[00:00:00.500 – 00:00:10.200] Is a man that I think that we should always remember in our prayers and ask God to keep him with us for many, many years to come.
[00:00:10.200 – 00:00:13.800] It is with great humility that I introduce Bill Wilson.
[00:00:13.800 – 00:00:26.200] Will
[00:00:26.200 – 00:00:27.300] this trip me up here?
[00:00:27.300 – 00:00:28.000] Thank you.
[00:00:28.000 – 00:00:28.900] Right like that.
[00:00:28.900 – 00:00:31.000] Yes, it is.
[00:00:31.000 – 00:00:34.000] I just wondered if I could stand down in here a little further.
[00:00:34.000 – 00:00:34.800] Go ahead.
[00:00:34.800 – 00:00:38.200] I guess this gets maximal.
[00:00:38.200 – 00:00:48.700] Dear folks, it was– it is with equal humility that
[00:00:48.700 – 00:00:58.800] I stand here and see such marvelous evidence of
[00:00:58.800 – 00:01:04.500] the wondrous work that God is performing through you.
[00:01:04.500 – 00:01:14.600] I always like to preface any Al-Anon talk with
[00:01:14.600 – 00:01:25.000] the emphatic statement, “This is the best thing that has happened since AA began.”
[00:01:25.000 – 00:01:36.000] I think that we outies are altogether too prone to
[00:01:36.000 – 00:01:41.700] imagine that AA is something for just drunks.
[00:01:41.700 – 00:01:51.800] Well, we have seen a great many people, and most of us drunks have spells, and
[00:01:51.800 – 00:01:56.900] I’m one, in which our sole virtue is just luck.
[00:01:56.900 – 00:02:07.500] Our conference
[00:02:07.500 – 00:02:17.800] is themed on the prac-practicing these principles in
[00:02:17.800 – 00:02:19.200] all our affairs.
[00:02:19.200 – 00:02:29.700] Now, I think it is the experience of most of us alcoholics as we set out on the recovery highway
[00:02:29.700 – 00:02:40.900] and try to resume the process of growing up, that
[00:02:40.900 – 00:02:51.200] the easy relation for us first is the relation with the AH.
[00:02:51.200 – 00:02:55.000] This is the kindred sufferer.
[00:02:55.000 – 00:02:58.900] This is the one who understands.
[00:02:58.900 – 00:03:07.400] So that is a, a thing for most of us.
[00:03:07.400 – 00:03:18.000] Then there are friends, our business acquaintances, and most of us can quite promptly
[00:03:18.000 – 00:03:22.900] renew our relations with them.
[00:03:22.900 – 00:03:35.100] And we enjoy being spoiled by them when they say, “Isn’t it wonderful what you’ve done?” But
[00:03:35.100 – 00:03:42.500] the rub comes, and this is not for blame to anyone.
[00:03:42.500 – 00:03:52.500] The rub comes with the closest relations, and this plainly enough is where the greatest
[00:03:52.500 – 00:04:00.000] distortion and scarring and damage has occurred.
[00:04:00.000 – 00:04:10.300] As you remember, I made the remark the other night at the opening dinner
[00:04:10.300 – 00:04:20.500] that sometimes I try the exercise of trying to put myself
[00:04:20.500 – 00:04:23.400] in Lois’ place.
[00:04:23.400 – 00:04:29.400] I, the non-alcoholic, and she, the drunk.
[00:04:29.400 – 00:04:39.400] Well, it’s a hard thing to do with much depth, and about
[00:04:39.400 – 00:04:49.500] all that you can come up with is the reflection that the only worse thing
[00:04:49.500 – 00:04:57.800] than being an alcoholic is being the wife or husband of one.
[00:04:57.800 – 00:05:07.800] Because you people have to take the ghastly sideswipe of
[00:05:07.800 – 00:05:12.500] this malady without any anesthetic.
[00:05:12.500 – 00:05:23.400] So there, oddly enough, sadly
[00:05:23.400 – 00:05:34.200] enough, in this relation with each other which is to have or to bed, here is the most difficult
[00:05:34.200 – 00:05:37.200] area of repair.
[00:05:37.200 – 00:05:43.800] I realize I’m not saying one word that is new to any of you.
[00:05:43.800 – 00:05:52.200] I’m merely proving that a few of us drunks have some idea of what you’ve gone through and what the problem is.
[00:05:52.200 – 00:06:02.300] Now then, the drunk’s idea of repair is to rush home and say, “Look, Ma, what I got.”
[00:06:02.300 – 00:06:09.900] It’s a wonderful fellow always to say, “Yeah, you come down to the meeting, and we’ll let you sit in on the open meetings.
[00:06:09.900 – 00:06:20.000] You can make the coffee.” “Well, you can warm our hands at this wonderful fire.
[00:06:20.000 – 00:06:27.300] But, uh, of course, you don’t exactly belong in the club.
[00:06:27.300 – 00:06:31.000] We’ll put you out on the outer fringes.
[00:06:31.000 – 00:06:41.800] Uh, you know, and you can run in and get warm temporarily, but you can’t– you don’t quite belong.” So
[00:06:41.800 – 00:06:51.800] we seem to put you, at least some of you, consciously or unconsciously,
[00:06:51.800 – 00:06:56.500] in a state of greater isolation than before.
[00:06:56.500 – 00:07:10.700] And what wonder then that some of you say, “My God, he was lots better when he was drinking.” Now
[00:07:10.700 – 00:07:21.000] then, since this is the closing and the most important for us, since this is the relation
[00:07:21.000 – 00:07:32.100] that bears upon the rest of the family and all these growing kids, this is where the
[00:07:32.100 – 00:07:36.500] great repair effort needs to be focused.
[00:07:36.500 – 00:07:46.600] And it’s marvelous that you people, more than the alcoholic, see what the problem
[00:07:46.600 – 00:07:47.000] is.
[00:07:47.000 – 00:07:55.900] You see very clearly that it isn’t only the problem of the alcoholic and understanding him.
[00:07:55.900 – 00:08:04.800] It is understanding what life with an alcoholic has done to warp you.
[00:08:04.800 – 00:08:15.300] And I congratulate, congratulate you on the breadth and depth of this understanding that
[00:08:15.300 – 00:08:21.200] has been so well achieved in so many thousands and thousands of families.
[00:08:21.200 – 00:08:31.600] You see, if you are a drunk and you are repeatedly stigmatized, disgraced, jailed, ruined, sick,
[00:08:31.600 – 00:08:40.100] although it takes years of pounding, you can come up with the conclusion that there’s a little something matter with you.
[00:08:40.100 – 00:08:51.800] But if you’re on the receiving end of this, and you have done your damnedest best, it’s
[00:08:51.800 – 00:08:57.300] pretty hard to imagine that anything happened to you.
[00:08:57.300 – 00:09:07.400] So that you have penetrated this wall that has
[00:09:07.400 – 00:09:17.400] been erected first by one party and then by the other between you, and we’ve got some visibility going both ways,
[00:09:17.400 – 00:09:23.200] and we got some sally ports and ingoing entrances.
[00:09:23.200 – 00:09:32.400] This is a great thing, one of the greatest since AA began.
[00:09:32.400 – 00:09:43.000] I think, too, it is appropriate
[00:09:43.000 – 00:09:55.100] for me to bring from all AA, whether they understand this great thing here or not, the
[00:09:55.100 – 00:10:01.500] congratulations of our whole society.
[00:10:01.500 – 00:10:12.700] I also would like to dwell a little bit upon the deep satisfaction
[00:10:12.700 – 00:10:19.000] that some of us have who have been engaged in world services.
[00:10:19.000 – 00:10:29.100] I suppose that half of my own AA life has been devoted to this overall functioning
[00:10:29.100 – 00:10:39.600] of A.A., just as now you people are devoting yourself to the overall
[00:10:39.600 – 00:10:41.500] functioning of Al-Anon.
[00:10:41.500 – 00:10:51.600] I’m glad, too, that you have been able to benefit by a
[00:10:51.600 – 00:10:59.300] lot of previous– grievous experiences that we had in forming these services that you people aren’t.
[00:10:59.300 – 00:11:09.400] Partly because I think you are more stable, but you have been willing to borrow the lessons of
[00:11:09.400 – 00:11:10.400] our experience.
[00:11:10.400 – 00:11:21.100] For example, it was a very difficult thing indeed to form the first general services
[00:11:21.100 – 00:11:26.800] conference in AA of which you’re the Al-Anon counterpart.
[00:11:26.800 – 00:11:37.500] A number of us, together with friends, had formed the board of trustees, and
[00:11:37.500 – 00:11:48.100] we had got out literature, and we’d taken over public relations, and we had begun to do the things for overall service that you understand
[00:11:48.100 – 00:11:48.900] so well.
[00:11:48.900 – 00:12:00.400] Now, those of us who had become accustomed to this sort of guarding had become guardians.
[00:12:00.400 – 00:12:05.700] Privately, we thought rather indispensable guardians of AA.
[00:12:05.700 – 00:12:15.800] And the idea of bringing in a conference- or drunks who hadn’t yet proved they could even operate a bus
[00:12:15.800 – 00:12:22.900] route was something for great concern and abhorrence.
[00:12:22.900 – 00:12:27.500] Now, you folks never seriously went through that stage in or out of the headquarters.
[00:12:27.500 – 00:12:37.500] I noticed that the folks in the headquarters and Lois were so damn glad for you people to get here that they never seemed to talk
[00:12:37.500 – 00:12:37.800] about it.
[00:12:37.800 – 00:12:46.500] It’s just right because they– you understand the need for the linkage, the need for the continuity.
[00:12:46.500 – 00:12:57.300] You can’t rest the future on people
[00:12:57.300 – 00:13:01.600] now in existence who are going to move off the scene.
[00:13:01.600 – 00:13:05.500] Who are going to be those successors?
[00:13:05.500 – 00:13:09.300] What is the linkage they’re going to have with your society?
[00:13:09.300 – 00:13:19.400] You, in effect, in coming here to do what
[00:13:19.400 – 00:13:30.000] in considerable part is a grubby lot of work, are really underwriting a prodigious insurance
[00:13:30.000 – 00:13:35.500] policy on the future of your society.
[00:13:35.500 – 00:13:40.200] I’m so glad you’re here.
[00:13:40.200 – 00:13:50.200] Lois is so glad you’re here, and I hope that there will be increasing numbers in
[00:13:50.200 – 00:13:55.300] your society and in our fellowship who will be equally glad.
[00:13:55.300 – 00:14:04.500] So again, on behalf of us trustees, I wish you Godspeed.
[00:14:04.500 – 00:14:12.500] And may God keep you and AELON forever.
[00:07:46.600 – 00:07:47.000] is.
[00:07:47.000 – 00:07:55.900] You see very clearly that it isn’t only the problem of the alcoholic and understanding him.
[00:07:55.900 – 00:08:04.800] It is understanding what life with an alcoholic has done to warp you.
[00:08:04.800 – 00:08:15.300] And I congratulate, congratulate you on the breadth and depth of this understanding that
[00:08:15.300 – 00:08:21.200] has been so well achieved in so many thousands and thousands of families.
[00:08:21.200 – 00:08:31.600] You see, if you are a drunk and you are repeatedly stigmatized, disgraced, jailed, ruined, sick,
[00:08:31.600 – 00:08:40.100] although it takes years of pounding, you can come up with the conclusion that there’s a little something matter with you.
[00:08:40.100 – 00:08:51.800] But if you’re on the receiving end of this, and you have done your damnedest best, it’s
[00:08:51.800 – 00:08:57.300] pretty hard to imagine that anything happened to you.
[00:08:57.300 – 00:09:07.400] So that you have penetrated this wall that has
[00:09:07.400 – 00:09:17.400] been erected first by one party and then by the other between you, and we’ve got some visibility going both ways,
[00:09:17.400 – 00:09:23.200] and we got some sally ports and ingoing entrances.
[00:09:23.200 – 00:09:32.400] This is a great thing, one of the greatest since AA began.
[00:09:32.400 – 00:09:43.000] I think, too, it is appropriate
[00:09:43.000 – 00:09:55.100] for me to bring from all AA, whether they understand this great thing here or not, the
[00:09:55.100 – 00:10:01.500] congratulations of our whole society.
[00:10:01.500 – 00:10:12.700] I also would like to dwell a little bit upon the deep satisfaction
[00:10:12.700 – 00:10:19.000] that some of us have who have been engaged in world services.
[00:10:19.000 – 00:10:29.100] I suppose that half of my own AA life has been devoted to this overall functioning
[00:10:29.100 – 00:10:39.600] of A.A., just as now you people are devoting yourself to the overall
[00:10:39.600 – 00:10:41.500] functioning of Al-Anon.
[00:10:41.500 – 00:10:51.600] I’m glad, too, that you have been able to benefit by a
[00:10:51.600 – 00:10:59.300] lot of previous– grievous experiences that we had in forming these services that you people aren’t.
[00:10:59.300 – 00:11:09.400] Partly because I think you are more stable, but you have been willing to borrow the lessons of
[00:11:09.400 – 00:11:10.400] our experience.
[00:11:10.400 – 00:11:21.100] For example, it was a very difficult thing indeed to form the first general services
[00:11:21.100 – 00:11:26.800] conference in AA of which you’re the Al-Anon counterpart.
[00:11:26.800 – 00:11:37.500] A number of us, together with friends, had formed the board of trustees, and
[00:11:37.500 – 00:11:48.100] we had got out literature, and we’d taken over public relations, and we had begun to do the things for overall service that you understand
[00:11:48.100 – 00:11:48.900] so well.
[00:11:48.900 – 00:12:00.400] Now, those of us who had become accustomed to this sort of guarding had become guardians.
[00:12:00.400 – 00:12:05.700] Privately, we thought rather indispensable guardians of AA.
[00:12:05.700 – 00:12:15.800] And the idea of bringing in a conference- or drunks who hadn’t yet proved they could even operate a bus
[00:12:15.800 – 00:12:22.900] route was something for great concern and abhorrence.
[00:12:22.900 – 00:12:27.500] Now, you folks never seriously went through that stage in or out of the headquarters.
[00:12:27.500 – 00:12:37.500] I noticed that the folks in the headquarters and Lois were so damn glad for you people to get here that they never seemed to talk
[00:12:37.500 – 00:12:37.800] about it.
[00:12:37.800 – 00:12:46.500] It’s just right because they– you understand the need for the linkage, the need for the continuity.
[00:12:46.500 – 00:12:57.300] You can’t rest the future on people
[00:12:57.300 – 00:13:01.600] now in existence who are going to move off the scene.
[00:13:01.600 – 00:13:05.500] Who are going to be those successors?
[00:13:05.500 – 00:13:09.300] What is the linkage they’re going to have with your society?
[00:13:09.300 – 00:13:19.400] You, in effect, in coming here to do what
[00:13:19.400 – 00:13:30.000] in considerable part is a grubby lot of work, are really underwriting a prodigious insurance
[00:13:30.000 – 00:13:35.500] policy on the future of your society.
[00:13:35.500 – 00:13:40.200] I’m so glad you’re here.
[00:13:40.200 – 00:13:50.200] Lois is so glad you’re here, and I hope that there will be increasing numbers in
[00:13:50.200 – 00:13:55.300] your society and in our fellowship who will be equally glad.
[00:13:55.300 – 00:14:04.500] So again, on behalf of us trustees, I wish you Godspeed.
[00:14:04.500 – 00:14:12.500] And may God keep you and AELON forever.
