Transcript

[00:00:00.640 – 00:00:05.280] Our next speaker is a man well known to me, uh, from San Antonio. [00:00:05.280 – 00:00:07.140] I was coming home. [00:00:07.140 – 00:00:09.610] I was a short yearling at the time in AA. [00:00:09.610 – 00:00:13.100] Had a big book under my arm, and this man saw it. [00:00:13.100 – 00:00:19.660] He said, "What's that?" And I said, "Well, that is a book called Alcoholics Anonymous." "Hmm," he said, "Yes, I've heard of that. [00:00:19.660 – 00:00:28.020] Uh, you know, I'm having the dickens own time." This man ran a restaurant, still does, "with my colored help. [00:00:28.020 – 00:00:30.880] Have you anything for the colored people?" I said, "Not yet. [00:00:30.880 – 00:00:36.460] We're interested in that, and we're going to work on it." And I didn't have any idea what all these questions were about except trouble with the cooks.

[00:00:36.460 – 00:00:37.720] But he'll tell you the rest of it. [00:00:37.720 – 00:00:38.379] Earl? [00:00:38.379 – 00:00:47.720] My name is Earl A., and I'm definitely an alcoholic. [00:00:47.720 – 00:00:55.400] And by the grace of God, and following this program, I haven't had a drink in four years and three months and 18 days. [00:00:55.400 – 00:01:04.000] As Colonel says, when he came in my restaurant in San Antonio, I saw this book, but it wasn't for me. [00:01:04.000 – 00:01:07.980] And he asked me would I be interested in coming down to the meetings, and of course, I was highly insulted. [00:01:07.980 – 00:01:10.540] But a week later, I was down there. [00:01:10.540 – 00:01:13.520] That was on February the 22nd, 1947.

[00:01:13.520 – 00:01:18.340] You know, this is the first time I've had a rose before breakfast. [00:01:18.340 – 00:01:26.660] I used to have four roses before breakfast, and I think that Tyler has got an outstanding job here for a convention. [00:01:26.660 – 00:01:27.930] And I've been to four of them. [00:01:27.930 – 00:01:37.620] This is the first time I've seen a beautiful meeting place like this with air conditioning, with coffee, and with Cokes all in the same room. [00:01:37.620 – 00:01:41.020] And I think they're doing a swell job, and I know somebody else is going to do this later. [00:01:41.020 – 00:01:43.940] But what do you say let's give Tyler a big hand for it. [00:01:43.940 – 00:01:51.520] You know, I want to tell… [00:01:51.520 – 00:01:54.960] Everybody's telling jokes here, and I've just got one joke, and I hope you haven't heard it.

[00:01:54.960 – 00:01:56.680] This is my pet drunk joke. [00:01:56.680 – 00:02:06.740] It's about a priest that was in a crowded bus, and, uh, he could– The bus was packed, and there was a drunk standing up, uh, reading a newspaper and [00:02:06.740 – 00:02:13.580] hanging onto a strap, and his knees were bumping into the priest, and his breath was like four– It was all these four roses and beer and what have you. [00:02:13.580 – 00:02:14.800] It was terrible. [00:02:14.800 – 00:02:25.020] So the drunk is weaving back and forth, and he's reading the newspaper, and he looks down, and he sees the priest sitting there, and he says, "By the way, Father," he says, [00:02:25.020 – 00:02:35.160] "what causes arthritis?" And, uh, the, the, the priest says, "Well, I'll tell you, my good man." He said, "Uh, drinking too much [00:02:35.160 – 00:02:45.240] whiskey, running around with the wrong kind of women, and just ba- generally bad living causes arthritis." The drunk says, "Oh." So the priest says, "Well, my good [00:02:45.240 – 00:02:55.280] man, why do you ask?" "Oh," the drunk said, "I see in the paper where the Pope's got arthritis." Now, that's

[00:02:55.280 – 00:02:57.160] my favorite drunk story. [00:02:57.160 – 00:03:02.260] And my favorite phrase in AA is thinking, thinking start your drinking. [00:03:02.260 – 00:03:06.280] And by stinking thinking, I mean screwy thinking, which we all have. [00:03:06.280 – 00:03:07.700] And stinking thinking is this. [00:03:07.700 – 00:03:10.540] For instance, I've been four years without a drink. [00:03:10.540 – 00:03:16.640] And I could very easily– And I didn't have too much trouble, so I could very easily say, "Well, I'm not an alcoholic. [00:03:16.640 – 00:03:20.180] I don't believe I am after all because I've gone four years without a drink. [00:03:20.180 – 00:03:28.640] Seemingly no trouble where all these people have so much trouble with this." And the second thing is that I never took a drink the next morning.

[00:03:28.640 – 00:03:34.160] Now, practically everybody in AA I've heard speak have always had to have an eye-opener the next morning. [00:03:34.160 – 00:03:37.120] I never took a drink because I quit every day. [00:03:37.120 – 00:03:40.329] Every day I quit, that was my last drink. [00:03:40.329 – 00:03:45.179] And then by noon, I got so jittery I had to have one little drink and then onto the cycle again. [00:03:45.179 – 00:03:54.540] Another thing, I was never in jail, and I was never in a wreck, and I didn't lose my home, and I didn't lose my business, and I didn't lose my wife. [00:03:54.540 – 00:03:59.040] And most everybody has lost one or the other, so definitely I don't think I'm an alcoholic. [00:03:59.040 – 00:04:01.000] That is stinking thinking. [00:04:01.000 – 00:04:11.240] But the reason that I don't take a drink is I said to myself that I'd give, uh, secretly, of course, like we all do, I'd give anything

[00:04:11.240 – 00:04:13.660] if I could wake up tomorrow and not take a drink. [00:04:13.660 – 00:04:15.800] If I could go through, if I could just quit this drinking. [00:04:15.800 – 00:04:20.740] Well, I found that in AA, and I, and I'm not– I'm going to preserve it. [00:04:20.740 – 00:04:22.440] I think it's too wonderful to fool with. [00:04:22.440 – 00:04:25.920] I've seen them come and sit and slide around on a program, and some have too much trouble. [00:04:25.920 – 00:04:29.560] This is the grandest way of living I've ever had, and I don't want to fool with it. [00:04:29.560 – 00:04:33.240] And the point is, you won't have any trouble if you don't have any stinking thinking. [00:04:33.240 – 00:04:38.320] Now, as they say about a clinic, it's a place for ideas.

[00:04:38.320 – 00:04:42.490] Every convention should have something we can go home with that will do good for the order. [00:04:42.490 – 00:04:46.240] And as Bill says, we grow by trial and error in AA. [00:04:46.240 – 00:04:50.600] So I've got a few notes that I make on a few little subjects that might help some of us. [00:04:50.600 – 00:04:56.440] I've got the same note that Ole was talking about on the Grapevine. [00:04:56.440 – 00:05:01.040] My first note was, you need the Grapevine, and the Grapevine needs you. [00:05:01.040 – 00:05:01.720] We need it. [00:05:01.720 – 00:05:04.940] It's a wonderful magazine, and its cost is so trivial, it's just carelessness. [00:05:04.940 – 00:05:06.440] I'm sure we haven't taken it.

[00:05:06.440 – 00:05:13.280] And I had the same dope about this four thousand four hundred and sixty-two members in AA in, in Texas. [00:05:13.280 – 00:05:15.620] I also went a step farther. [00:05:15.620 – 00:05:19.100] There was four thousand two hundred and eighty-one last year. [00:05:19.100 – 00:05:25.440] That means we've only got a hundred and eighty-one new members in this big state of ours in one year. [00:05:25.440 – 00:05:35.740] Now, that could possibly be because of another point I want to bring up, and that is this: that about a third of us attend meetings. [00:05:35.740 – 00:05:42.020] And I think if we would attend more meetings, I consider, uh, attending meetings twelve-step work. [00:05:42.020 – 00:05:51.360] I don't know if you do or not, but you know, they say AA is founded on group therapy, and if we don't go to the group, we don't attend the meetings, we're not going to have a group. [00:05:51.360 – 00:06:00.420] And another thing is that, uh, new people will come in and see Joe B. or Sam S., and so he comes about every once or every month or every six weeks.

[00:06:00.420 – 00:06:02.220] The new person does, too. [00:06:02.220 – 00:06:04.060] And it isn't help for him. [00:06:04.060 – 00:06:05.320] It isn't that group therapy for him. [00:06:05.320 – 00:06:07.560] So he'll try to do the same thing, so we have trouble. [00:06:07.560 – 00:06:13.836] So as a suggestion, it may be that we could help each other a whole lot more if we attend meetings. [00:06:13.836 – 00:06:23.876] Now, this prisoner last night made a terrific talk, and he brought up the other point that I had in mind, and that was to clear AA [00:06:23.876 – 00:06:25.816] of bums and palookas and these chiselers. [00:06:25.816 – 00:06:35.856] You take– the prisoner said, "If you got a sore thumb, cut it off." Well, these leeches that hang around AA clubs, 'cause, you know, we want to help everybody, and we, we take a chance whether, uh,

[00:06:35.856 – 00:06:36.356] to help him. [00:06:36.356 – 00:06:37.636] He may be right, and he may be wrong. [00:06:37.636 – 00:06:38.576] We, we'll help him anyway. [00:06:38.576 – 00:06:43.516] Well, it makes us kind of a sucker out of us because we are so big-hearted and so swell. [00:06:43.516 – 00:06:53.896] And I think that the nearest thing I have to an approach to that would be that every new– every one of these chiselers and cash check, uh, uh, bum check artists that come in will talk to somebody. [00:06:53.896 – 00:06:55.756] And when they talk to them, they tell them where they're from. [00:06:55.756 – 00:06:57.216] They tell them which way they're going. [00:06:57.216 – 00:07:07.276] For instance, uh, "My home was Wichita, and I'm going on a leave to Los Angeles." Well, that little information, when you know the fellow is a phony, if we'd tell our secretary, he in turn, if you can't in a smaller

[00:07:07.276 – 00:07:12.175] group, send it to the regional offices in Dallas and Houston and, uh, San Antonio. [00:07:12.175 – 00:07:18.696] Our secretaries will be glad to mail a letter to Los Angeles or whichever direction this bird is headed in and let them know and kind of look out for him. [00:07:18.696 – 00:07:23.016] It'll help take out the palookas, and, and I think that might be a suggestion. [00:07:23.016 – 00:07:29.616] Now we come to a subject that everybody's been talking about. [00:07:29.616 – 00:07:32.896] It's the most cussed and discussed subject in AA. [00:07:32.896 – 00:07:36.396] There are no fees or dues in AA. [00:07:36.396 – 00:07:38.856] And then we pass a hat. [00:07:38.856 – 00:07:44.216] And then twenty-five percent contribute, and seventy-five percent don't.

[00:07:44.216 – 00:07:49.416] And the seventy-five percent who don't contribute are the big troublemakers. [00:07:49.416 – 00:07:50.656] The place isn't run right. [00:07:50.656 – 00:07:51.816] They're not doing it right. [00:07:51.816 – 00:07:55.276] And the twenty-five percent who do contribute are big shots. [00:07:55.276 – 00:07:56.596] They're trying to run the place. [00:07:56.596 – 00:08:03.196] And it's a funny thing, but the people who do contribute with their time and money, I mean, with their money usually contribute their time. [00:08:03.196 – 00:08:08.836] And the fellow that doesn't contribute with, with neither the time or the money doesn't participate in anything. [00:08:08.836 – 00:08:13.376] And that's true for this reason: if people get something for nothing, they don't appreciate it.

[00:08:13.376 – 00:08:20.116] I gave a brand-new Buick, and he just got married, and he started working for me, and I wanted to give him all the breaks. [00:08:20.116 – 00:08:24.116] I gave him that car, and he and his wife took off three months later and went on a trip. [00:08:24.116 – 00:08:27.056] Came back, and I wish you'd seen that car. [00:08:27.056 – 00:08:28.256] It had never been washed. [00:08:28.256 – 00:08:29.376] It had never been cleaned. [00:08:29.376 – 00:08:32.156] There were cigarette holes burned all over the upholstery. [00:08:32.156 – 00:08:40.396] They'd piled boxes and luggage all over the back end and around the sides where it's beautifully, uh, the, uh, sides of the inside of the car were all scratched. [00:08:40.396 – 00:08:41.496] It was pitiful.

[00:08:41.496 – 00:08:47.836] He drove that car that looked like the dickens, and I come out, and I says, "Is that okay?" "Well, I haven't had time" on this and on that and on that. [00:08:47.836 – 00:08:51.216] I said, "Well, look, son, that's the last thing I'm ever gonna give you. [00:08:51.216 – 00:08:59.236] Now, if any time you want another car or car or anything else you want, you're gonna buy and pay for it yourself." He sold the car six months later. [00:08:59.236 – 00:09:01.876] Then he came back and wanted to work for me again. [00:09:01.876 – 00:09:03.416] You can't work your own children. [00:09:03.416 – 00:09:04.956] I mean, you just can't tell them anything. [00:09:04.956 – 00:09:08.076] But I tried it again, and this time he wanted a car. [00:09:08.076 – 00:09:18.136] He needed a car, and I said, "That's just too bad." So I said, "If you want anything from now on, you're gonna get it yourself." So he went down and bought a twelve-year-old

[00:09:18.136 – 00:09:19.956] s-seven hundred and fifty dollar Ford. [00:09:19.956 – 00:09:21.756] No speedometer. [00:09:21.756 – 00:09:25.616] You know how the windshield gets with this isinglass, and it all gets cracked, looks like ice? [00:09:25.616 – 00:09:29.556] That was the way the windshield was, and it rode like a baby carriage. [00:09:29.556 – 00:09:30.656] It bounced up and down. [00:09:30.656 – 00:09:32.296] It was a– It was just a junk. [00:09:32.296 – 00:09:34.796] So he said, "Dad, isn't that a wonderful car? [00:09:34.796 – 00:09:42.716] Didn't I make a wonderful buy?" I says, "Yeah, that's fine." So he come out to my house, and he'd take and wash that car twice a week.

[00:09:42.716 – 00:09:43.736] There was nothing to wash. [00:09:43.736 – 00:09:45.036] It was just a pile of junk. [00:09:45.036 – 00:09:54.176] But he washed it, and there, that's the care he took of it, which reminds me that when you pay for something yourself, you appreciate it, and if you contribute, you can appreciate it. [00:09:54.176 – 00:10:03.196] Now, uh, you know, when we come into AA, we're tight physically, and after we get in here a while, we get tight financially. [00:10:03.196 – 00:10:06.996] The big slogan for us is we're spendthrifts in reverse. [00:10:06.996 – 00:10:10.776] Now, that can be true that we're tight financially after we get in here. [00:10:10.776 – 00:10:14.196] We realize all the money we've thrown away so many years on all of our drinking. [00:10:14.196 – 00:10:15.676] So now, brother, it takes it.

[00:10:15.676 – 00:10:18.576] We won't spend a nickel to see the Lord and the Twelve Disciples in person. [00:10:18.576 – 00:10:28.616] But the thing is, if we will just remember that, uh, AA is the most important thing in our life, and to show you just how, how [00:10:28.616 – 00:10:30.116] this twenty-five percent works. [00:10:30.116 – 00:10:35.776] I lost my father about, uh, about two years ago, and I went to Louisville, Kentucky. [00:10:35.776 – 00:10:41.016] And the first thing I do anywhere I go is to go up to the AA group or the club or the office. [00:10:41.016 – 00:10:51.116] So I went up and met a very charming girl that was a secretary, and I always ask them, "Well, how are you doing here?" "Fine." I says, "How, how are you doing financially?" Says, "I'm glad you brought that up." [00:10:51.116 – 00:11:00.376] Says, "How can people be so financially ungrateful for something that's given them their job, their life, their home, their health, and their happiness? [00:11:00.376 – 00:11:03.236] How can that be?" Now, that's true of us.

[00:11:03.236 – 00:11:05.716] It's strictly through carelessness, like Ole said. [00:11:05.716 – 00:11:10.036] Then I went to the sixty-three hundred club in Los Angeles. [00:11:10.036 – 00:11:13.136] They got a new, beautiful club room there on Wilshire Boulevard. [00:11:13.136 – 00:11:18.076] The expenses of this club were sixteen hundred dollars a month. [00:11:18.076 – 00:11:28.096] There's about six or seven thousand AAs in Los Angeles, and they wanted eight hundred members out of seven or eight thousand to put up [00:11:28.096 – 00:11:34.096] two dollars a month for this beautiful, uh, uh, eight hundred at two dollars would take care of all expenses