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[00:00:00.400 – 00:00:09.900] You know, I spoke of the continued active interest of the older members of my group being so important, and I think the same thing holds true for AA.

[00:00:09.900 – 00:00:16.000] The continued active interest of the older member has been so important for us here.

[00:00:16.000 – 00:00:22.500] And so now, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to introduce to you our celebrant, Bill.

[00:00:22.500 – 00:00:52.800] Dear

[00:00:52.800 – 00:01:04.100] friends, we have just heard two moving stories about

[00:01:04.100 – 00:01:08.100] the cave that is alcoholism.

[00:01:08.100 – 00:01:18.600] Unlike Lee, I didn’t live in my cave

[00:01:18.600 – 00:01:19.200] alone.

[00:01:19.200 – 00:01:22.800] Lois lived with me.

[00:01:22.800 – 00:01:30.900] But like everyone else’s cave, it was an ever-darkening one.

[00:01:30.900 – 00:01:45.300] And one evening, in the summer of thirty-two years ago, the

[00:01:45.300 – 00:01:48.200] darkness became complete.

[00:01:48.200 – 00:01:54.400] Lois sat downstairs in Townes Hospital.

[00:01:54.400 – 00:01:56.500] Good old Dr.

[00:01:56.500 – 00:02:07.600] Silkworth was talking to her, and he had to tell her that

[00:02:07.600 – 00:02:19.000] I had become possessed of an obsession that condemned me to go on drinking, and

[00:02:19.000 – 00:02:24.800] that this meant madness and death.

[00:02:24.800 – 00:02:34.700] Lying upstairs, I well knew what the sentence was.

[00:02:34.700 – 00:02:40.000] Now, we both knew.

[00:02:40.000 – 00:02:51.400] This occasion, according

[00:02:51.400 – 00:02:59.700] to the manual, is in celebration of my anniversary.

[00:02:59.700 – 00:03:06.100] And so it is.

[00:03:06.100 – 00:03:16.200] But in my mind, and I know in yours, it is something which

[00:03:16.200 – 00:03:20.100] carries far deeper meanings than that.

[00:03:20.100 – 00:03:31.400] And let us look at some of these meanings as

[00:03:31.400 – 00:03:36.800] the story of the beginnings is recounted.

[00:03:36.800 – 00:03:49.000] And before the story begins, may I thank all of you for

[00:03:49.000 – 00:03:52.100] being with us here tonight.

[00:03:52.100 – 00:04:02.600] It is hard to believe that if we just count the drunks around the room, there is not one half

[00:04:02.600 – 00:04:07.800] of one percent of our total membership with us.

[00:04:07.800 – 00:04:18.000] But in spirit, they are all here as we celebrate

[00:04:18.000 – 00:04:28.200] the vast miracle of regeneration that now

[00:04:28.200 – 00:04:38.400] encompasses the world, still broadening, and we trust forever

[00:04:38.400 – 00:04:40.000] deepening.

[00:04:40.000 – 00:04:50.400] Those of the early days, the very early ones,

[00:04:50.400 – 00:04:56.200] are becoming fewer and fewer.

[00:04:56.200 – 00:05:00.600] We are going west.

[00:05:00.600 – 00:05:09.700] And for those, none of us mourns.

[00:05:09.700 – 00:05:21.000] We are filled with gratitude for the heritage which

[00:05:21.000 – 00:05:27.700] they have left us, and we know they have gone on to their reward.

[00:05:27.700 – 00:05:31.700] Of course, I’m thinking of my sponsor, Ebby.

[00:05:31.700 – 00:05:36.400] I’m thinking of Sister Ignatius.

[00:05:36.400 – 00:05:43.800] I’m thinking of Harry Thibault.

[00:05:43.800 – 00:05:53.900] And two of these, you see, are non-alcoholics who helped

[00:05:53.900 – 00:06:01.100] so vastly to make this society what it is and may be.

[00:06:01.100 – 00:06:11.900] In the very early time, our

[00:06:11.900 – 00:06:22.700] whole destiny frequently hung on a single act, a

[00:06:22.700 – 00:06:33.400] single piece of wisdom, a single piece of compassion and

[00:06:33.400 – 00:06:34.400] of understanding.

[00:06:34.400 – 00:06:43.800] And this succession of people were, in a sense, indispensable.

[00:06:43.800 – 00:06:48.400] Without them, we should not be here at all.

[00:06:48.400 – 00:06:59.900] And offhand, I think of only two

[00:06:59.900 – 00:07:03.400] of these that are left.

[00:07:03.400 – 00:07:14.800] The one I will introduce now, and

[00:07:14.800 – 00:07:20.600] the other in the course of my little tale.

[00:07:20.600 – 00:07:28.100] Lois wishes to give you her thanks.

[00:07:28.100 – 00:07:35.300] And I turn it over to her for so long as she’d like.

[00:07:35.300 – 00:07:57.200] Good

[00:07:57.200 – 00:07:58.300] evening, everybody.

[00:07:58.300 – 00:08:08.600] These dinners get better and better, and bigger and bigger,

[00:08:08.600 – 00:08:12.100] and more thrilling and more thrilling.

[00:08:12.100 – 00:08:22.300] And I wanna thank you all for your love and devotion to AA and

[00:08:22.300 – 00:08:23.000] to Bill.

[00:08:23.000 – 00:08:37.000] And I’m very, very, very grateful for all the wonderful things that have happened to us through

[00:08:37.000 – 00:08:39.400] you, with God’s help.

[00:08:39.400 – 00:08:41.400] Thank you again.

[00:08:41.400 – 00:08:51.400] I thought I’d tell

[00:08:51.400 – 00:08:54.400] you just a little bit about Al-Anon.

[00:08:54.400 – 00:09:04.400] I know a number of you know about Al-Anon, but there are, I think, some that really don’t know just

[00:09:04.400 – 00:09:07.100] what the Al-Anon fellowship is.

[00:09:07.100 – 00:09:17.400] I think maybe some people have the idea that any of the family of alcoholics

[00:09:17.400 – 00:09:21.400] in AA are Al-Anon.

[00:09:21.400 – 00:09:26.300] But of course, that isn’t really so.

[00:09:26.300 – 00:09:36.400] There are many, many relatives, spouses, children of AAs that are in Al-Anon, but

[00:09:36.400 – 00:09:38.300] not necessarily all.

[00:09:38.300 – 00:09:48.400] In fact, Al-Anon now seems to be composed of more than fifty percent,

[00:09:48.400 – 00:09:57.000] I think, of the families of alcoholics who are not ready for AA, who are not in AA.

[00:09:57.000 – 00:10:07.400] And this is really a, I think, a wonderful development because

[00:10:07.400 – 00:10:18.200] it gives the alcoholic so much better check– better chance to get into AA when his family,

[00:10:18.200 – 00:10:28.500] particularly his mate, knows about Al-Anon and is in Al-Anon

[00:10:28.500 – 00:10:38.900] and stops putting the pressure on a husband that, um, that we all did before

[00:10:38.900 – 00:10:40.800] we knew about Al-Anon.

[00:10:40.800 – 00:10:51.900] Now, this fellowship of the families of alcoholics follows

[00:10:51.900 – 00:10:55.600] AA in every possible way we can.

[00:10:55.600 – 00:11:05.800] And the first step, just the way it is in AA, seems to be

[00:11:05.800 – 00:11:10.300] the door that opens up the rest of the steps.

[00:11:10.300 – 00:11:20.600] Unless you take the first step, the rest of them are merely words.

[00:11:20.600 – 00:11:26.300] You, you can’t really live the rest of the program.

[00:11:26.300 – 00:11:37.800] Until a member of the– of an alcoholic’s family recognizes the fact that

[00:11:37.800 – 00:11:46.800] she is powerless over the problem of alcohol in her home, she really can’t go any further.

[00:11:46.800 – 00:11:49.300] Really go any further.

[00:11:49.300 – 00:11:57.000] So the first step, just the way it is in AA, is of the very greatest importance.

[00:11:57.000 – 00:12:06.000] And of course, that means there’s so many secondary meanings beyond that thing.

[00:12:06.000 – 00:12:14.000] It means that you have to take your hands off the alcoholic’s problem.

[00:12:14.000 – 00:12:15.700] You can do nothing about it.

[00:12:15.700 – 00:12:26.000] And that you will only confuse and make

[00:12:26.000 – 00:12:36.200] things worse if you continue the way you have been trying to manage the alcoholic’s life, which

[00:12:36.200 – 00:12:43.600] most every mate tries to do, I believe, before they understand this principle.

[00:12:43.600 – 00:12:55.800] So the other steps are then opened up, and

[00:12:55.800 – 00:13:00.700] we try to take them just the way AA does.

[00:13:00.700 – 00:13:08.600] We try to follow all the principles in the same way.

[00:13:08.600 – 00:13:13.900] We’re really just nothing but copycats.

[00:13:13.900 – 00:13:24.000] But we really have a terrific potential because for every alcoholic,

[00:13:24.000 – 00:13:29.500] I believe there are something like five that are said to be affected by his alcoholism.

[00:13:29.500 – 00:13:39.600] So the limit to what Al-Anon

[00:13:39.600 – 00:13:46.600] is– has– is possible to accomplish is really endless.

[00:13:46.600 – 00:13:52.900] And of course, the children are one of the biggest things.

[00:13:52.900 – 00:14:03.000] The Al-Anon groups, Alteen groups, I beg your pardon, are an offshoot of Al-Anon for the children of alcoholics,

[00:14:03.000 – 00:14:13.300] where they can recognize that they themselves have a, a problem because they have been affected

[00:14:13.300 – 00:14:17.200] by a drinking parent.

[00:14:17.200 – 00:14:27.800] And all these things that have happened to Al-Anon in the last fifteen years, we really have

[00:14:27.800 – 00:14:35.300] had a, a setup for our fellowship for about fifteen years.

[00:14:35.300 – 00:14:46.200] And from about fifty groups at that time, we now have over three thousand and

[00:14:46.200 – 00:14:48.700] are in twenty-eight countries.

[00:14:48.700 – 00:14:55.400] And to me, this is an- another miracle.

[00:14:55.400 – 00:14:59.500] AA, of course, is the first tremendous miracle.

[00:14:59.500 – 00:15:09.600] But this recognizing of the families of alcoholics that they need something,

[00:15:09.600 – 00:15:11.900] too, is a second miracle.

[00:15:11.900 – 00:15:22.300] But we couldn’t have done this, or all these

[00:15:22.300 – 00:15:27.500] people all over the world couldn’t have been affected if it hadn’t been for AA.

[00:15:27.500 – 00:15:37.800] And, well, I just can’t tell you what AA has meant to me

[00:15:37.800 – 00:15:42.600] and how thrilled I am and how very grateful.

[00:15:42.600 – 00:15:45.000] Thank you all.

[00:15:45.000 – 00:15:45.700] Good night.

[00:15:45.700 – 00:15:59.500] I

[00:15:59.500 – 00:16:10.000] cannot overemphasize the crucial importance of Al-Anon to our fellowship.

[00:16:10.000 – 00:16:16.100] Thank you, dear, for what you’ve said and all that you have meant through the years.

[00:16:16.100 – 00:16:26.100] I might add, for the benefit of friends here for the first time, that this is a society

[00:16:26.100 – 00:16:27.500] within a society.

[00:16:27.500 – 00:16:37.700] You must have guessed that it is to repair the greatest damages

[00:16:37.700 – 00:16:48.200] of all, the damages that we alcoholics have done to those nearest and dearest.

[00:16:48.200 – 00:16:58.800] Now then, AA is

[00:16:58.800 – 00:17:08.900] not a success story in the usual sense of the word because it is founded

[00:17:08.900 – 00:17:17.300] squarely upon misery unspeakable.

[00:17:17.300 – 00:17:27.800] It is founded upon wrecked lives and utter hopelessness.

[00:17:27.800 – 00:17:40.200] However, we must reflect that

[00:17:40.200 – 00:17:50.300] misery and hopelessness will not of itself alleviate this strange malady, this odd

[00:17:50.300 – 00:17:54.100] insanity which has possessed us.

[00:17:54.100 – 00:18:04.100] And neither will wisdom alone do

[00:18:04.100 – 00:18:04.300] it.

[00:18:04.300 – 00:18:07.200] This-

[00:18:07.400 – 00:18:18.000] Essential ingredient which must activate the wisdom necessary and

[00:18:18.000 – 00:18:29.300] raise us out of our caves into a new light and a new freedom is,

[00:18:29.300 – 00:18:32.900] we know, God’s love and grace.

[00:18:32.900 – 00:18:43.100] So we have grace and certain precious fragments brought to us

[00:18:43.100 – 00:18:53.200] by our friends of the wisdom of ages, and we have our kinship in

[00:18:53.200 – 00:19:03.600] this fellowship which is suffered and now stands

[00:19:03.600 – 00:19:04.400] in freedom.

[00:19:04.400 – 00:19:15.200] So as my brief tale unfolds,

[00:19:15.200 – 00:19:25.400] let us search together for the deeper meanings of this occasion.

[00:19:25.400 – 00:19:29.900] It is a time for gratitude.

[00:19:29.900 – 00:19:34.500] It is a time for joy.

[00:19:34.500 – 00:19:43.500] It is time, too, for humility.

[00:19:43.500 – 00:19:53.200] We must remember that only a small beginning has been made.

[00:19:53.200 – 00:20:03.700] That within a few miles of this hall, even, thousands suffer, not

[00:20:03.700 – 00:20:05.700] having found what we have found.

[00:20:05.700 – 00:20:16.700] The world over, there are twenty million of us still in the kinship of suffering,

[00:20:16.700 – 00:20:20.500] but not in the kinship of freedom.

[00:20:20.500 – 00:20:31.900] So this is the time to dedicate ourselves as never before to

[00:20:31.900 – 00:20:42.200] our responsibility for them, to bring them what we know and feel and

[00:20:42.200 – 00:20:42.700] believe.

[00:20:42.700 – 00:20:52.900] The story really begins in

[00:20:52.900 – 00:21:01.300] the office of a psychiatrist, a profession that we josh too much.

[00:21:01.300 – 00:21:05.300] It began in the office of Dr.

[00:21:05.300 – 00:21:13.700] Carl Jung, one of the founding fathers of that art.

[00:21:13.700 – 00:21:23.700] This was a dear and great man indeed, one

[00:21:23.700 – 00:21:26.200] of the indispensables to us.

[00:21:26.200 – 00:21:37.700] We would not have been alive, or few of us, and not as a society at all, unless

[00:21:37.700 – 00:21:47.700] this had not been a very great and humble man, and unless the grace of God

[00:21:47.700 – 00:21:49.500] had been with him.

[00:21:49.500 – 00:21:59.500] An American businessman suffering alcoholism, having run the gamut of cures in this country, exhausted

[00:21:59.500 – 00:22:03.700] every resource, desperately wanted to get well, seeks him now.

[00:22:03.700 – 00:22:06.600] Spent a year with Dr.

[00:22:06.600 – 00:22:07.500] Carl.

[00:22:07.500 – 00:22:17.600] To his consternation, inside of a month after leaving, full of confidence,

[00:22:17.600 – 00:22:23.100] he returns again broken on the wheel.

[00:22:23.100 – 00:22:35.700] And said he, “Doctor, you were my course of last resort.” And

[00:22:35.700 – 00:22:45.700] the dear old man said, “Roland, I thought you might have been, when I first saw you a year ago, one of those

[00:22:45.700 – 00:22:57.800] who could recover, understanding the deeper mainsprings of his motivations.” Now

[00:22:57.800 – 00:22:59.000] comes the humility.

[00:22:59.000 – 00:23:01.600] Now comes the grace.

[00:23:01.600 – 00:23:11.600] So when the patient said, “Well, Doctor, is there no other resource?”

[00:23:11.600 – 00:23:13.900] Dr.

[00:23:13.900 – 00:23:15.800] Carl said, “Yes, there is.

[00:23:15.800 – 00:23:23.500] I’m now talking not about science.

[00:23:23.500 – 00:23:37.100] I am speaking to you, Roland, of a spiritual awakening, a conversion experience, if you like.” And

[00:23:37.100 – 00:23:39.000] Roland said, “But I’m a church man.

[00:23:39.000 – 00:23:40.800] I believe in God.

[00:23:40.800 – 00:23:45.000] Obviously, he doesn’t believe in me.” Said Dr.

[00:23:45.000 – 00:23:49.300] Carl, “It goes further than this, Roland.

[00:23:49.300 – 00:23:59.400] I am talking about a transforming experience that

[00:23:59.400 – 00:24:09.400] can expel your obsession, and one which has, here and there, time

[00:24:09.400 – 00:24:19.800] out of mind, alcoholics who sobered.” Under this benign form of God’s light.

[00:24:19.800 – 00:24:28.000] And Rowland said, “But where shall I go?

[00:24:28.000 – 00:24:29.900] What shall I do?” And Dr.

[00:24:29.900 – 00:24:38.000] Carl said, “Realize your hopelessness for all that the world can do for you.

[00:24:38.000 – 00:24:49.800] Immerse yourself in the religion of your own choice, and

[00:24:49.800 – 00:25:02.500] pray that the light may come.” And Rowland joined the Oxford Groups of that day, and

[00:25:02.500 – 00:25:07.600] the light did come, certainly for some years.

[00:25:07.600 – 00:25:11.200] A bit fitful it was in his case, but come it did.

[00:25:11.200 – 00:25:13.900] And he came back to America.

[00:25:13.900 – 00:25:24.100] Soon afterward, being at his summer home in Bennington,

[00:25:24.100 – 00:25:34.400] Vermont, he came across my sponsor Ebby, the one I just mentioned.

[00:25:34.400 – 00:25:42.200] And Ebby had been about to be committed for alcoholic insanity, so-called.

[00:25:42.200 – 00:25:52.300] The village fathers wanted him to lock up– uh, wanted him locked up because he’d rammed his

[00:25:52.300 – 00:25:55.500] father’s fine new car into the side of a farmhouse.

[00:25:55.500 – 00:26:06.200] And well inside the kitchen, he looked out of the car window to see a woman cowering in the corner, terrified.

[00:26:06.200 – 00:26:17.800] And Ebby had said, “How about a cup of coffee?” So now

[00:26:17.800 – 00:26:23.500] we have the spectacle of one alcoholic talking to another.

[00:26:23.500 – 00:26:28.800] One recovered alcoholic talking to another.

[00:26:28.800 – 00:26:39.300] And Ebby was brought to New York, and he was exposed to a few other alcoholics

[00:26:39.300 – 00:26:48.700] who had recovered in the Oxford Groups under the guidance of Sam Shoemaker, our beloved rector.

[00:26:48.700 – 00:26:54.300] And then Ebby bethought himself of me.

[00:26:54.300 – 00:27:04.300] And not long before, the sentence

[00:27:04.300 – 00:27:13.900] had been passed that summer, and we had thought our cave had gone dark forever.

[00:27:13.900 – 00:27:23.100] So Ebby, thinking of me, called up one day.

[00:27:23.100 – 00:27:26.400] I was in the kitchen half-stewed.

[00:27:26.400 – 00:27:28.100] Lois was at work.

[00:27:28.100 – 00:27:35.300] And even over the phone, I could sense something different about him.

[00:27:35.300 – 00:27:41.100] Nevertheless, I thought, “How wonderful.

[00:27:41.100 – 00:27:45.100] I’ll get out some more grog.

[00:27:45.100 – 00:27:52.300] Ebby and I will talk about the good old days.” Why did I say this?

[00:27:52.300 – 00:28:02.300] The good old days did

[00:28:02.300 – 00:28:06.000] have some element of joy, but this was gone.

[00:28:06.000 – 00:28:09.500] Maybe it could be re-recaptured.

[00:28:09.500 – 00:28:20.500] So he stood at the lower gateway of the house, and

[00:28:20.500 – 00:28:23.100] again, I could sense something different.

[00:28:23.100 – 00:28:30.400] He didn’t look like he was on the strain of riding the water wagon.

[00:28:30.400 – 00:28:32.200] He came in.

[00:28:32.200 – 00:28:35.500] He sat at the kitchen table.

[00:28:35.500 – 00:28:39.500] I offered him a drink.

[00:28:39.500 – 00:28:51.100] And with a little smile, he said, “Well, I’m not drinking today.” And

[00:28:51.100 – 00:28:53.800] I said, “Well, what’s the matter?

[00:28:53.800 – 00:29:03.800] What’s got into you?” And I was bitterly disappointed, and many times more

[00:29:03.800 – 00:29:14.200] disappointed when he blandly announced to me, “I’ve got religion.” Well, I

[00:29:14.200 – 00:29:20.900] was trained to be wise in science, and this was a dreadful blow.

[00:29:20.900 – 00:29:32.500] Politely as I could, I said, “Ebby, what brand have you got?” Well,

[00:29:32.500 – 00:29:38.300] knowing that I was an obstinate Yankee, he was prudent.

[00:29:38.300 – 00:29:45.600] And we are told in Christian theology that that is one of the great virtues.

[00:29:45.600 – 00:29:47.200] Well, he hadn’t.

[00:29:47.200 – 00:29:55.000] He simply told his story, as the previous speakers had.

[00:29:55.000 – 00:30:03.300] Told how Rowland had bought him– brought him to New York in contact with these wonderful people.

[00:30:03.300 – 00:30:11.600] How it had been suggested that he admitted that he, that, that he was licked.

[00:30:11.600 – 00:30:17.600] That he was powerless to go on living on his own resources.

[00:30:17.600 – 00:30:28.200] That perhaps he ought to get a little more honest with himself, that he ought to take a moral inventory, that

[00:30:28.200 – 00:30:38.400] he ought to make restitution to people harmed, that he ought to try to be of help to

[00:30:38.400 – 00:30:45.600] others in need without thought of prestige or reward for himself.

[00:30:45.600 – 00:30:55.700] And then he added rather shyly, he said, “You know, I haven’t bought that whole

[00:30:55.700 – 00:31:11.200] Oxford bill of goods, but I do pray to carry these simple principles out.” Well,

[00:31:11.200 – 00:31:20.700] I was never the same man again because he had spoken to me at depth.

[00:31:20.700 – 00:31:31.100] He had not brought any new ideas, but he was in the kinship of suffering, and

[00:31:31.100 – 00:31:39.900] now he seemed to be free, released, as he said, and I knew this was something different.

[00:31:39.900 – 00:31:45.200] So I asked him some more questions.

[00:31:45.200 – 00:31:51.500] He was very careful not to try to evangelize me.

[00:31:51.500 – 00:31:53.500] He knew I wouldn’t take it.

[00:31:53.500 – 00:31:58.500] He just told his story and left.

[00:31:58.500 – 00:32:10.000] The drinking went on, but in no waking hour could I forget the

[00:32:10.000 – 00:32:12.900] face of Ebby across that kitchen table.

[00:32:12.900 – 00:32:23.400] And I thought to myself, “What a ghastly dilemma

[00:32:23.400 – 00:32:34.800] he’s put me into.” Here, one of my god’s of science, in

[00:32:34.800 – 00:32:36.200] the person of the great Dr.

[00:32:36.200 – 00:32:42.000] Hume, had said that nothing could be done through his art.

[00:32:42.000 – 00:32:45.100] And here was dear Dr.

[00:32:45.100 – 00:32:54.500] Silkworth, who had been obliged to pass on me the same sentence.

[00:32:54.500 – 00:33:05.600] So I was a condemned man, and it wasn’t just a question of

[00:33:05.600 – 00:33:10.900] getting honest with myself and making some restitution and trying to be nice to some other people.

[00:33:10.900 – 00:33:14.300] No, I knew there was more than that.

[00:33:14.300 – 00:33:24.400] Somehow, there had to be faith in some higher power, be it a

[00:33:24.400 – 00:33:26.200] he, a she, or an it.

[00:33:26.200 – 00:33:34.200] And this I didn’t have, nor could I conceive of having.

[00:33:34.200 – 00:33:41.900] But as the drinking went on, the pressure of the dilemma mounted.

[00:33:41.900 – 00:33:48.700] And finally, I found myself on the way to the hospital.

[00:33:48.700 – 00:33:55.300] I thought, “Well, I was half drunk when he told me this.

[00:33:55.300 – 00:34:00.700] I’ll go and sober up and see how it looks.

[00:34:00.700 – 00:34:10.700] After all, he was sober, and his sobriety had a new quality, not the water wagon

[00:34:10.700 – 00:34:11.200] business.

[00:34:11.200 – 00:34:14.700] I’ll go up and have good old Dr.

[00:34:14.700 – 00:34:23.900] Silkworth clean me up.” So I walked up quite ahead of time so far as DTs were concerned.

[00:34:23.900 – 00:34:26.900] I came in waving a bottle.

[00:34:26.900 – 00:34:37.200] And this dear old man looked at me as I shouted, “This time I’ve got something,” and his face fell

[00:34:37.200 – 00:34:38.800] because he loved me.

[00:34:38.800 – 00:34:49.000] In fact, in our annals, he will be known as the little man who loved drunks.

[00:34:49.000 – 00:34:55.900] In his lifetime, I think he saw some forty thousand of them.

[00:34:55.900 – 00:35:05.400] And after AA, fifteen of these he saw get well, fifteen thousand.

[00:35:05.400 – 00:35:13.300] So he said, “Well, Bill, you better go to bed.” So I did.

[00:35:13.300 – 00:35:23.500] Three days later, I was free of sedative or any tapering off juice,

[00:35:23.500 – 00:35:27.900] and all of a sudden, Ebby stands in the door.

[00:35:27.900 – 00:35:38.000] And I thought, “Well, this is the day he’s going to evangelize.” But no, he didn’t.

[00:35:38.000 – 00:35:46.700] He sat down, said, “I heard you were up here.

[00:35:46.700 – 00:35:58.000] I thought I’d drop by.” And he forced me, again, to

[00:35:58.000 – 00:36:02.200] ask him to tell that simple story of the kitchen table.

[00:36:02.200 – 00:36:12.000] And as he told it, the dilemma increased to an agonizing point.

[00:36:12.000 – 00:36:14.500] I

[00:36:14.700 – 00:36:19.500] Was in reach, in sight of almost the other shore.

[00:36:19.500 – 00:36:29.500] And I could not get across because I couldn’t believe.

[00:36:29.500 – 00:36:37.100] And when he was gone, my depression deepened.

[00:36:37.100 – 00:36:40.200] It was indescribable.

[00:36:40.200 – 00:36:45.800] I became as nothing.

[00:36:45.800 – 00:36:55.900] And like a small child crying in the dark, I found myself exclaiming,

[00:36:55.900 – 00:37:03.600] “If there is a God, will he show himself?” It was not a challenge this time.

[00:37:03.600 – 00:37:05.200] It was a plea.

[00:37:05.200 – 00:37:10.000] And instantly this place lit up.

[00:37:10.000 – 00:37:14.500] I was seized in a great ecstasy.

[00:37:14.500 – 00:37:25.500] In the mind’s eye, it seemed to me I was on a mountaintop where a great wind was blowing, and

[00:37:25.500 – 00:37:29.100] I perceived that this was not of air.

[00:37:29.100 – 00:37:38.100] Instead, it was the spiritual essence of God’s grace.

[00:37:38.100 – 00:37:48.300] And I remember crying, “So this is the God of the preachers.” And slowly this

[00:37:48.300 – 00:37:54.600] subsided, and I lay on the bed in perfect peace.

[00:37:54.600 – 00:38:04.800] Still more, I was in a new dimension

[00:38:04.800 – 00:38:07.200] of being.

[00:38:07.200 – 00:38:17.400] Somehow, despite the woes

[00:38:17.400 – 00:38:23.200] of the world, everything was all right.

[00:38:23.200 – 00:38:33.400] I felt suffused by the Spirit.

[00:38:33.400 – 00:38:37.900] So I lay there.

[00:38:37.900 – 00:38:47.900] But little by little, the so-called wisdom

[00:38:47.900 – 00:38:56.400] of my scientific training came back, and it said to me, “Listen, boy, you’re hallucinating.

[00:38:56.400 – 00:39:00.900] Better get the doctors.” So he came.

[00:39:00.900 – 00:39:07.300] He was not a great man in medicine.

[00:39:07.300 – 00:39:16.100] Few had time for his views then, but he was a great human being.

[00:39:16.100 – 00:39:19.200] He had understanding.

[00:39:19.200 – 00:39:21.600] He had compassion.

[00:39:21.600 – 00:39:24.300] He had the open mind.

[00:39:24.300 – 00:39:34.400] And he questioned me closely, and I unfolded this story, even holding back on it a little,

[00:39:34.400 – 00:39:36.200] fearing not to be believed.

[00:39:36.200 – 00:39:46.100] And at length, he said, “Bill, you’re not hallucinating.

[00:39:46.100 – 00:39:50.600] Some great psychic event has occurred.

[00:39:50.600 – 00:39:56.000] And sometimes this happens to alcoholics.

[00:39:56.000 – 00:39:58.600] I’ve read about it in the books, but I’ve never seen it.

[00:39:58.600 – 00:40:02.800] Somehow you are different.

[00:40:02.800 – 00:40:07.200] You are not the same person you were.

[00:40:07.200 – 00:40:09.200] Something has been added.

[00:40:09.200 – 00:40:18.400] Whatever it is, you best hang on to it.” So I begun to hang on.

[00:40:18.400 – 00:40:23.400] And there were a few more days in the hospital.

[00:40:23.400 – 00:40:33.800] And again comes my friend, bearing a message from

[00:40:33.800 – 00:40:37.600] another great man, then long in his grave.

[00:40:37.600 – 00:40:39.700] It was William James.

[00:40:39.700 – 00:40:44.900] And here was a copy of Varieties of Religious Experience.

[00:40:44.900 – 00:40:49.300] In some respects, it was hard reading.

[00:40:49.300 – 00:40:52.300] In others, it was utterly transparent.

[00:40:52.300 – 00:41:02.700] It became clear that most of these transforming experiences were founded

[00:41:02.700 – 00:41:10.000] smack on the seemingly unsure foundation of calamity.

[00:41:10.000 – 00:41:21.500] A controlling situation in the life of a person, something

[00:41:21.500 – 00:41:26.900] he could not get over, around, or under on his own resources.

[00:41:26.900 – 00:41:37.000] And then there was the appeal to the higher power or to God in any terms you like.

[00:41:37.000 – 00:41:48.600] It might have come from an atheist looking out a window in despair regarding

[00:41:48.600 – 00:41:58.700] a tree and saying, “Tree, you can respond to the law of your own nature, but

[00:41:58.700 – 00:41:59.400] I cannot.

[00:41:59.400 – 00:42:10.100] Oh, God of nature.” This wasn’t necessarily followed by

[00:42:10.100 – 00:42:13.300] a sudden illumination such as mine.

[00:42:13.300 – 00:42:23.400] But something would enter the man

[00:42:23.400 – 00:42:30.500] His motivation, as the psychologists say, was suddenly al-altered.

[00:42:30.500 – 00:42:39.600] His liabilities were transmuted into golden assets.

[00:42:39.600 – 00:42:44.600] These experiences might be sudden.

[00:42:44.600 – 00:42:48.100] They might take many forms.

[00:42:48.100 – 00:42:52.700] James even said there was an educational variety.

[00:42:52.700 – 00:42:58.000] But they were all characterized by calamity.

[00:42:58.000 – 00:43:08.000] They were all characterized by a transformation all out of proportion to any association,

[00:43:08.000 – 00:43:12.000] discipline, faith, belief, or what have you.

[00:43:12.000 – 00:43:22.200] Truly, these were gifts of God, given for the most part to those the most sorely

[00:43:22.200 – 00:43:22.800] stricken.

[00:43:22.800 – 00:43:28.100] So why should I have received this?

[00:43:28.100 – 00:43:38.900] Well, I began to think that perhaps part of the reason was my

[00:43:38.900 – 00:43:49.400] identity was heavy, and now I had a double identity, not only in his suffering, but

[00:43:49.400 – 00:43:51.500] in our common release.

[00:43:51.500 – 00:43:57.500] So one drunk had talked to another.

[00:43:57.500 – 00:44:08.300] And a vision came of a sort of chain reaction in which

[00:44:08.300 – 00:44:19.000] we might use science to pronounce upon each other this same sen-sentence of hopelessness

[00:44:19.000 – 00:44:24.800] that I had received via Jung and Silkworth.

[00:44:24.800 – 00:44:31.000] You can’t do it on your own unaided resources.

[00:44:31.000 – 00:44:37.100] There must be a healthy dependence on something far greater.

[00:44:37.100 – 00:44:42.800] And perhaps a chain reaction would start.

[00:44:42.800 – 00:44:47.000] So I began frantically working with drunks.

[00:44:47.000 – 00:44:57.600] Well, just because you had one of these experiences doesn’t

[00:44:57.600 – 00:44:59.300] transform you overnight.

[00:44:59.300 – 00:45:07.800] And my old ego came back, and presently I found myself preaching to people.

[00:45:07.800 – 00:45:16.100] I found myself saying, “You should have one of these things just like mine.

[00:45:16.100 – 00:45:26.300] Here’s how you do it.” And my tale in those days was so weird that they stuck their fingers in the ears

[00:45:26.300 – 00:45:27.700] and ran shrieking.

[00:45:27.700 – 00:45:33.900] Some were sobered up for two or three months, only to flop dismally.

[00:45:33.900 – 00:45:44.100] At about this time, it was suggested by friends and some relatives that better get Lois out of that department store,

[00:45:44.100 – 00:45:45.700] and what about a job?

[00:45:45.700 – 00:45:49.800] Couldn’t the missionary be- business be left to someone else?

[00:45:49.800 – 00:45:56.500] So I began to be a hanger-on in Wall Street, scraped a connection.

[00:45:56.500 – 00:45:59.400] This led me to Akron, Ohio.

[00:45:59.400 – 00:46:05.000] Possible control of a small company there.

[00:46:05.000 – 00:46:07.400] Good big proxy fight.

[00:46:07.400 – 00:46:10.900] Boy, it seemed like those good old Wall Street j- days.

[00:46:10.900 – 00:46:15.200] I hadn’t abandoned the drunks, but I thought I’d get rich first.

[00:46:15.200 – 00:46:22.500] Well, I got out there, and things turned out very badly.

[00:46:22.500 – 00:46:24.900] More calamity, if you like.

[00:46:24.900 – 00:46:27.600] Oh, what a healthy thing this can be.

[00:46:27.600 – 00:46:35.500] Until again, I’m near to despair.

[00:46:35.500 – 00:46:38.900] I’m alone in the Mayflower Hotel in Akron.

[00:46:38.900 – 00:46:48.900] And for the first time in six months, the thought of a

[00:46:48.900 – 00:46:56.000] drink came back, and I walked up and down the bar room at one end.

[00:46:56.000 – 00:46:59.500] At the other end of the lobby, a church director.

[00:46:59.500 – 00:47:09.500] And as I paced back and forth, I found myself looking absently at

[00:47:09.500 – 00:47:09.700] it.

[00:47:09.700 – 00:47:15.000] And then the thought came, “Well, maybe some of these Oxford goofers are around here.

[00:47:15.000 – 00:47:24.100] I’ll call up this preacher.” Name was Walter Tunks.

[00:47:24.100 – 00:47:24.900] It was odd.

[00:47:24.900 – 00:47:26.000] Maybe that would be good.

[00:47:26.000 – 00:47:27.800] So I called him.

[00:47:27.800 – 00:47:35.800] I explained that I was a drunk from New York who needed another drunk to work on.

[00:47:35.800 – 00:47:43.100] Well, the good man had seen lots of drunks, evidently, and, you know, one at a time seemed to be enough.

[00:47:43.100 – 00:47:45.500] But nevertheless, he did catch on.

[00:47:45.500 – 00:47:46.500] God bless him.

[00:47:46.500 – 00:47:56.700] And he gave me a list of people, and I telephoned them, and they would see me in church Sunday,

[00:47:56.700 – 00:47:58.300] or they were just going out of town.

[00:47:58.300 – 00:48:08.400] And I came to the end of a list

[00:48:08.400 – 00:48:09.600] of several names.

[00:48:09.600 – 00:48:17.500] And at the bottom of the list was one Henrietta Seiberling.

[00:48:17.500 – 00:48:27.600] I said, “Good grief, I can’t call her.” I remember meeting Frank Seiberling one time on a

[00:48:27.600 – 00:48:28.400] business deal.

[00:48:28.400 – 00:48:38.500] And I can’t imagine going out to see that dear old lady on a Saturday afternoon, even if she would have me, to ask her

[00:48:38.500 – 00:48:40.300] what about another drunk to work on.

[00:48:40.300 – 00:48:41.600] No, you can’t do this.

[00:48:41.600 – 00:48:46.600] I went back and looked in the bar again.

[00:48:46.600 – 00:48:49.200] Mind scraping acquaintance in there.

[00:48:49.200 – 00:48:52.700] It was so lonesome in the lobby.

[00:48:52.700 – 00:48:56.600] Something said you’d better call her.

[00:48:56.600 – 00:49:04.100] So I went upstairs and called, and a delightful Southern voice came on the wire.

[00:49:04.100 – 00:49:12.000] I explained to her, and she understood at once.

[00:49:12.000 – 00:49:22.100] She wasn’t a drunk, she said, but she had had

[00:49:22.100 – 00:49:28.200] some experience in suffering and being relieved of it.

[00:49:28.200 – 00:49:29.700] Wouldn’t I come right out?

[00:49:29.700 – 00:49:34.900] What words those were for Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:49:34.900 – 00:49:45.100] So I went out to the Seiberling estate where she lived in the gatehouse, and

[00:49:45.100 – 00:49:46.800] she was the daughter-in-law.

[00:49:46.800 – 00:49:53.900] And she said, “Come in.” And I talked more.

[00:49:53.900 – 00:49:56.700] And she glowed.

[00:49:56.700 – 00:50:00.200] And she said, “I know a doctor in this town.

[00:50:00.200 – 00:50:04.600] Lots of us in the groups have been trying to help him,” the Oxford groups.

[00:50:04.600 – 00:50:08.200] “We know he wants to stop.

[00:50:08.200 – 00:50:10.700] His wife is a semi-in bullet.

[00:50:10.700 – 00:50:12.400] The kids are going to the devil.

[00:50:12.400 – 00:50:21.300] Wouldn’t you like me to call up?” So she called up Anne Smith.

[00:50:21.300 – 00:50:31.900] She said, “Anne, there’s a man here from New York who can have a cure for alcoholism.

[00:50:31.900 – 00:50:35.100] Says he needs somebody to work with.

[00:50:35.100 – 00:50:44.600] Can’t you get Bob to come over?” And Anne said, “Well, I’m afraid not today, Henrietta.

[00:50:44.600 – 00:50:47.100] You know he’s a sentimental old dear.

[00:50:47.100 – 00:50:48.600] It’s Mother’s Day.

[00:50:48.600 – 00:50:53.300] He’s brought me a potted plant, and the plant’s on the table, but he’s unroot.

[00:50:53.300 – 00:51:03.800] Can’t come today.” But the next day they did come, and I can still see

[00:51:03.800 – 00:51:11.700] in sharp and wonderful recollection that couple standing in Henrietta’s door.

[00:51:11.700 – 00:51:18.600] And Bob was shaking badly, and he said, “I can’t stay more than five minutes.

[00:51:18.600 – 00:51:28.600] I gotta make a call.” Henrietta, with prudence and wisdom, ushered us into her little library, and

[00:51:28.600 – 00:51:30.500] Bob and I talked for hours.

[00:51:30.500 – 00:51:39.100] And this is the first time that I hadn’t talked down to drunks.

[00:51:39.100 – 00:51:49.100] I poured it on how Silkworth had said this is an obsession that condemns us

[00:51:49.100 – 00:51:57.600] to drink, an allergy that harms us so that we shall presently be mad or die.

[00:51:57.600 – 00:52:08.900] And if you read his story in the AA book, you will see that that was the deflationary tool that

[00:52:08.900 – 00:52:11.700] precipitated all of the teaching he’d had.

[00:52:11.700 – 00:52:15.400] And that was a great deal of religious teaching.

[00:52:15.400 – 00:52:18.200] And Henrietta was one of the teachers.

[00:52:18.200 – 00:52:20.600] I merely came along and pulled the plug.

[00:52:20.600 – 00:52:30.700] So Anne, to play it safe, invited me over to their house.

[00:52:30.700 – 00:52:43.100] But before we go any further, I want you to meet Henrietta,

[00:52:43.100 – 00:52:48.400] our dear friend who cared enough.

[00:52:48.400 – 00:52:50.900] Henrietta, please stand up.

[00:52:50.900 – 00:53:07.500] That’s

[00:53:07.500 – 00:53:09.800] how she was in on the early days.

[00:53:09.800 – 00:53:14.300] And she’s never stopped helping since.

[00:53:14.300 – 00:53:17.400] So I went to Dr.

[00:53:17.400 – 00:53:18.400] Bob’s house.

[00:53:18.400 – 00:53:21.600] And soon Dr.

[00:53:21.600 – 00:53:31.700] Bob says, “I gotta go to a medical convention in Atlantic City.” And Anne stood behind him and said, “No, no, no.” In my ardor, too,

[00:53:31.700 – 00:53:37.200] I told Bob he had to live with alcoholism, so I had two big crocks right up on the sideboard.

[00:53:37.200 – 00:53:41.400] You know, something to work against, not on.

[00:53:41.400 – 00:53:47.100] So off he went to Atlantic City, and we didn’t hear from him for five days.

[00:53:47.100 – 00:53:55.100] All of a sudden he’s back, terrible shape, dumped on the platform, four o’clock in the morning.

[00:53:55.100 – 00:53:56.500] His nurse goes down.

[00:53:56.500 – 00:54:06.200] She calls up, brings him back to Ardmore Avenue, and he’s in terrible shape.

[00:54:06.200 – 00:54:17.100] And Anne said, “You know, he’s got to do an operation in three days, one

[00:54:17.100 – 00:54:18.100] that he started.

[00:54:18.100 – 00:54:21.200] He has to finish it.”

[00:54:22.300 – 00:54:24.100] So we commenced to taper Dr.

[00:54:24.100 – 00:54:25.200] Bob down.

[00:54:25.200 – 00:54:28.900] And I slept in the room with him.

[00:54:28.900 – 00:54:41.300] And on the morning of the day of the operation, he looked across at me just

[00:54:41.300 – 00:54:51.300] after daylight, still agonized, and said, “Bill, I’m

[00:54:51.300 – 00:54:55.900] going through with it.” “Why,” I said, “of course you are.

[00:54:55.900 – 00:55:03.700] The operation will be a success.” “Oh,” he said, “I don’t know about the operation, but one for the cot.

[00:55:03.700 – 00:55:14.000] No, I mean, I’m going through with the spiritual

[00:55:14.000 – 00:55:23.400] side.” So we loaded him in a car, wheeled him up in front of the city hospital.

[00:55:23.400 – 00:55:33.500] He drank a bottle of beer in the car, and I popped one goofball in his mouth, and then he went

[00:55:33.500 – 00:55:34.800] and did the operation.

[00:55:34.800 – 00:55:44.800] And he came out, and he took us home, and he said, “Now I have to do some

[00:55:44.800 – 00:55:49.400] errands.” We were scared to death.

[00:55:49.400 – 00:55:51.600] Oh, ye of little faith.

[00:55:51.600 – 00:55:56.100] After a long time, he came back.

[00:55:56.100 – 00:55:59.900] He had been making restitution already to the people he had harmed.

[00:55:59.900 – 00:56:09.400] A few da-days later, he said to me, “Bill, we’d better be working on other alcoholics, hadn’t we?

[00:56:09.400 – 00:56:11.100] Even in our own protection.

[00:56:11.100 – 00:56:14.500] I’ll call the city hospital where I used to operate.

[00:56:14.500 – 00:56:21.200] I’m chucked off the staff.” He got ahold of a nurse in emergency that he knew.

[00:56:21.200 – 00:56:27.300] He said there was a guy here from New York who had a great booze cure, and we’d like to try it out.

[00:56:27.300 – 00:56:35.400] The nurse said, “I hope you tried it yourself, doctor.” “Well,” she said, “I got a dandy.

[00:56:35.400 – 00:56:40.900] Been here five times in four months.” Six times, I guess it was.

[00:56:40.900 – 00:56:48.800] Uh, Bob said, “Put him in a room.

[00:56:48.800 – 00:56:51.500] Here’s what you give him.

[00:56:51.500 – 00:57:01.500] We’ll be down in the morning.” So we came at the morning and looked upon this chap on the

[00:57:01.500 – 00:57:04.200] bed, and he was a very sorry sight.

[00:57:04.200 – 00:57:07.800] And we told him the story.

[00:57:07.800 – 00:57:15.500] And he shook his head with infinite sadness and said, “No, I’m too far gone.

[00:57:15.500 – 00:57:18.700] This isn’t for me.

[00:57:18.700 – 00:57:22.500] Besides, I’m a religious man.

[00:57:22.500 – 00:57:33.100] It’s nice of you to come.” And as we turned to go, he said, “But

[00:57:33.100 – 00:57:43.600] you’ll come back and see me again, won’t you?” So we came on the morrow, and

[00:57:43.600 – 00:57:45.400] it was a very different sight.

[00:57:45.400 – 00:57:50.600] His wife, also named Henrietta, was in the room.

[00:57:50.600 – 00:57:55.000] He said, “Dear, here are the fellows who were talking to me.

[00:57:55.000 – 00:57:56.600] They’re the people that know.

[00:57:56.600 – 00:57:59.500] For the first time, this makes sense.

[00:57:59.500 – 00:58:05.200] I’m going to try it.

[00:58:05.200 – 00:58:10.200] I thought it over during the night.

[00:58:10.200 – 00:58:16.100] If they can do it, maybe under God’s grace, I too can do it.

[00:58:16.100 – 00:58:20.600] Let’s have my clothes.

[00:58:20.600 – 00:58:26.500] I’m going home.” He went out into a political campaign.

[00:58:26.500 – 00:58:35.900] He was taunted for his alcoholism, but never had a drink till the day he died.

[00:58:35.900 – 00:58:38.300] And that was old Bill Dotson.

[00:58:38.300 – 00:58:49.900] And that is where and how the first AA group took

[00:58:49.900 – 00:58:50.500] shape.

[00:58:50.500 – 00:59:00.500] The ultimate how, of course, we still don’t know, for this has to do with the mystery of

[00:59:00.500 – 00:59:03.800] God’s grace, which no man understands.

[00:59:03.800 – 00:59:06.100] So I came home.

[00:59:06.100 – 00:59:07.800] A little group started in New York.

[00:59:07.800 – 00:59:16.400] People from Cleveland began to come to Bob’s meeting in Akron.

[00:59:16.400 – 00:59:22.700] A while later, he meets Ignatius.

[00:59:22.700 – 00:59:33.300] And between four, nineteen forty and fifty, those two ministered to five thousand alcoholics.

[00:59:33.300 – 00:59:36.400] After Bob’s death, she to ten more in Cleveland.

[00:59:36.400 – 00:59:39.400] Ten thousand more.

[00:59:39.400 – 00:59:47.000] So that is the story of the early days.

[00:59:47.000 – 00:59:57.100] How our destiny is hung on the love,

[00:59:57.100 – 00:60:07.100] the understanding, the dedication of our friends,

[00:60:07.100 – 00:60:11.200] of our wives, of our husbands.

[00:60:11.200 – 00:60:23.800] Now then, I think the

[00:60:23.800 – 00:60:34.400] great wonder of AA Is that deformed people though we still are, so

[00:60:34.400 – 00:60:44.400] long scarred by this malady, even after we’re sober, that one thing after another has turned

[00:60:44.400 – 00:60:45.200] out well.

[00:60:45.200 – 00:60:53.100] The AA book itself was an example of this.

[00:60:53.100 – 00:60:56.300] Dr.

[00:60:56.300 – 00:61:06.700] Bob sobered in ‘thirty-five, and four years later, after terrible travails,

[00:61:06.700 – 00:61:08.600] we came out with this book.

[00:61:08.600 – 00:61:19.000] And in that activity, we saw people at their very worst, except for drinking.

[00:61:19.000 – 00:61:27.700] And we also saw them at their most magnificent best under God’s grace.

[00:61:27.700 – 00:61:36.300] I can remember when I was on the worst side of the equation, maybe the good, I hope so.

[00:61:36.300 – 00:61:43.200] I can remember we had four chapters done after immense arguments.

[00:61:43.200 – 00:61:51.100] And one night I lay abed in Clinton Street, and I was very sore at all the drunks.

[00:61:51.100 – 00:61:53.900] They weren’t getting up to dough, so we couldn’t eat.

[00:61:53.900 – 00:61:58.300] And yet this thing had to be done.

[00:61:58.300 – 00:62:08.200] And I was stuck in the writing, and there were four chapters finished after furious debates.

[00:62:08.200 – 00:62:19.700] And I said, “Well, I got, gotta put down what the book really is going to say.” And then I thought of my teaching

[00:62:19.700 – 00:62:26.500] via Ed– Ebby and of the word-of-mouth program that had sprung up about six steps.

[00:62:26.500 – 00:62:36.200] So I said, “Well, let’s have some more steps so they can’t wiggle out between.” And I started writing, and they added up to twelve.

[00:62:36.200 – 00:62:46.300] And I said, “Well, this looks better.” And then a couple of friends came in, and they tore the steps

[00:62:46.300 – 00:62:47.100] all apart.

[00:62:47.100 – 00:62:52.800] And some people said there wasn’t enough God in them, and some said there shouldn’t be any.

[00:62:52.800 – 00:62:55.300] You should spring it up on them after they get here.

[00:62:55.300 – 00:63:00.200] And so forth and so on.

[00:63:00.200 – 00:63:09.800] And before we were through, the stockholders were sending in five bucks a month.

[00:63:09.800 – 00:63:14.900] We’d sold shares of the unpublished book to the local drunks.

[00:63:14.900 – 00:63:20.900] Five dollars a month, ten bucks a month to keep things going.

[00:63:20.900 – 00:63:24.800] Then there was a slight embezzlement of funds.

[00:63:24.800 – 00:63:30.000] Well, I would really like to tell you about this book.

[00:63:30.000 – 00:63:40.400] And finally, with the last five hundred we could lay hold of, we went up to the Reader’s Digest that promised a piece,

[00:63:40.400 – 00:63:50.400] and we said, “Boys, we’re all ready to shoot.” And the editor that had talked to us months before said, “Shoot what?” “Oh,

[00:63:50.400 – 00:63:53.700] yes, you were the fellows in the Alcohol Society.

[00:63:53.700 – 00:64:03.900] We were going to do this piece and mention your new book, but we changed our mind after discussions, and we forgot to tell you.” And the collapse was very great.

[00:64:03.900 – 00:64:05.800] We lost the house.

[00:64:05.800 – 00:64:10.800] The printer, dear man, almost took the book, but withheld.

[00:64:10.800 – 00:64:15.000] We went into a terrific promotion piece.

[00:64:15.000 – 00:64:19.200] One of the drunks got on the radio with Gabriel Heatter.

[00:64:19.200 – 00:64:29.300] We put out a shower of twenty thousand postal cards to all the doctors east of the Mississippi River saying, “Buy the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:64:29.300 – 00:64:32.700] Sure a cur-cure for alcoholism, three-fifty.

[00:64:32.700 – 00:64:37.900] Listen to Heatter.” We locked the guy up so he wouldn’t get drunk.

[00:64:37.900 – 00:64:43.500] He appeared on Heatter’s program.

[00:64:43.500 – 00:64:53.300] The market in AA had gone because all the people who wrote stories had got a free book, and all those who had bought stock, they got a free book.

[00:64:53.300 – 00:64:57.100] But now we could see the books going out in carload.

[00:64:57.100 – 00:65:07.100] And we went down to the post office after waiting a few days, and we looked in the box, and

[00:65:07.100 – 00:65:09.800] you could see a few postal cards in there.

[00:65:09.800 – 00:65:20.100] And my friend, who had helped me so, Hank Parkhurst, always the optimist, said,

[00:65:20.100 – 00:65:22.900] “My God, they couldn’t get them in the box, Bill.

[00:65:22.900 – 00:65:32.000] They must be mailbags full.” So we went to the window.

[00:65:32.000 – 00:65:36.500] The clerk handed us an even dozen postal cards.

[00:65:36.500 – 00:65:44.100] Ten of them were from doctors drunk, so much so they couldn’t write, berating us.

[00:65:44.100 – 00:65:48.700] And we had two orders for the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:65:48.700 – 00:66:00.200] And yet we had said in the book, in the final chapter of the text,

[00:66:00.200 – 00:66:10.300] having learned some humility by this time,

[00:66:10.300 – 00:66:20.500] we modestly said, “Our hope is that when this chip of a book is launched

[00:66:20.500 – 00:66:28.400] on the world tide of alcoholism, defeated drinkers will seize upon it to follow its suggestions.

[00:66:28.400 – 00:66:38.500] Many, we are sure, will rise to their feet and march on.” They will approach

[00:66:38.500 – 00:66:48.500] still other sick ones, and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in

[00:66:48.500 – 00:66:58.300] each sit, city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.

[00:66:58.300 – 00:67:08.600] Someone has likened Alcoholics

[00:67:08.600 – 00:67:18.600] Anonymous to a cathedral of infinite dimensions, an edifice, if you like, of

[00:67:18.600 – 00:67:19.300] the spirit.

[00:67:19.300 – 00:67:29.800] And on its great floor now stand eleven

[00:67:29.800 – 00:67:35.500] thousand of us in our group, and we number several hundreds of thousands.

[00:67:35.500 – 00:67:42.900] And we are in peace with each other and with the world.

[00:67:42.900 – 00:67:52.900] And the sidewalls of this cathedral are buttressed by the

[00:67:52.900 – 00:68:04.600] Twelve Traditions of AA, the basis of living and working together, of functioning, of

[00:68:04.600 – 00:68:15.000] relating ourselves to the stricken world that now surrounds us.

[00:68:15.000 – 00:68:25.500] And the spire, the beckoning spire, symbolizes service, and

[00:68:25.500 – 00:68:29.600] its beacon shines out.

[00:68:29.600 – 00:68:36.900] And upon this, the sun never sets.

[00:68:36.900 – 00:68:49.000] May God prosper our society, and

[00:68:49.000 – 00:68:52.300] may it continue to be worthy of His grace.

[00:68:52.300 – 00:69:03.700] And may our edifice of the spirit ever broaden

[00:69:03.700 – 00:69:14.300] and deepen in its inclusion of our brothers and sisters who

[00:69:14.300 – 00:69:18.300] still suffer alcoholism.

[00:69:18.300 – 00:69:45.300] Bill,

[00:69:45.300 – 00:69:49.500] I know I speak for everyone here when I say thank you for everything.

[00:69:49.500 – 00:69:56.800] Now, I wanna remind you that there’s dancing immediately following this meeting across the hall in the p- royal ballroom.

[00:69:56.800 – 00:69:59.800] And there is, there are several entrances.

[00:69:59.800 – 00:70:06.300] There’s the one directly opposite here, and another entrance down at the right, so we won’t all jam up at, at one place.

[00:70:06.300 – 00:70:16.000] Uh, I’d like, too, to remind you or tell you that there are tapes available of, of this meeting, and you can see Frank down front here if you’re interested in getting one.

[00:70:16.000 – 00:70:26.100] And to close tonight’s meeting, we have a man with us who heard about AA and was impressed enough to, to personally help get a group

[00:70:26.100 – 00:70:27.500] started in his church.

[00:70:27.500 – 00:70:31.400] Truly a friend of AA’s, Reverend Callahan.

[00:70:31.400 – 00:70:41.700] Would you please stand for the closing

[00:70:41.700 – 00:70:42.100] prayer?

[00:70:42.100 – 00:70:46.800] Let us pray.

[00:70:46.800 – 00:70:56.900] Oh, Lord, our God, in whom we live and move and have our very being, and from

[00:70:56.900 – 00:71:06.100] whom we are very restless until we find our peace and sobriety in thee, we stand in silence to give thee thanks.

[00:71:06.100 – 00:71:14.700] We praise thy name, oh, God, for Bill and for Lois, for these two who, in the words of Dr.

[00:71:14.700 – 00:71:21.000] Sam, have become intoxicated with the power of a living and resurrected God.

[00:71:21.000 – 00:71:29.400] Continue to be with us and strengthen us, oh, God, that we may live one day at a time.

[00:71:29.400 – 00:71:34.100] And grant us also the petition of Bill’s heart.

[00:71:34.100 – 00:71:43.200] Oh, God, may we prosper in the days to come, and may we be blessed by the grace of God forever.

[00:71:43.200 – 00:71:48.700] In the name of the one who has taught us when we pray together to say…

[00:71:48.700 – 00:71:54.500] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[00:71:54.500 – 00:72:01.600] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heavens.

[00:72:01.600 – 00:72:11.900] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass

[00:72:11.900 – 00:72:12.900] against us.

[00:72:12.900 – 00:72:18.700] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[00:72:18.700 – 00:72:26.500] For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

[00:72:26.500 – 00:72:28.000] Amen.

[00:67:19.300 – 00:67:29.800] And on its great floor now stand eleven

[00:67:29.800 – 00:67:35.500] thousand of us in our group, and we number several hundreds of thousands.

[00:67:35.500 – 00:67:42.900] And we are in peace with each other and with the world.

[00:67:42.900 – 00:67:52.900] And the sidewalls of this cathedral are buttressed by the

[00:67:52.900 – 00:68:04.600] Twelve Traditions of AA, the basis of living and working together, of functioning, of

[00:68:04.600 – 00:68:15.000] relating ourselves to the stricken world that now surrounds us.

[00:68:15.000 – 00:68:25.500] And the spire, the beckoning spire, symbolizes service, and

[00:68:25.500 – 00:68:29.600] its beacon shines out.

[00:68:29.600 – 00:68:36.900] And upon this, the sun never sets.

[00:68:36.900 – 00:68:49.000] May God prosper our society, and

[00:68:49.000 – 00:68:52.300] may it continue to be worthy of His grace.

[00:68:52.300 – 00:69:03.700] And may our edifice of the spirit ever broaden

[00:69:03.700 – 00:69:14.300] and deepen in its inclusion of our brothers and sisters who

[00:69:14.300 – 00:69:18.300] still suffer alcoholism.

[00:69:18.300 – 00:69:45.300] Bill,

[00:69:45.300 – 00:69:49.500] I know I speak for everyone here when I say thank you for everything.

[00:69:49.500 – 00:69:56.800] Now, I wanna remind you that there’s dancing immediately following this meeting across the hall in the p- royal ballroom.

[00:69:56.800 – 00:69:59.800] And there is, there are several entrances.

[00:69:59.800 – 00:70:06.300] There’s the one directly opposite here, and another entrance down at the right, so we won’t all jam up at, at one place.

[00:70:06.300 – 00:70:16.000] Uh, I’d like, too, to remind you or tell you that there are tapes available of, of this meeting, and you can see Frank down front here if you’re interested in getting one.

[00:70:16.000 – 00:70:26.100] And to close tonight’s meeting, we have a man with us who heard about AA and was impressed enough to, to personally help get a group

[00:70:26.100 – 00:70:27.500] started in his church.

[00:70:27.500 – 00:70:31.400] Truly a friend of AA’s, Reverend Callahan.

[00:70:31.400 – 00:70:41.700] Would you please stand for the closing

[00:70:41.700 – 00:70:42.100] prayer?

[00:70:42.100 – 00:70:46.800] Let us pray.

[00:70:46.800 – 00:70:56.900] Oh, Lord, our God, in whom we live and move and have our very being, and from

[00:70:56.900 – 00:71:06.100] whom we are very restless until we find our peace and sobriety in thee, we stand in silence to give thee thanks.

[00:71:06.100 – 00:71:14.700] We praise thy name, oh, God, for Bill and for Lois, for these two who, in the words of Dr.

[00:71:14.700 – 00:71:21.000] Sam, have become intoxicated with the power of a living and resurrected God.

[00:71:21.000 – 00:71:29.400] Continue to be with us and strengthen us, oh, God, that we may live one day at a time.

[00:71:29.400 – 00:71:34.100] And grant us also the petition of Bill’s heart.

[00:71:34.100 – 00:71:43.200] Oh, God, may we prosper in the days to come, and may we be blessed by the grace of God forever.

[00:71:43.200 – 00:71:48.700] In the name of the one who has taught us when we pray together to say…

[00:71:48.700 – 00:71:54.500] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[00:71:54.500 – 00:72:01.600] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heavens.

[00:72:01.600 – 00:72:11.900] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass

[00:72:11.900 – 00:72:12.900] against us.

[00:72:12.900 – 00:72:18.700] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[00:72:18.700 – 00:72:26.500] For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

[00:72:26.500 – 00:72:28.000] Amen.

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