Transcript

[00:00:00.500 – 00:00:06.060] In AA, we have over twenty-three thousand women. [00:00:06.060 – 00:00:16.780] We are fortunate tonight to have a lady member of AA come from Lubbock [00:00:16.780 – 00:00:17.700] to address you. [00:00:17.700 – 00:00:26.360] She is now associated with the Southwest Clinic and Commission on Alcoholism in Lubbock. [00:00:26.360 – 00:00:29.700] I now give you Miss Anonymous. [00:00:29.700 – 00:00:38.540] I'm Nelda, an alcoholic. [00:00:38.540 – 00:00:46.800] By the grace of God, I've been without alcohol for two years, one month, and one day today. [00:00:46.800 – 00:00:57.480] I am the living proof of the statement that Horace so aptly made that the disease of alcoholism

[00:00:57.480 – 00:01:07.590] is no respecter of persons in that it strikes both men and women, people of every [00:01:07.590 – 00:01:11.100] race, every creed, and every kind. [00:01:11.100 – 00:01:18.280] I started drinking early in my high school days. [00:01:18.280 – 00:01:28.759] And I know now that I was an alcoholic when I took that first drink of whiskey, in that it made me something [00:01:28.760 – 00:01:29.680] that I was not. [00:01:29.680 – 00:01:39.780] However, through ignorance, even though my education hadn't been neglected in any respect, [00:01:39.780 – 00:01:47.400] it had been neglected on the one thing that was to affect my life the most: alcohol. [00:01:47.400 – 00:01:59.500] Through that ignorance, I did not know that I was physically allergic to alcohol, as Horace has told you, and

[00:01:59.500 – 00:02:05.320] consequently, I stumbled blindly for many years in my alcoholism. [00:02:05.320 – 00:02:15.399] Somewhere crossing the borderline into alcoholism, where I then possessed the other characteristic of an alcoholic, that [00:02:15.399 – 00:02:18.040] of the mental obsession to drink. [00:02:18.040 – 00:02:26.680] Possessing those two characteristics, I was truly a sick person. [00:02:26.680 – 00:02:31.820] And being a sick person, I was powerless. [00:02:31.820 – 00:02:43.020] I was sick not only physically, but I was sick mentally, and [00:02:43.020 – 00:02:44.359] I was sick spiritually. [00:02:44.359 – 00:02:52.359] And just in that order, I attempted to do something about myself and my drinking.

[00:02:52.359 – 00:03:03.540] I tried medical science in an attempt to do something about myself physically and my drinking, and [00:03:03.540 – 00:03:04.420] to no avail. [00:03:04.420 – 00:03:14.620] I tried psychiatry in an attempt to do something about myself mentally and my drinking, [00:03:14.620 – 00:03:16.600] and to no avail. [00:03:16.600 – 00:03:26.960] And then I tried religion in an attempt to do something about myself spiritually and my drinking to no avail. [00:03:26.960 – 00:03:37.060] However, through these endeavors, I did meet a very wise and very understanding man who was not [00:03:37.060 – 00:03:37.980] an alcoholic. [00:03:37.980 – 00:03:41.900] He was a man of the clergy.

[00:03:41.900 – 00:03:53.090] And he was the first person that suggested to me that possibly I might be an alcoholic, and [00:03:53.090 – 00:03:54.340] that I might suggest… [00:03:54.340 – 00:03:59.960] That, and he suggested that I might contact Alcoholics Anonymous. [00:03:59.960 – 00:04:10.930] As I said a moment ago, I was pretty ignorant on the subject of an al– who is an alcoholic and [00:04:10.930 – 00:04:13.180] what alcoholism was. [00:04:13.180 – 00:04:20.240] When he called me an alcoholic, I didn't know if I should resent it or not. [00:04:20.240 – 00:04:29.420] And when he suggested that I contact Alcoholics Anonymous, I did resent it. [00:04:29.420 – 00:04:41.560] And I said to him, "Me, go down there with that bunch of drunks?" He

[00:04:41.560 – 00:04:51.810] thought that was pretty funny, and he said, "Well, Nelda, if you aren't a drunk, what are you?" I had no alternative [00:04:51.810 – 00:04:54.800] then other than to go. [00:04:54.800 – 00:05:06.880] My first attendance at an AA meeting was one of utter amazement in [00:05:06.880 – 00:05:16.880] that I could not conceive of those happy, laughing people ever being in the condition that I [00:05:16.880 – 00:05:18.160] was then in. [00:05:18.160 – 00:05:28.460] And I certainly couldn't conceive of myself ever being in the condition that they were then in: happy, [00:05:28.460 – 00:05:31.980] laughing, and sober. [00:05:31.980 – 00:05:41.360] The first thing that this program gave me was hope.

[00:05:41.360 – 00:05:49.000] When those people told me, they said, "Nelda, you're just like we are. [00:05:49.000 – 00:05:59.400] You're suffering from a disease known as alcoholism," that gave me hope that [00:05:59.400 – 00:06:02.300] I might find the thing that they too had found. [00:06:02.300 – 00:06:13.570] I was no longer alone The next thing that I was given was [00:06:13.570 – 00:06:14.130] knowledge. [00:06:14.130 – 00:06:22.570] To me, knowledge is the most powerful weapon in the world. [00:06:22.570 – 00:06:25.750] There's great power in knowledge. [00:06:25.750 – 00:06:31.770] I learned who an alcoholic is.

[00:06:31.770 – 00:06:41.910] I learned about this disease of alcoholism, and I learned how I could and how I can combat [00:06:41.910 – 00:06:42.170] it. [00:06:42.170 – 00:06:49.990] The next thing that I was given was a place. [00:06:49.990 – 00:06:54.570] I'd never had a place that was all my own. [00:06:54.570 – 00:07:04.610] I'd had a lot of places in the world that the social and the business world give you, but I'd never been [00:07:04.610 – 00:07:07.910] happy, and I had never been secure in those places. [00:07:07.910 – 00:07:13.550] But I found my place in A.A. [00:07:13.550 – 00:07:23.570] And then I was given a plan, not just a plan to get out of

[00:07:23.570 – 00:07:33.010] the situation I was then in, but a lasting plan, one that I could follow the rest of my life. [00:07:33.010 – 00:07:43.090] Through this simple program and the sugge-suggested Twelve Steps of this program, I have found an answer to every problem [00:07:43.090 – 00:07:47.950] that I've ever had or that I ever will have. [00:07:47.950 – 00:07:58.150] Until then, I had been almost afraid to expect much of God [00:07:58.150 – 00:08:07.650] or to bother Him until I was in such great need that I had no place else to turn. [00:08:07.650 – 00:08:19.370] And I learned that all of the darkness of the world and of alcoholism cannot [00:08:19.370 – 00:08:25.950] blot out the single light of faith that comes from this fellowship. [00:08:25.950 – 00:08:36.490] I don't guess there's a person that ever lived that didn't sometime

[00:08:36.490 – 00:08:40.530] or other say, "I'm gonna wipe it all out. [00:08:40.530 – 00:08:42.410] I'm gonna start all over again. [00:08:42.410 – 00:08:52.510] I'm gonna begin again." I tried to do that many times, but I never found a way that I could begin again without [00:08:52.510 – 00:08:54.690] eventually reverting to the bottle. [00:08:54.690 – 00:09:03.510] This program gives us a true beginning again. [00:09:03.510 – 00:09:14.550] We learn to live life twenty-four hours at a time, just [00:09:14.550 – 00:09:19.070] as our Creator in His wisdom made the world that way. [00:09:19.070 – 00:09:24.530] Each day begins with the sunrise and dies with the sunset.

[00:09:24.530 – 00:09:34.090] And so we accept our lives that way, twenty-four hours at a time. [00:09:34.090 – 00:09:44.770] God has created in all of us certain desires, [00:09:44.770 – 00:09:55.190] and for every desire that He has created, He also has created the [00:09:55.190 – 00:09:55.730] answer. [00:09:55.730 – 00:10:05.790] Just as the mere fact of hunger in the human body has [00:10:05.790 – 00:10:14.370] been answered by food, so there's a great desire in the world today for happiness. [00:10:14.370 – 00:10:22.890] That happiness for me has been answered by faith. [00:10:22.890 – 00:10:30.070] I have found peace and contentment.

[00:10:30.070 – 00:10:40.830] My life has begun to fall into harmony with [00:10:40.830 – 00:10:42.130] the will of God. [00:10:42.130 – 00:10:51.550] I have found my solution, and I have found my place. [00:10:51.550 – 00:11:02.410] I now have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage [00:11:02.410 – 00:11:10.570] to change the ca– things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. [00:11:10.570 – 00:11:12.290] Thank you. [00:11:12.290 – 00:11:22.570] Uh, before hearing the next speaker, [00:11:22.570 – 00:11:30.190] I think if we just stand up and sort of stretch a minute, it sort of breaks the tension a minute, just for a minute or two.

[00:11:30.190 – 00:11:40.690] Next speaker, I have a few announcements to make, and I would appreciate if you would remain for just a few minutes at the conclusion [00:11:40.690 – 00:11:42.230] of the next speaker's talk.