Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Holly, and I’m an alcoholic. Hi. Yesterday, all throughout.. No, that’s wrong. First, I want to thank you for inviting me down here. I knew when I got off the plane I was gonna have a good time because I was met by some very nice, very loving, sweet people, very jolly people. You know, I just hate pious people. “Oh, I’m sober.” Oh, God, I can’t stand it. These people made me feel that I had known them, as Sally says, for a long time. And immediately, I could tell that they, that you are my kind of people. Now I’ll tell you about yesterday. All through this land of ours, and Canada, I presume, flags were at half-mast. Many banks and business places were s- closed, so forth and so on, parades, whatnot. And in my egotistical humility, that’s a new word, I like to feel that, um, or I tried to feel that part of this was for my benefit.

Because through the grace, by the grace of God, through the grace of God and this fellowship, November 11, 27 years ago, I fired my last shot. So for what better reason should they close banks? So let me.. Many of you say, many people here that I have met said, “I’ve heard you before, Holly,” or, “I’ve heard your tape.” Well, please do like this little boy did that had just been recently circumcised, and he went to school, and he was very uncomfortable. And he squirmed in his seat and so forth and so on. So the teacher, she couldn’t do anything with him. She sent him down to the principal, and he wasn’t about to tell the principal that he had just been circumcised. And so he squirmed and wiggled and whatnot. Just simply said, “I don’t feel well.” She said, “Well, go back to your class and stick it out till noon.” He went back with his pants down. So.. Uh, literally, not figuratively. You know, don’t go back with your pants down.

Uh, uh, you know, there’s many times that when we hear the word alcoholic, we don’t want to hear that word, though. We think that that sounds terrible. Why in the world would you call me an alcoholic? That it just, people, that is quite a stigma. It’s not nearly as bad as it used to be since Blue Cross endorses it, you know? It’s not nearly as bad. But then there are worse things that you and I could be called. I certainly, to me, it was a privilege after some of the things I got called, to be called an alcoholic. It reminds me very much when I think of other things that I, that are much worse than that of the little boy that, uh, said to his father one day, he was a little Indian boy. He said, “Daddy, why in the world do you name us kids such horrible names?” He said, “There’s my sister. Her name is White Cloud. There’s my brother named Running Bear.