently, in all of these cases, they didn't quite know what it was that had happened. [13:23.1 – 13:27.4] They didn't quite know how they had been able to stop. [13:27.4 – 13:32.5] And so they had nothing to pass on. [13:32.5 – 13:44.9] And I'm sure there may have been others, besides the ones that we can read about in history books, who also were able to stop, possibly [13:44.9 – 13:51.4] through a religious conversion, for this creates miracles when it happens. [13:51.4 – 14:00.3] Possibly through a great love, for love is somewhat like a conversion and it too creates miracles. [14:00.3 – 14:09.8] Possibly through an infinite compassion and patience on the part of someone who helped, for this is a kind of miracle too. [14:09.8 – 14:20.0] But when these things happen to the ones we don't know about, we can be pretty sure that [14:20.0 – 14:22.1] they didn't talk about it very much. [14:22.1 – 14:32.2] That if they wanted to go on and lead a normal life and become respected citizens [14:32.2 – 14:42.2] and be accepted back into human society, they didn't want it too widely known that they [14:42.2 – 14:44.2] had been drunk. [14:44.2 – 14:52.5] Because to most people, that word was a word of opprobrium. [14:52.5 – 14:57.4] It was a word that had a lot of meanings and all of them are unpleasant. [14:57.4 – 15:00.4] A drunk was bad. [15:00.4 – 15:03.3] A drunk was no good. [15:03.3 – 15:07.0] A drunk was a weapon. [15:07.0 – 15:09.8] A drunk had no character. [15:09.8 – 15:13.0] A drunk had no willpower. [15:13.0 – 15:15.9] A drunk had no backbone. [15:15.9 – 15:22.5] And once a drunk, always a drunk, because what could you expect from that kind of a person? [15:22.5 – 15:31.8] This has been a widely held viewpoint for hundreds and hundreds of years. [15:31.8 – 15:41.8] And if a person had been a drunk, knowing full well that these were the things that were said [15:41.8 – 15:51.9] about him and thought about him and believed about him, knowing full well that no one believed that [15:51.9 – 16:01.9] a drunk could ever be anything other than a drunk, he would have been quite crazy to [16:01.9 – 16:04.7] have brought it to people's attention. [16:04.7 – 16:08.4] He was only wise. [16:08.4 – 16:16.2] He was only acting in self-preservation to be as quiet as possible about it. [16:16.2 – 16:26.2] And this was true also of all those who cared for him, his family, his friends, everyone close to him. [16:26.2 – 16:28.2] For they all knew that this was the opinion. [16:28.2 – 16:38.2] A good deal of this opinion, I think, was rooted in this belief that this was a hopeless situation. [16:38.2 – 16:48.2] You can find all kinds of logic for it, but one piece of logic is that if these people indeed were so lacking [16:48.2 – 16:58.4] in human attributes, if they were indeed rather subhuman because they didn't have any of these things [16:58.4 – 17:06.1] which make a man, then how could there be any hope for them? [17:06.1 – 17:11.3] What could you do with people like that? [17:11.3 – 17:22.6] And so the idea that this was hopeless, I think, aided and abetted the [17:22.6 – 17:32.8] picture of the individual who was a drunk as someone that no one wanted, no one wanted to know, and [17:32.8 – 17:34.2] no one wanted to have around. [17:34.2 – 17:43.8] The world at large, the human race, looked down its self-righteous nose at these people. [17:43.8 – 17:54.4] And almost throughout history, if you read about it, you will find that they were vilified, ostracized, [17:54.4 – 17:59.7] and left severely alone just as much as was possible. [17:59.7 – 18:10.2] Over a hundred years ago, something happened that [18:10.2 – 18:11.9] looked as if it might change that. [18:11.9 – 18:17.4] A movement was started by a few drunks. [18:17.4 – 18:20.5] They gave it a name. [18:20.5 – 18:22.7] They called it the Washingtonian Society. [18:22.7 – 18:33.3] And for a few years, it made a difference and quite a lot of alcoholics stopped [18:33.3 – 18:35.0] drinking. [18:35.8 – 18:46.0] But the Washingtonian Society came into being at a time when there was strong feeling, and very widespread, that alcohol itself [18:46.0 – 18:51.0] was evil, that it should be abolished from the face of the earth. [18:51.0 – 19:01.1] And when many, many thousands of Americans were dedicating themselves to this cause of abolishing [19:01.1 – 19:05.3] this evil, and they joined these alcoholics. [19:05.3 – 19:15.5] And it became something other than a means of recovery for those who could not drink like other people. [19:15.5 – 19:24.6] And it lost the ability to help alcoholics, and very shortly thereafter, it died out. [19:24.6 – 19:28.4] And hope once again was deferred. [19:28.4 – 19:38.4] Deferred until the mid-1930s, when the thing we call Alcoholics Anonymous finally [19:38.4 – 19:39.2] came into being. [19:39.2 – 19:49.8] And here, for the first time, when an alcoholic recovered, and with the help [19:49.8 – 20:00.0] of a spiritual conversion, he had some idea about how it had happened and why it had happened, and [20:00.0 – 20:01.2] he could put it into words. [20:01.2 – 20:11.7] Enough so that he could pass it on to a second, and the second to a third, and [20:11.7 – 20:13.4] this chain reaction would start. [20:13.4 – 20:23.6] The chain reaction that put hope where there had been no hope, and which gradually was to reach out [20:23.6 – 20:33.6] this idea of hope and take in all kinds of people who weren't alcoholics, and who [20:33.6 – 20:40.2] now, because there was hope, saw reason to be interested and to do something. [20:40.2 – 20:49.1] I don't think any of this would have happened if AA had remained a tiny thing with a handful of people. [20:49.1 – 21:00.6] But the need was so great for it, and the suffering of those who needed it intense, that [21:00.6 – 21:01.9] it could not stay small. [21:01.9 – 21:04.7] It was bound to grow. [21:04.7 – 21:10.7] And truly, it swept this country like a prairie fire from end to end. [21:10.7 – 21:20.0] You know, curiously enough, in the very beginning days of AA, we didn't think it was for women. [21:20.0 – 21:30.3] The stigma that I talked about that resulted from this hopelessness and misconception [21:30.3 – 21:36.3] about what alcoholics were like rested twice as heavily on women as it did on men. [21:36.3 – 21:46.3] All of us who are women were brought up from the time we were little girls recognizing that because we were girls, [21:46.3 – 21:55.4] we were different, that certain roles were stricter for us, that certain things that men could do, we couldn't do. [21:55.4 – 21:59.4] In many ways, we were expected to be better than men. [21:59.4 – 22:06.5] We're not so far away from the generation that placed women on a pedestal, you know. [22:06.5 – 22:18.1] And many of us who are adults today grew up in that kind of atmosphere, and one thing women didn't do was [22:18.1 – 22:18.9] to drink too much. [22:18.9 – 22:24.4] Our circles expounded upon in most of our societies. [22:24.4 – 22:31.7] They accept the fact today that women can drink. [22:31.7 – 22:37.8] They even permit women to go into a men's bar. [22:37.8 – 22:39.0] This is within our generation. [22:39.0 – 22:50.1] And there are certain occasions, and certainly at some social circles where if women have a little bit too much at night, uh, [22:50.1 – 22:51.7] they're not ostracized. [22:51.7 – 23:01.7] But to get drunk, damn drunk, to go out of control, even now today, in [23:01.7 – 23:10.2] our rather over-liberal times, this is not acceptable anywhere by anyone. [23:10.2 – 23:20.3] And so when drinking begins to go out of control with a woman, she tends to be even more [23:20.3 – 23:23.5] secretive about it than a man. [23:23.5 – 23:27.4] To deny it even more strongly. [23:27.4 – 23:30.9] To make even greater efforts to conceal it. [23:30.9 – 23:40.5] And in many cases, to do most of her drinking when she is alone in a safe place in her own home. [23:40.5 – 23:46.0] Yes, women alcoholics are the most deeply hidden. [23:46.0 – 23:57.4] In a way, I suppose this was true with me, excepting that I grew up in the wild days of the '20s, and [23:57.4 – 24:03.0] I lived in big cities here and abroad, and I moved in circles where nothing was too much. [24:03.0 – 24:13.3] But even though that was true, even in those circles, when my drinking [24:13.3 – 24:19.3] began to go out of control, people began to speak to me about it. [24:19.3 – 24:21.0] "Why, you're becoming a drunkard. [24:21.0 – 24:24.1] What's happening to you? [24:24.1 – 24:34.5] Why don't you drink the way you used to?" And gradually, perhaps later than in women in this country who were living in smaller communities, [24:34.5 – 24:36.9] I too went underground. [24:36.9 – 24:43.6] I too concealed this from myself as well as from anyone else. [24:43.6 – 24:47.1] I too began to run away from myself and move from place to place. [24:47.1 – 24:51.0] And I was sure that all was lost. [24:51.0 – 25:01.2] For although I asked many questions and I went to many places where I might have found answers and should have found answers, no one had any answers, for [25:01.2 – 25:06.6] this was in the 1930s, and the word alcoholism was not in use. [25:06.6 – 25:08.8] I was living in England. [25:08.8 – 25:18.9] I remember in one year visiting nine doctors, all of them highly recommended to me, all of them [25:18.9 – 25:19.7] people of eminence. [25:19.7 – 25:27.1] Not a one of them ever used the word alcoholism or told me that my trouble was the drinking. [25:27.1 – 25:28.5] Oh, no. [25:28.5 – 25:30.8] I was having a nervous breakdown. [25:30.8 – 25:32.5] I had an anxiety neurosis. [25:32.5 – 25:36.3] I was working too hard and burning the candle at both ends. [25:36.3 – 25:37.7] I ought to move to the country. [25:37.7 – 25:46.9] A thousand things they told was a real trouble, the reason why I was drinking too much. [25:46.9 – 25:55.8] I did as best I could to follow most of their advice, but I discovered what they didn't apparently know. [25:55.8 – 26:02.4] I took myself untamed with me wherever I went, and therefore the drinking continued as before. [26:02.4 – 26:13.7] And gradually I lost everything I had, and I managed to get back to my own country here with nothing and [26:13.7 – 26:22.3] with no hope excepting that I might find someone here who knew answers I hadn't been able to find there. [26:22.3 – 26:29.5] And I spent another year seeking those answers, and I didn't get them, for no one knew. [26:29.5 – 26:33.5] No one knew. [26:33.5 – 26:36.8] And I am including doctors. [26:36.8 – 26:48.5] The husband of my best friend, and I'd been maid of honor in their wedding, was the head of a department at Columbia P&S, one [26:48.5 – 26:50.5] of the greatest medical schools in the world. [26:50.5 – 26:52.7] I went to him. [26:52.7 – 26:55.9] "Why," he said, "the trouble with you is you need a job. [26:55.9 – 26:57.4] You're idle. [26:57.4 – 27:00.7] You have too much time on your hands." I was too drunk to get a job. [27:00.7 – 27:05.7] I couldn't stay sober long enough to be interviewed for a job. [27:05.7 – 27:09.9] I said, "Look, Ken, I think I'm crazy." "Why? [27:09.9 – 27:12.0] I wouldn't send a friend of mine to one of those nutcrackers. [27:12.0 – 27:13.2] You come in. [27:13.2 – 27:20.1] Let me give you a physical." And I had the best that there was, and there wasn't anything wrong, not seriously, not deeply. [27:20.1 – 27:27.3] And so I went to psychiatrists anyway, and they wouldn't take me on. [27:27.3 – 27:31.2] I went to honest ones, apparently. [27:31.2 – 27:37.1] They wouldn't take me on because in the '30s they didn't know what to do about alcoholism. [27:37.1 – 27:47.2] The eighth one I went to see told me honestly that people like me had one chance in 100, that one person in 100 [27:47.2 – 27:49.1] like me occasionally recovered. [27:49.1 – 27:51.7] So they didn't put a name to it. [27:51.7 – 27:56.5] In all of these visits, I never heard the word alcoholism. [27:56.5 – 27:58.5] I never had heard it. [27:58.5 – 28:01.6] They didn't know there was such a word. [28:01.6 – 28:11.6] The fifth one who said that one in 100 of people like me, because he wouldn't put a name to it, did get me [28:11.6 – 28:21.8] into a hospital, and I did get into a sanitarium, and I did get into the hands of a doctor who was open-minded and who was seeking [28:21.8 – 28:31.7] answers, and he heard of A.A., and that's where he directed me. [28:31.7 – 28:44.2] And I consider that it was not just great good fortune, for [28:44.2 – 28:45.6] I discovered through A.A. [28:45.6 – 28:47.7] a way back to safety. [28:47.7 – 28:58.2] I received again the greatest gift that I believe has been given to man, the [28:58.2 – 29:08.4] power to believe, the power and the ability to recognize our creator, to find our place in this [29:08.4 – 29:18.8] universe, to have some notion of why we're here, and to find through this faith some way [29:18.8 – 29:22.1] of doing the things we were put here to do. [29:22.1 – 29:27.1] And this, I think, is what every human being is seeking. [29:27.1 – 29:33.1] I don't think just alcoholics need this and are looking for it. [29:33.1 – 29:38.4] I think everyone on the face of this globe is seeking the same thing and needs the same thing. [29:38.4 – 29:43.7] And when I say that I feel this was more than great good luck, I do. [29:43.7 – 29:54.0] It's a curious thing, but sometimes those who are the poorest, the saddest, [29:54.0 – 30:04.3] the most kicked around, the most unloved, the [30:04.3 – 30:13.9] most neglected, and the most forgotten are precisely the ones through whom a great message may be given. [30:13.9 – 30:25.5] And I'm not sure that it's an accident that this kind of message was given to alcoholics, people [30:25.5 – 30:37.4] who were in about the worst fix that a human being could be in, people who had absolutely nothing more to lose, nowhere further to go, who [30:37.4 – 30:39.7] were almost the pariahs of our day. [30:39.7 – 30:45.0] We have been called moral lepers, you know, very often. [30:45.0 – 30:55.7] That these were the people who received the message which says, "If [30:55.7 – 31:07.8] you will believe, and if you will follow your belief, and if you will act upon your belief in [31:07.8 – 31:16.0] loving others and wanting to help others, you will be healed." This isn't the first time this message has been given to the world. [31:16.0 – 31:25.2] The first time it has come in a way that many can use. [31:25.2 – 31:33.9] For every alcoholic who hears and learns of AA has this great gift placed in their hands. [31:33.9 – 31:44.7] And every member of AA that lives by the AA steps in [31:44.7 – 31:54.9] an effort to remake himself and herself in something closer to the image that was first created, and [31:54.9 – 32:05.6] in an effort to help others like himself and herself, each of these people, I think, are living instances [32:05.6 – 32:06.9] of a divine power. [32:06.9 – 32:08.9] This is what AA is. [32:08.9 – 32:14.5] It's all very well to talk about techniques. [32:14.5 – 32:15.2] We use them. [32:15.2 – 32:21.5] We need them, for alcoholism is a cunning and a devastating enemy. [32:21.5 – 32:32.7] But while the techniques may make it easier for us to hold out our hands to receive this gift, and [32:32.7 – 32:43.1] easier for us to use it, and easier for us to pass it on, the techniques are only a minor part of [32:43.1 – 32:44.8] what AA is really all about. [32:44.8 – 32:50.0] Yes, it is a way back to health and sanity. [32:50.0 – 32:55.2] Yes, it is a way to stop drinking, as Ray said. [32:55.2 – 32:59.1] But that's not all it is. [32:59.1 – 33:08.8] If that's all it was, it wouldn't have spread across this country and the rest of the globe like a prairie fire. [33:08.8 – 33:18.8] It wouldn't have made the dent and the impact that it has made, not just on alcoholics, but on all the world [33:18.8 – 33:21.0] that knows anything about it. [33:21.0 – 33:31.0] And it wouldn't have made the kind of impression it has made on all of us who are a part of it, so that [33:31.0 – 33:42.2] after our sixteen years, our eighteen years, our twenty years, our twenty-two years — for it was twenty-two years last April that I attended my first AA meeting — [33:42.2 – 33:45.6] we are still in it and of it and a part of it and active. [33:45.6 – 33:51.3] We wouldn't have to do this if it were just a way to sobriety. [33:51.3 – 33:54.3] We wouldn't be doing it. [33:54.3 – 33:57.4] No, it's a way beyond sobriety. [33:57.4 – 34:07.6] It is a door to life, the kind of life we always wanted to have, the kind [34:07.6 – 34:08.9] of life we were meant to have. [34:08.9 – 34:19.5] And we learned that it isn't sobriety that we found in AA, but what to do with our sobriety, [34:19.5 – 34:21.7] how best to use it. [34:21.7 – 34:31.9] And we found also that what we could do with ourselves had no end, that indeed [34:31.9 – 34:39.6] the biggest room in the world is room for improvement, that what we had entered upon was a way of growth. [34:39.6 – 34:49.6] And please, God, that all of us who are in AA will continue to grow as long as [34:49.6 – 34:50.0] we live. [34:50.0 – 34:57.4] As long as we keep contact with AA, we will, for it is a living, dynamic program. [34:57.4 – 34:59.6] It's not dead. [34:59.6 – 35:09.8] And I think that many who are not in desperate need, as we alcoholics are, of this way of life can [35:09.8 – 35:20.7] also find something of value to them in it, can also see this force at work, [35:20.7 – 35:30.7] this force that made us, this force that all of us in AA acknowledge as that Power greater [35:30.7 – 35:33.4] than ourselves that we call God. [35:33.4 – 35:34.9] Thank you.