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[00:00:00.100 – 00:00:00.520] Another.

[00:00:00.520 – 00:00:01.100] You too.

[00:00:01.100 – 00:00:01.900] You too.

[00:00:01.900 – 00:00:02.800] You too.

[00:00:02.800 – 00:00:03.580] Yes.

[00:00:03.580 – 00:00:04.200] Yes.

[00:00:04.200 – 00:00:06.840] But let me tell you what happened to me when I dropped that juice down.

[00:00:06.840 – 00:00:08.480] I quit perspiring.

[00:00:08.480 – 00:00:10.140] My hair laid back down.

[00:00:10.140 – 00:00:13.580] My toes went back in them alligator shoes.

[00:00:13.580 – 00:00:21.000] I ran up the steps and got hold of the oldest sober member that got sober in that group and got to arguing with him about the quality of y’all’s fellowship.

[00:00:21.000 – 00:00:23.120] And he said something to me, and I hit him.

[00:00:23.120 – 00:00:30.700] And when I was drinking, I was bad to hit people, taller than me, shorter than me, fatter than me, skinnier than me, and we started to fight.

[00:00:30.700 – 00:00:36.620] And two of his AA babies joined in, and I, as far as I’m concerned, that fight was a lot better than that AA meeting.

[00:00:36.620 – 00:00:40.100] And I was just whooping the dickens out of them two little sober drunks.

[00:00:40.100 – 00:00:42.300] And then they did an unfair thing.

[00:00:42.300 – 00:00:47.640] They ran in two drunks the size of the outside linebackers on the Dallas Cowboys.

[00:00:47.640 – 00:00:53.100] And four of them picked me up bodily, two on each side, and threw me right out of that AA group.

[00:00:53.100 – 00:01:03.460] As I’m sailing through the air, one of them said, “We don’t need your kind here.” And somebody else hollered out, “And furthermore, you’re too young to be an alcoholic.”

[00:01:03.460 – 00:01:13.700] And I stood on that grass that Sunday evening drunk with my fists clenched, screaming to anybody that would listen to me that I would never come back to this Christ soul-saving

[00:01:13.700 – 00:01:17.960] organization as long as I live, that I was too young to be an alcoholic.

[00:01:17.960 – 00:01:25.160] But the next seventeen years, everything that could possibly happen to a human being happened to this human being.

[00:01:25.160 – 00:01:35.220] And the only three things never did happen to me, getting ready to get on a drunk, on a drunk, coming off a drunk, right to this second, is I never did willfully murder another human being, fall

[00:01:35.220 – 00:01:37.340] in love with another man, or die drunk.

[00:01:37.340 – 00:01:39.200] Other than that, it all happened.

[00:01:39.200 – 00:01:49.310] And I married this wonderful gal, and you know when we got married, she didn’t realize she, she’s marrying an alcoholic, an active alcoholic.

[00:01:49.310 – 00:01:52.140] And so when we got married, we didn’t start to build a marriage.

[00:01:52.140 – 00:01:56.800] We started to build a booby trap that could go off on any second, month, or year.

[00:01:56.800 – 00:02:07.040] And I was recalled back into the service as a naval dental officer and, and, and didn’t have to go, but it got, gave me a chance to get way away from my creditors and way away from my nagging wife

[00:02:07.040 – 00:02:09.440] and those patients and everybody that was bothering me.

[00:02:09.440 – 00:02:16.320] And they said I was drunk, that was, I was falling asleep in the laps of my patients, that I was smelling bad and all this and all that.

[00:02:16.320 – 00:02:20.480] And I, and to get way out of there, and I got into more trouble than this trouble.

[00:02:20.480 – 00:02:28.300] Christmas Day, nineteen fifty-four, I’m laying in a military prison.

[00:02:28.300 – 00:02:32.440] It only had room for a hundred and twenty-eight.

[00:02:32.440 – 00:02:35.140] It was under a code name.

[00:02:35.140 – 00:02:38.700] I didn’t know how I got there till after I’d come to.

[00:02:38.700 – 00:02:42.150] It was later dynamited and bulldozed.

[00:02:42.150 – 00:02:50.160] It was worse than any prisoner of war camp that’s ever been devised by man and worse than any concentration camp that was devised by any man.

[00:02:50.160 – 00:02:56.540] And there I was, Christmas Day, and I had a leg iron locked around my right leg, and a chain welded to the leg iron.

[00:02:56.540 – 00:03:05.820] The other end of the chain welded to the steel cot, and the four legs of the steel cot immersed in concrete, and there were armed guards around me twenty-four hours a day, daring me to move.

[00:03:05.820 – 00:03:13.040] And I laid like that for seven and a half months, and I, and I was to lay like that for one solid year.

[00:03:13.040 – 00:03:15.060] That was before I was tried.

[00:03:15.060 – 00:03:25.760] And the first seven and a half months that I was there because of my insolence and because of my resentments and because of my hate and because of my ugly behavior,

[00:03:25.760 – 00:03:33.960] four and a half months of those seven and a half months, I was on straight bread and water with just a nourishing meal to satisfy the code.

[00:03:33.960 – 00:03:40.220] And if anyone’s ever been in that situation knows what that nourishing meal was.

[00:03:40.220 – 00:03:47.930] And here it is, Christmas Day, and I’m hating society because I know hundreds that have done far worse than me, and they’re running free.

[00:03:47.930 – 00:03:48.420] Why me?

[00:03:48.420 – 00:03:49.380] Boo-hoo, boo-hoo.

[00:03:49.380 – 00:03:52.300] And in comes this little Marine orderly, and he’s got the Christmas dinner.

[00:03:52.300 – 00:03:55.780] And I’ve been in a lots of places to where they don’t give you a knife and fork.

[00:03:55.780 – 00:04:00.500] They give you a spoon, and they count the spoons before they let you go back to your little iron doggy house.

[00:04:00.500 – 00:04:10.500] And he’s coming in, and he’s grinning, and he says, “Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas.” And I’m so full of Christmas spirit and love for my fellow man, I say, “Ho, ho, ho, you

[00:04:10.500 – 00:04:20.540] know what.” And he said, “Here’s your Christmas dinner, and merry Christmas anyway.” And I was so full of gratitude and so full of joy that when he handed me the tray, I picked it up, and I

[00:04:20.540 – 00:04:21.800] hit him right in the face with it.

[00:04:21.800 – 00:04:29.640] And my Christmas gift for doing that on the Christmas of nineteen fifty-four was forty-five more straight days on bread and water.

[00:04:29.640 – 00:04:32.700] Now, that’s what you call a bad day.

[00:04:32.700 – 00:04:38.300] I have not had a day that bad since I have been sober in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:04:38.300 – 00:04:40.940] Now I’m gonna flip the coin.

[00:04:40.940 – 00:04:48.740] I’m at our state convention in a large town in Texas about four years ago, five.

[00:04:48.740 – 00:04:55.240] One of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous comes up to me, and this is one of the reasons we look in each other’s eyes and shake each other’s hands.

[00:04:55.240 – 00:04:56.930] It tells us a lot about each other.

[00:04:56.930 – 00:05:03.680] And I could see that Dick’s eyes were troubled, and he says, “David, I need to talk with you.” And I says, “I’m one of these kind.

[00:05:03.680 – 00:05:14.000] Well, tell me now.” He says, “Well, I’m the voice of this convention, and we’re gonna be on the dais together on two meetings, but I need to talk with you.” And I said, “Well, okay.” We went over to a quiet corner of the huge lobby,

[00:05:14.000 – 00:05:24.030] and he says, “I don’t know where to start.” And I said, “Well, what is it, Dick?” And he says, “David, I’m the one who stole all of

[00:05:24.030 – 00:05:34.360] that money that cost you one solitary year of your life in total confinement.” In one fleeting second, the head said, “Kill him.”

[00:05:35.630 – 00:05:45.760] But something that is not me, that’s in, not in my code of living, living a lifestyle on my own, something came from within me, m-not my words, that said, “Dick,

[00:05:45.760 – 00:05:48.680] if there be fault, let it be mine.

[00:05:48.680 – 00:05:58.780] That I was your commanding officer, and I stayed drunk, and I could not exercise the responsibility and trust that

[00:05:58.780 – 00:05:59.500] was given to me.

[00:05:59.500 – 00:06:01.380] You were a part of that.

[00:06:01.380 – 00:06:02.300] You stayed drunk.

[00:06:02.300 – 00:06:09.592] You couldn’t exercise the trust and the responsibility that you were charged with.” And it’s the only route we had to go.

[00:06:09.592 – 00:06:12.672] And I thank you for telling me.

[00:06:12.672 – 00:06:15.292] But now, Dick, I have to ask you a question.

[00:06:15.292 – 00:06:25.312] When did you get sober?” He says, “March the 22nd, 1967.” I says, “You’re six.” He says, “What are you talking about?” I says, “You

[00:06:25.312 – 00:06:25.932] and I are two.

[00:06:25.932 – 00:06:32.812] I ran into one in Clovis, New Mexico, one in San Francisco, one in New York, and one in Atlanta, Georgia.

[00:06:32.812 – 00:06:36.612] And all of us were a part of that team.

[00:06:36.612 – 00:06:40.771] And all of us are sober in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:06:40.771 – 00:06:51.662] And all of us got sober between March the 15th of 1967 and April the 20th of 1967, and I’m the baby.” And

[00:06:51.662 – 00:06:54.312] 30 months ago, he called me and says I found number seven.

[00:06:54.312 – 00:07:04.312] And before even asking him his name, says, “When did he get sober?” “March the 19th, 1967.” We have a reunion every year, and

[00:07:04.312 – 00:07:08.112] we laugh and we cry, and we are so thankful.

[00:07:08.112 – 00:07:12.152] And I tell you, you’ve got to know us seven.

[00:07:12.152 – 00:07:19.192] Living a lifestyle on our own, the entire Bay Area would not be safe.

[00:07:19.192 – 00:07:25.172] Yeah.

[00:07:25.172 – 00:07:27.192] Stick around AA.

[00:07:27.192 – 00:07:28.652] Good things happen.

[00:07:28.652 – 00:07:29.992] Good things happen.

[00:07:29.992 – 00:07:32.872] But I still had many, many years before I have to realize that.

[00:07:32.872 – 00:07:34.912] I got all that by hook and crook.

[00:07:34.912 – 00:07:36.012] I lied.

[00:07:36.012 – 00:07:46.652] Some people, some very fine regular military officers, one of them took his life as a result of my involvement, his involvement with me, and I had to make those amends,

[00:07:46.652 – 00:07:47.452] and I certainly did.

[00:07:47.452 – 00:07:51.691] I talked my wife into taking me back, and we started moving and moving and moving.

[00:07:51.691 – 00:07:57.882] We decided to move out in a little small town in the Panhandle of West Texas to raise our two little boys in a Christian environment.

[00:07:57.882 – 00:08:04.572] And I don’t know if any of y’all ever lived in a little town of 3,500 in the Panhandle of West Texas that lived in a Christian environment.

[00:08:04.572 – 00:08:06.832] That’s a town that votes dry and drinks wet.

[00:08:06.832 – 00:08:16.232] And I was drinking every day, and I got up to where I weighed 260 pounds, and my blood pressure was so high that every time my pulse would beat, my head would stand straight up and pump like an oil well.

[00:08:16.232 – 00:08:20.992] And I had a fat doctor friend lived near Amarillo, Texas, went up to see old George.

[00:08:20.992 – 00:08:24.372] And George took one look at me, and I says, “I don’t feel good.” He says, “You don’t look good.

[00:08:24.372 – 00:08:29.712] Let’s have a drink.” And we took a drink, and then he put the cuff on, ran the air up, ran it back down.

[00:08:29.712 – 00:08:36.631] He says, “My God, David, it’s a miracle you’re alive, your blood pressure is so high.” And he says, “Your problem, David, is that you’re too fat.

[00:08:36.631 – 00:08:46.732] You’re a compulsive eater, and I’m gonna have to give you some help.” And he wrote me a prescription for 60 of the most beautiful capsules I’ve ever seen in my life called Mimetons.

[00:08:46.732 – 00:08:53.352] And I said, “Doctor, is it all right if I drink a couple of beers?” And he says, “It won’t hurt you.” He never should have told me that.

[00:08:53.352 – 00:09:00.492] And so I took the piece of paper, went down to the pharmacy, got the prescription filled, went home to lose weight and stay drunk.

[00:09:00.492 – 00:09:04.732] Well, the prescription says take one three times a day after meals.

[00:09:04.732 – 00:09:06.052] Well, who eats when you drink?

[00:09:06.052 – 00:09:10.032] And every drunk knows if one’s good, two’s better, three’s terrific.

[00:09:10.032 – 00:09:12.472] So I just took three of them beauties and drank some whiskey.

[00:09:12.472 – 00:09:14.112] Didn’t feel like I was losing any weight.

[00:09:14.112 – 00:09:19.332] Took three more, drank some more whiskey, ran into the bathroom, turned sideways in the mirror.

[00:09:19.332 – 00:09:20.792] Looked, didn’t look like I was losing any weight.

[00:09:20.792 – 00:09:26.812] Come back, took a handful of them, drank some more whiskey, sat there and looked like my stomach’s getting bigger.

[00:09:26.812 – 00:09:37.032] Our co-founder Bill wrote some very profound lines when he says, “You know, when a drunk is drinking, time is so slow, time out, it’s time out of mind.” And well,

[00:09:37.032 – 00:09:41.732] the only sad thing I found about Alcoholics Anonymous is time passes so fast sober.

[00:09:41.732 – 00:09:42.732] Where does it go?

[00:09:42.732 – 00:09:50.932] And finally, I took all the pills and drank all the whiskey, and the next thing I knew, I was out in my backyard, and I was picking peaches off of rose bushes.

[00:09:50.932 – 00:09:51.972] I don’t mind telling you.

[00:09:51.972 – 00:10:00.212] And they tell me I ran around that little town of 3,500 for two days talking in the unknown tongue, you know.

[00:10:00.212 – 00:10:08.852] And being one of two Jewish families in five counties around, they gathered everybody in to see and hear the miracle.

[00:10:08.852 – 00:10:12.992] Because word had spread like wildfire.

[00:10:12.992 – 00:10:15.032] The Jew had caught the Holy Ghost.

[00:10:15.032 – 00:10:22.412] And when I come to it and realized what happened, I says, “My God, those pills are messing up my drinking,” you know.

[00:10:22.412 – 00:10:25.492] Oh, I’d been to the psychiatrist.

[00:10:25.492 – 00:10:28.572] All the questions he asked me, my wife used to ask me for nothing.

[00:10:28.572 – 00:10:30.852] Sheriffs, policemen, you know.

[00:10:30.852 – 00:10:32.672] Oh, I had to leave that town.

[00:10:32.672 – 00:10:42.832] But you know, it was in that little town that the entire picture of alcoholism, how it not only affects the alcoholic, but how the alcoholic affects everything

[00:10:42.832 – 00:10:49.152] about him, how it affects the family, how it affects the neighbors, how it affects an entire community.

[00:10:49.152 – 00:10:53.772] There was a man who loved me dearly in that town, and he passed away.

[00:10:53.772 – 00:10:55.051] He owned everything in the town.

[00:10:55.051 – 00:10:57.092] Here was the lawyer’s office.

[00:10:57.092 – 00:10:58.152] Here was my dental shop.

[00:10:58.152 – 00:11:00.932] Here was his title and abstract, the insurance office.

[00:11:00.932 – 00:11:01.772] Here was his bank.

[00:11:01.772 – 00:11:03.072] Here was his department store.

[00:11:03.072 – 00:11:04.512] Here was his movie house.

[00:11:04.512 – 00:11:08.532] Here was his automobile agency, his blacksmith shop, his farms all around.

[00:11:08.532 – 00:11:14.312] And the fine old gentleman died, and he was a leading layman in the Methodist church, and they asked me to be a pallbearer.

[00:11:14.312 – 00:11:16.272] And you know, that’s an honor to be a pallbearer.

[00:11:16.272 – 00:11:25.892] And so that Thursday morning, I was, I’d putting on my pallbearing suit, and it was not quite cold enough to sleep, and it was a cold rain to get the chill off.

[00:11:25.892 – 00:11:32.502] And I took one drink, and then to be sure, took another one, and then to be sure, sure, took another one, and to be sure, sure, sure, took another one.

[00:11:32.502 – 00:11:35.672] Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, took about four more.

[00:11:35.672 – 00:11:37.062] And I went to the church house.

[00:11:37.062 – 00:11:41.172] And when you get there, it looks like it’s a two-story church, but actually it isn’t.

[00:11:41.172 – 00:11:42.232] It’s a story and a half.

[00:11:42.232 – 00:11:47.512] But if you’ve ever lived in them little old country towns, when you go up the front steps, it’s like climbing Pikes Peak.

[00:11:47.512 – 00:11:53.152] And you get up in the back, and you open them big doors, and you’re back behind them old coved, curved, oaken pews.

[00:11:53.152 – 00:11:58.952] And to get down on the front row, that’s hopeless row, pallbearer’s row, it’s like skiing down Pikes Peak, that aisle.

[00:11:58.952 – 00:12:04.812] And I go there, and God, they had flowers hanging everywhere and steam radiators, and it was hot in there.

[00:12:04.812 – 00:12:06.972] And when I was drinking, my seasons were out of whack.

[00:12:06.972 – 00:12:11.448] I’d freeze to death in the summertime and burn up in the wintertime.

[00:12:11.448 – 00:12:19.188] I’d put on overcoats and wool drawers in the summertime, and I’d run around sweating in the, in the wintertime, and I’m in there and I’m wanting a drink, and that’s not sanity.

[00:12:19.188 – 00:12:25.028] And everybody’s got to get up and eulogize that old man, and I know exactly who’s gonna be the last one.

[00:12:25.028 – 00:12:27.748] And I said, “Oh, I’m gonna get me a drink.” But they tricked me.

[00:12:27.748 – 00:12:29.688] The choir had to sing.

[00:12:29.688 – 00:12:37.168] And they started singing, and I believe they sang every hymn in the Methodist hymnal and threw in a couple from the Baptist hymnal.

[00:12:37.168 – 00:12:46.568] And they sang, you know, At the Foot of the Cross, and Jesus Loves You, and I Love to Tell the Story, and Bringing in the Sheaves, and Amazing Grace, and I hate that hymn.

[00:12:46.568 – 00:12:51.888] Because I’m married to a gal, her name is Grace, and she ain’t amazing.

[00:12:51.888 – 00:12:52.078] I…

[00:12:52.078 – 00:12:57.468] And finally, they get through, and you know what the pallbearers have to do.

[00:12:57.468 – 00:12:59.228] They have to wheel the deceased up the hill.

[00:12:59.228 – 00:13:08.208] You stand there while the congregation files by, and then files down on either side of the steps, and then the pallbearers take the deceased down the steps into the Hurst-Nigh Cemetery.

[00:13:08.208 – 00:13:12.228] And I knew I could not hold the northeast corner of that coffin up without a drink.

[00:13:12.228 – 00:13:22.268] And so when one of the funeral home assistants come by and nailed him, and I said, “I’m sick.” And before he could say yes or no or what’s wrong, I’m out the side door, and I’m running, and I get in that old

[00:13:22.268 – 00:13:22.968] station wagon.

[00:13:22.968 – 00:13:31.848] I get about three blocks away from that church house, and I reach under there, and I get that old bottle out and peel that sack down like a banana, and I take me a drink, and, oh, I begin to smooth out.

[00:13:31.848 – 00:13:33.528] And take another one, I quit perspiring.

[00:13:33.528 – 00:13:35.448] And I take another one, and I feel better.

[00:13:35.448 – 00:13:37.818] And I take a fourth one, and I feel better, better.

[00:13:37.818 – 00:13:47.978] And I thank God I had sense enough at that stage of the drinking not to go back and try to climb in with them pallbearers drinking or else try to drive in a funeral procession ten miles

[00:13:47.978 – 00:13:48.908] an hour drinking.

[00:13:48.908 – 00:13:54.328] So I decided, well, I’ll just circle the town and get out to the country and meet them at the cemetery.

[00:13:54.328 – 00:14:04.388] And so I started drinking, and when I was drinking and driving, I liked to drive, you know, with one hand and the bottle in the other and then drink and listen to the radio, and I love country and western music.

[00:14:04.388 – 00:14:14.488] And my favorite radio station in those days was Del Rio, Texas, where they sold Bibles and crosses and chains and rejuvenation powders and potions and lotions,

[00:14:14.488 – 00:14:15.508] post office box.

[00:14:15.508 – 00:14:17.548] And they played those fine tunes.

[00:14:17.548 – 00:14:19.888] Don’t wink them bloodshot eyes at me.

[00:14:19.888 – 00:14:25.288] And here’s one that’s good for eleven months of drinking and fourteen months of crying.

[00:14:25.288 – 00:14:28.068] Only God Made Honky Tonk Angels, you know.

[00:14:28.068 – 00:14:34.828] And I’m drinking, and I’m driving, and the world is just beautiful, and I get out to the cemetery, and I’m the only one there.

[00:14:34.828 – 00:14:42.588] So I take a honk on the juice, and I slide up that wet hill, and all there is the false grass and the chairs and the tent, you know, and a lectern.

[00:14:42.588 – 00:14:47.228] And the grave had been dug, and two stanchions on either end of the grave and the sling for the coffin.

[00:14:47.228 – 00:14:51.928] And being a real good, smart-nosed drunk, I got to see that all the arrangements are proper.

[00:14:51.928 – 00:14:59.928] So I see a chair or two out of line, I straighten it up, and I get behind the lectern, make me about a little minute eulogy, and I have a sinking spell.

[00:14:59.928 – 00:15:09.768] So I slide back down the hill and take a couple more, more honks on that juice and take some more to be sure, and this time I’m not only feeling no pain, I am good and drunk.

[00:15:09.768 – 00:15:16.748] And I’m coming back up the heel, uh, hill, and I’m drunk with my toes up and my heels back like a car going down out of line.

[00:15:16.748 – 00:15:27.008] The front’s here and the back’s here with one eye closed, and I get up, and I says, “Uh-oh, I see a whole row of chairs that are out of line.” And if there’s one thing a drinking drunk doesn’t want anybody

[00:15:27.008 – 00:15:31.688] to know, that we’ve been around and messed up something because we’re gonna get criticized.

[00:15:31.688 – 00:15:32.988] It don’t make any difference.

[00:15:32.988 – 00:15:43.268] And so to be sure, I went to go straighten out them old double row of chairs, and I don’t know if anybody has ever been drunk and unsteady of balance and you have tangled with that false

[00:15:43.268 – 00:15:43.768] grass.

[00:15:43.768 – 00:15:46.988] When it, it’s like that indoor-outdoor carpet.

[00:15:46.988 – 00:15:48.888] When it gets wet, it gets slick.

[00:15:48.888 – 00:15:58.148] And I grabbed two of them chairs, and my toes hit the seam of that carpet, and the next thing you know, me and two chairs are sliding, and the next thing you know, me and them two chairs are down in the hole.

[00:15:58.148 – 00:16:05.448] And I’m thrashing around down at the bottom of it, trying to get out, you know.

[00:16:05.448 – 00:16:10.908] And the most helpless feeling in the world is when you’re so drunk and you’re flat on your back and you can’t get up.

[00:16:10.908 – 00:16:13.568] And here comes the preacher.

[00:16:13.568 – 00:16:17.368] And here comes my wife.

[00:16:17.368 – 00:16:21.828] And here comes the son of the deceased and the pallbearers.

[00:16:21.828 – 00:16:24.808] And you know, non-alcoholics are great people.

[00:16:24.808 – 00:16:27.848] Now, you know, when I say non-alcoholics, now, I don’t mean Al-Anons.

[00:16:27.848 – 00:16:29.788] They’re a breed of their own, you know.

[00:16:29.788 – 00:16:35.907] But non-alcoholics are wonderful people, but they can ask you the dumbest questions at the wrong time.

[00:16:35.907 – 00:16:45.908] The son of the deceased hears all this squealing and scratching going on down at the bottom of that hole, and he sticks his long turkey neck down there, and he asks

[00:16:45.908 – 00:16:53.508] me this question: “What are you doing down there?” And I give him a drinking alcoholic’s best shot.

[00:16:53.508 – 00:16:54.928] I says, “I’m trying to get out.

[00:16:54.928 – 00:17:01.008] That’s what I’m…” And they haul me out, and I’m wet, and I’m muddy, and I’m drunk.

[00:17:01.008 – 00:17:07.407] And every eye is looking at me while they’re finishing the final rites of that wonderful man.

[00:17:07.407 – 00:17:17.468] Now, a normal human being, if this should accidentally happen to them, are so embarrassed and so degraded that chances are they’ll stop

[00:17:17.468 – 00:17:18.528] drinking forever.

[00:17:18.528 – 00:17:22.968] But I’m an alcoholic, and you know what’s going through my mind?

[00:17:22.968 – 00:17:33.268] I can see the looks of despair and tears and degradation and shame and disbelief

[00:17:33.268 – 00:17:36.648] in the eyes of the people who love me the most.

[00:17:36.648 – 00:17:46.648] Once again, I promised them that I wouldn’t get drunk at a time when the occasion called for one

[00:17:46.648 – 00:17:47.328] to be sober.

[00:17:47.328 – 00:17:53.568] And once again, I disappointed the people who had trust and faith in me.

[00:17:53.568 – 00:18:00.448] One of the most difficult things in the world are for families to understand that we drank because we love them so much.

[00:18:00.448 – 00:18:10.488] We couldn’t stand to see what we were doing to our children, to our mothers and our fathers and our grandparents and our spouses, if we were married, and our

[00:18:10.488 – 00:18:11.948] friends and our brothers and sisters.

[00:18:11.948 – 00:18:14.068] We couldn’t stand it.

[00:18:14.068 – 00:18:14.668] We knew it.

[00:18:14.668 – 00:18:20.408] And every time they gave us that look, it just made that hurt deeper.

[00:18:20.408 – 00:18:30.488] And the only way I knew how to get rid of that hurt is to go get a drink, and, and I’m saying to myself, “Get these services over with as fast as you can so I can go get me a drink.”

[00:18:30.488 – 00:18:32.648] And when those services were over with, I didn’t go get a drink.

[00:18:32.648 – 00:18:36.848] I got a box, and I didn’t come back to that town for three and a half months.

[00:18:36.848 – 00:18:47.308] But the ridicule and the ribbing and the things that were said to my wife and those two little boys darn near destroyed

[00:18:47.308 – 00:18:47.508] them.

[00:18:47.508 – 00:18:55.268] Four years ago, Grace and I were asked to come back to that town to talk at the tenth anniversary of the AA group, the Al-Anon group in that town.

[00:18:55.268 – 00:19:07.228] When we arrived, the committee came to see me, and they said, “David, would you do us a favor?” And I said, “I will.” “Would you talk about falling in the hole?” And

[00:19:07.228 – 00:19:14.628] I said, “I sure will because two of you were pallbearers with me that day, and you were drunk also.” Yeah.

[00:19:14.628 – 00:19:19.418] I said, “I had to leave that town, move back-

[00:19:19.595 – 00:19:22.395] Dallas and started all over again, but I’m taking me with me.

[00:19:22.395 – 00:19:29.375] And it’s not long before I’m back emptying wine bottles again, and I’m back on that last skid row.

[00:19:29.375 – 00:19:39.595] No one knew where I was, and yet all my wife had to do was look out the west window of her office, because she went to work for the people that I started working for, friends

[00:19:39.595 – 00:19:42.695] of our family, when I was just a youngster, eleven and a half years of age.

[00:19:42.695 – 00:19:52.815] An area that she hated with every fiber of her being, and yet all she had to do was look out at the west window of her office, one and a half block due west, then she would see me fall

[00:19:52.815 – 00:19:56.635] out of that wine hotel, fifty-five cents a night, with your shoes tied around your neck.

[00:19:56.635 – 00:20:01.735] And I crawl under those docks and those eighteen wheelers, and I know that area just like I know the back of my hand.

[00:20:01.735 – 00:20:03.995] I’m looking for Grace.

[00:20:03.995 – 00:20:09.755] It’s the only woman I’ve ever loved in my life, and she represented everything good in life.

[00:20:09.755 – 00:20:12.355] She was the mother of those two fine little boys.

[00:20:12.355 – 00:20:14.395] She was the father to those two fine little boys.

[00:20:14.395 – 00:20:15.815] She was the Santa Claus.

[00:20:15.815 – 00:20:18.335] She took them to the picnics and to the Little League.

[00:20:18.335 – 00:20:20.815] I wanted to, but I just couldn’t stay sober.

[00:20:20.815 – 00:20:22.315] I couldn’t stay sober.

[00:20:22.315 – 00:20:28.815] I went home once the last fourteen months that I drank, hoping that maybe she could give me a clue.

[00:20:28.815 – 00:20:36.715] And I walked in, and I looked at her, and she says, “Do you have to drink and do the things that you do?” And I guess it’s the only time I told her the truth.

[00:20:36.715 – 00:20:39.074] I said, “Grace, I can’t stop drinking.

[00:20:39.074 – 00:20:40.235] I’m going to die drunk.

[00:20:40.235 – 00:20:42.715] Why don’t you find another man that will marry you?

[00:20:42.715 – 00:20:47.775] You’re such a fine lady, that’ll be a good husband to you and be a good father to those two little boys.

[00:20:47.775 – 00:20:49.375] I cannot function as a husband.

[00:20:49.375 – 00:20:50.755] I cannot function as a father.

[00:20:50.755 – 00:20:51.835] I cannot work.

[00:20:51.835 – 00:20:53.275] I’m going to die drunk.

[00:20:53.275 – 00:20:54.135] I have no mother.

[00:20:54.135 – 00:20:55.055] I have no father.

[00:20:55.055 – 00:20:56.955] I don’t have you and the boys anymore.

[00:20:56.955 – 00:21:02.475] All I’ve got is a wine bottle, and it’s just a matter of time.” And I stumbled out.

[00:21:02.475 – 00:21:11.875] And somewhere along the line on April eighteenth or nineteenth of sixty-seven, I really don’t know when, I found the handwriting on the floor of the county jail there in Dallas, Texas.

[00:21:11.875 – 00:21:18.015] I’ve been in lots of jails, and incidentally, being in jail is not a requirement for membership in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:21:18.015 – 00:21:24.635] But I got down to the part in my life where I couldn’t stay sober, and I couldn’t stay drunk, and I couldn’t kill myself, and I couldn’t stay alive.

[00:21:24.635 – 00:21:27.755] But I was taking me every place me went.

[00:21:27.755 – 00:21:29.494] Me didn’t want me as me was.

[00:21:29.494 – 00:21:37.895] And I screamed out on that floor, “My God, is there any help for me?” And something went in me said, “Listen, you overeducated, pompous, egotistical, spoiled little drunk.

[00:21:37.895 – 00:21:45.755] Until you stop drinking, nobody can help you, not even me,” which is meant to me and means to me this second that I was the one that had to stop drinking.

[00:21:45.755 – 00:21:47.235] No one could do it for me.

[00:21:47.235 – 00:21:53.035] But more important, I had to find a way to stay stopped.

[00:21:53.035 – 00:22:03.055] And I said, “If I ever get out of this jail this time,” because that sheriff had promised me faithfully that if I ever showed up in his jail again for drinking or drunk

[00:22:03.055 – 00:22:08.815] and the things that I was doing, he’d have me put away to where I’d never bother another human being, bird, tree, dog, or rock.

[00:22:08.815 – 00:22:12.395] And here I was back again, and I knew he was going to put me away.

[00:22:12.395 – 00:22:22.495] And I says, “If I ever get out of here, I’m going to look up those people in Alcoholics Anonymous.” You see, over thirty-three years ago, a group of fine, sober members of Alcoholics Anonymous who could see in

[00:22:22.495 – 00:22:29.595] me what I could not see in myself as a result of their own experience of what it used to be like, what happened, and what it was like for them in their lives.

[00:22:29.595 – 00:22:39.825] They’re like our co-founder, Bill, when he was running around the Mayflower Hotel in Akron in nineteen thirty-five before AA got started, not knowing whether to go into the bar to listen to the conversation,

[00:22:39.825 – 00:22:44.075] the tinkling of the ice, and all the other things that go in the bar, or talk to another drunk.

[00:22:44.075 – 00:22:48.475] And it wasn’t important that Bill talk to another drunk to try to carry the message.

[00:22:48.475 – 00:22:52.515] It was important that Bill talk to another drunk so Bill would stay sober.

[00:22:52.515 – 00:22:55.715] And this is what they would did to me by taking me to that AA meeting.

[00:22:55.715 – 00:23:06.885] It was for their sobriety, but they stuck something in me that after I’d exhausted all alternatives for me, it kept saying, “AA, AA, AA, AA, AA, AA.” How

[00:23:06.885 – 00:23:08.655] I got by that old sheriff, I don’t know.

[00:23:08.655 – 00:23:14.535] When I got out, I found out the gal, Edith, who asked me to come to that meeting, she passed away.

[00:23:14.535 – 00:23:17.875] But when she died, she was continuously sober.

[00:23:17.875 – 00:23:19.795] I heard that Moena had moved away.

[00:23:19.795 – 00:23:25.175] I see Moena every Wednesday morning at eight o’clock, and she’s my manicurist today.

[00:23:25.175 – 00:23:31.615] And last May the twenty-second, she celebrated her thirty-fourth continuous sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:23:31.615 – 00:23:33.115] There was a man at that meeting.

[00:23:33.115 – 00:23:34.335] He was sober.

[00:23:34.335 – 00:23:36.675] He was sober for eight years.

[00:23:36.675 – 00:23:37.875] He drank for eight years.

[00:23:37.875 – 00:23:45.735] And last May the twenty-fourth, he celebrated his eighteenth year of continuous sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous again.

[00:23:45.735 – 00:23:48.895] And he was at that meeting, and I called him.

[00:23:48.895 – 00:23:55.695] He asked me, “Who is it for?” And I said, “It’s for me.” He says, “Well, we have a meeting tomorrow night.

[00:23:55.695 – 00:24:03.995] Let’s just go and get it over with, and don’t you take a drink of alcohol today, and call me in the morning at seven-thirty,” and that’s all he told me.

[00:24:03.995 – 00:24:09.735] And after thirty-six and a half years of drinking it, giving it the best shot I could, I cold turkey.

[00:24:09.735 – 00:24:12.755] Well, it’s more like frozen buzzard, if you want to know the truth.

[00:24:12.755 – 00:24:15.635] I started walking and shaking out a drunk.

[00:24:15.635 – 00:24:23.115] But the next morning when I come to, I was sober, and I didn’t have a belly full of tranquilizers, nor did I have a prescription for five hundred more.

[00:24:23.115 – 00:24:24.875] And for this, I am so thankful.

[00:24:24.875 – 00:24:28.535] And it’s the kind of sobering up you don’t hear much in Alcoholics Anonymous anymore.

[00:24:28.535 – 00:24:34.215] And the best way I can describe that kind of sobering up, it’s like a natural childbirth without any anesthetic.

[00:24:34.215 – 00:24:39.765] It hurts like the dickens, but you sure got a wide-awake baby, I don’t mind telling you.

[00:24:39.765 – 00:24:47.335] And at seven-thirty, I called him again, and he said, “Are you drinking?” And I says, “No.” He says, “Call me at three-thirty this afternoon,” and he hung up.

[00:24:47.335 – 00:24:49.275] And he started that walking and that shaking.

[00:24:49.275 – 00:24:59.315] And finally at three-thirty, I called him, and he says, “Are you drinking?” And I says, “No, sir.” He says, “Do you really want to come to an AA meeting?” Well, by this time, I was willing to crawl through six

[00:24:59.315 – 00:25:06.375] feet of snow naked just to see what kind of people you were that had this insatiable desire not to drink alcohol.

[00:25:06.375 – 00:25:16.235] He said, “Do you want me to come get you?” And being about as humble as Hitler, I said, “I’ll get there under my own steam.” He said, “Well,” he says, he told me where to go.

[00:25:16.235 – 00:25:21.015] He said, “But when you turn the corner, there’s a whiskey store on the left, a beer joint on the right.

[00:25:21.015 – 00:25:25.475] Don’t you buy or consume any alcohol, because when I get out there, I’m going to search you.

[00:25:25.475 – 00:25:30.115] And David, if you’re drinking or drunk, I’m going to throw you right through the front door.

[00:25:30.115 – 00:25:35.975] You, David, cannot come to Alcoholics Anonymous drinking or drunk.” And he’s just talking about me.

[00:25:35.975 – 00:25:37.555] And he hung up.

[00:25:37.555 – 00:25:47.983] Well, I was in a serious predicament because the last nine months that I drank, I was in the same clothes, and that was a pair of thermal underwear, an old pair of gray flannel pants with all my possessions

[00:25:47.983 – 00:25:53.623] in it, an old gray sweater with the elbows out of the elbows, no socks, but I still hadn’t quite lost everything yet.

[00:25:53.623 – 00:25:55.863] I had a pair of beat-up old alligator shoes.

[00:25:55.863 – 00:26:03.283] And the only money I had left was 30 cents, and that’s was all that was left from the last blood I sold to the blood bank to buy wine.

[00:26:03.283 – 00:26:07.043] And when you come to AA in that shape, you ain’t doing too well, you know?

[00:26:07.043 – 00:26:14.183] But somewhere between the jail and losing that phone, I lost my thermal drawers, and if you drank wine like I did, you’d understand that.

[00:26:14.183 – 00:26:18.603] And I heard my wife had thrown out all of my clothes, but I took a chance.

[00:26:18.603 – 00:26:19.403] I called her up.

[00:26:19.403 – 00:26:21.143] She got on the phone.

[00:26:21.143 – 00:26:31.323] I said, “Grace.” She said, “Who is this?” I said, “Me.” She said, “Who’s me?” I said, “David.” She said, “Oh.” Then she said, “What do you want?” I said, “Grace, do you happen to have one of my old suits?”

[00:26:31.323 – 00:26:40.923] And she says, “Yes, I have one, and it’s to bury you in.” And as I look back now, then I asked her the most foolish question ever asked my, ever in my life.

[00:26:40.923 – 00:26:50.163] I said, “Do you mind if I borrow it for a little while?” Said, “I’m going to an AA meeting.” She said, “It’s another one of your lies,” and hung up.

[00:26:50.163 – 00:26:54.023] Well, that suit’s a story in itself, and I went and put on that suit.

[00:26:54.023 – 00:26:58.783] Now, when I come in and told them I was going to AA, there was no instant joy and hugging.

[00:26:58.783 – 00:27:00.083] Oh, God, no.

[00:27:00.083 – 00:27:04.403] She left notes, and everything I touched, she’d spray, you know?

[00:27:04.403 – 00:27:14.423] And I put on that suit, and the youngest son was home, and I bid him goodbye, and I got into a Mustang that the bank was looking to repossess it, but they couldn’t recognize it looked like an accordion.

[00:27:14.423 – 00:27:16.383] And off I went to the meeting.

[00:27:16.383 – 00:27:29.123] And I went in, and it looked like the same people that were there 17 years prior were there grinning, and one of them said, “We knew you’d be back.” And

[00:27:29.123 – 00:27:32.303] now I’m going to tell you about the greatest AA talk I’ve ever heard in my life.

[00:27:32.303 – 00:27:39.263] Every member of Alcoholics Anonymous has heard it, and if you haven’t heard it, heard it, your group has cheated you.

[00:27:39.263 – 00:27:42.483] You know, in AA, we don’t have any speakers.

[00:27:42.483 – 00:27:44.083] We’re just a bunch of talkers.

[00:27:44.083 – 00:27:48.443] Ours is the language of the heart, not of the head.

[00:27:48.443 – 00:27:53.403] Oh, how well that little gal talking about traditions expressed it.

[00:27:53.403 – 00:27:55.643] It ain’t poetry, and it ain’t jokes.

[00:27:55.643 – 00:28:01.663] It’s living color, living experience of what it used to be like, what happened, and how it is now.

[00:28:01.663 – 00:28:12.023] The greatest asset we got, uh, provided we’re willing to put it, our dark past, into God’s hands, and then we can share it unashamedly but in good taste

[00:28:12.023 – 00:28:12.803] and with confidence.

[00:28:12.803 – 00:28:13.983] You betcha.

[00:28:13.983 – 00:28:17.643] There’s a man that stands at the door and meets all the new people.

[00:28:17.643 – 00:28:18.663] He stuck his hand out.

[00:28:18.663 – 00:28:19.343] His was dry.

[00:28:19.343 – 00:28:20.023] Mine was wet.

[00:28:20.023 – 00:28:21.723] Mine slipped away, and I had to grab it again.

[00:28:21.723 – 00:28:26.303] And now I’m going to tell you, here comes the greatest AA talk I’ve ever heard in my life.

[00:28:26.303 – 00:28:28.403] That man then said, “Welcome.

[00:28:28.403 – 00:28:32.503] Come in and sit down and have a cup of coffee, and let’s talk about it.

[00:28:32.503 – 00:28:42.563] We understand exactly how you feel.” He didn’t say, “You never should have done those things.” He didn’t say, “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have done those

[00:28:42.563 – 00:28:46.343] things.” No, he just simply said, “Welcome.

[00:28:46.343 – 00:28:49.683] Come in and sit down and have a cup of coffee, and let’s talk about it.

[00:28:49.683 – 00:28:58.623] We understand exactly how you feel.” It was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking that anyone shook my hand.

[00:28:58.623 – 00:29:02.923] It was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking that anyone said welcome.

[00:29:02.923 – 00:29:07.543] It was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking that anyone says come in.

[00:29:07.543 – 00:29:12.243] It was the first time in the last 17 years that anybody ever invited me to sit down with them.

[00:29:12.243 – 00:29:17.343] It was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking they invited me to share a cup of coffee with them.

[00:29:17.343 – 00:29:21.253] And when the meeting got started, or going to get started, they asked me to come in.

[00:29:21.253 – 00:29:25.843] It’s the first time in the last 17 years that anybody invited me to sit down with them in a meeting or anywhere.

[00:29:25.843 – 00:29:27.783] And I’m sitting in the meeting, and I’m shaking.

[00:29:27.783 – 00:29:34.523] And the sober members were putting their, their hands on either side of my knees to keep me from jumping out, and they said, “Boy, sit here.

[00:29:34.523 – 00:29:35.463] You’re home.

[00:29:35.463 – 00:29:36.323] You’re home.

[00:29:36.323 – 00:29:45.783] You’re home.” And after the, the, uh, the meeting was over, it was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking that anyone allowed me to, to, to, to, to say the Lord’s Prayer with me.

[00:29:45.783 – 00:29:54.503] In the group that I come in, they didn’t hold hands, because if you stuck your hands out in that group, if you had a watch or a ring, your chances were you weren’t gonna get it back after the meeting was over.

[00:29:54.503 – 00:30:01.983] And after the meeting was over, it was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking that they hugged me and they kissed me and they tell me that they loved me.

[00:30:01.983 – 00:30:07.343] And it was the first time in the last 17 years of my drinking they said, “Please come back.

[00:30:07.343 – 00:30:17.343] We need you, and you need us.” And

[00:30:17.343 – 00:30:18.563] it started a way of life.

[00:30:18.563 – 00:30:27.883] You know, we are normally people who would not mix, but there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding that’s indescribably wonderful.

[00:30:27.883 – 00:30:31.383] And now for a few short moments, I’d like to tell you how it is today.

[00:30:31.383 – 00:30:32.343] It’s been a long day.

[00:30:32.343 – 00:30:38.522] Oh, we could have talked about the steps and the traditions and the third legacy and the, and the concepts.

[00:30:38.522 – 00:30:48.143] But the great power of our society lies in one drunk talking to another, what it used to be like, what happened, and what it is like now.

[00:30:48.143 – 00:30:53.263] When I got to you people, little did I realize that my wife and two sons would ever be under one roof again.

[00:30:53.263 – 00:31:01.623] Because that marriage had been written off by everything and everybody, including us, and it had no right to be.

[00:31:01.623 – 00:31:11.723] But only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anony- Anonymous in my life, and only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Al-Anon in Grace’s life, that beautiful

[00:31:11.723 – 00:31:19.003] and wonderful lady, we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary this past June the 10th, and that’s pretty good for a drunk.

[00:31:19.003 – 00:31:28.423] You see, it took a program in my life and a program in her life to do to and with and for both of us what we could not possibly do to and with and for ourselves.

[00:31:28.423 – 00:31:38.433] Now, I’m not gonna stand up here and tell you because I’m in AA and Grace is in Al-Anon that our marriage is just perfect, that the bluebirds are flying around and hugging and kissing-

[00:31:38.433 – 00:31:38.433] …

[00:31:38.433 – 00:31:40.303] and the butterflies are cooing and winking.

[00:31:40.303 – 00:31:40.983] Heck no.

[00:31:40.983 – 00:31:43.863] We have a few sharp rounds every now and then.

[00:31:43.863 – 00:31:47.223] That’s what you call clearing the air, communicating.

[00:31:47.223 – 00:31:56.113] And the best way I can describe our marriage today, it’s built on solid, constructive imperfection because it’s by our imperfections that we grow.

[00:31:56.113 – 00:32:06.493] And furthermore, you know, sh- I go to six, seven, eight meetings a week, and she goes to five, six Al-Anon meetings a week, and we don’t see each other enough to have all that arguing and fighting and fussing.

[00:32:06.493 – 00:32:14.053] But the main thing about Grace is this: I am so thankful that she married me, but I am more thankful she stayed.

[00:32:14.053 – 00:32:18.933] Our two sons, they’re grown men today and tremendously successful.

[00:32:18.933 – 00:32:26.713] When the oldest one, when he was fifteen years of age, he had a butcher knife to my breastbone one Sunday morning, and he was going to kill me for what I was doing to their mother.

[00:32:26.713 – 00:32:30.493] And if I could have gotten up off the floor, I’d have beat that boy to death.

[00:32:30.493 – 00:32:40.513] But the wildness left his eyes, he dropped the knife, he spat in my face, and he says, “You’re no longer my father, and I’m no longer your son,” and he walked out of my life, and I had

[00:32:40.513 – 00:32:42.493] no communication with him for many years.

[00:32:42.493 – 00:32:52.553] But only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous in my life, and only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and the family living on what we call spiritual

[00:32:52.553 – 00:32:54.953] principle living as a result of our programs.

[00:32:54.953 – 00:32:56.673] And what is spiritual principle living?

[00:32:56.673 – 00:33:06.853] The principles of allowing us to be free to live ourselves as we are with all of our petty imperfections, our defects of character, and realizing in them and praying

[00:33:06.853 – 00:33:09.473] for the other person’s welfare as well as our own.

[00:33:09.473 – 00:33:11.753] I don’t know about anybody else’s family.

[00:33:11.753 – 00:33:18.373] In our family, allowing every member of the family the freedom to be ourselves as we are and the freedom to make our own mistakes.

[00:33:18.373 – 00:33:22.993] Because you see, if I had not been free to make my mistakes, I never would have found you.

[00:33:22.993 – 00:33:26.573] And when I found you, what’s the first thing you said?

[00:33:26.573 – 00:33:33.553] “David, if you do not take the first drink of alcohol, there is no way in the world you can get drunk.” And what’s the first question I asked you?

[00:33:33.553 – 00:33:43.673] “But how do you live without alcohol?” And here was your answer, and you says, “David, if you decide that you want what we have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, then

[00:33:43.673 – 00:33:53.773] you are ready to take certain steps.” And in taking the steps, before I was halfway through the ninth step, I, too, suddenly realized that this God that you said

[00:33:53.773 – 00:34:03.953] in the third step that could and would, I suddenly realized halfway through the ninth step that this God was doing for me what I could not possibly do for myself.

[00:34:03.953 – 00:34:14.013] And I never would have enjoyed this wonderful experience and to be with you here right now if I hadn’t been free to make my mistakes and find people who had not only

[00:34:14.013 – 00:34:21.113] made the same mistakes, but more important, had a solution not to make those mistakes again.

[00:34:21.113 – 00:34:30.952] When I got sober, they were going to remove my license to practice my profession for the rest of my life.

[00:34:30.952 – 00:34:32.693] Not a suspension.

[00:34:32.693 – 00:34:36.133] And I had to go before them, tell them the truth.

[00:34:36.133 – 00:34:37.853] Not make promises.

[00:34:37.853 – 00:34:38.813] Promises kill drunks.

[00:34:38.813 – 00:34:39.713] Tell them what I did.

[00:34:39.713 – 00:34:44.013] And through some miracle, they allowed me to go back to work.

[00:34:44.013 – 00:34:54.073] And two years ago, they asked that I come down and place my right hand on the Big Big Book and raise my left

[00:34:54.073 – 00:35:04.653] hand, and they swore, swore me in as a member of the examining board, the same board that seventeen years ago

[00:35:04.653 – 00:35:07.793] that was there to remove my license for the rest of my life.

[00:35:07.793 – 00:35:12.473] And you see, this is not me.

[00:35:12.473 – 00:35:14.683] This is all Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:35:14.683 – 00:35:22.593] Now, I’m asked all the time, “David, how is it that you’ve been locked up over long periods of time, all various stages of life?

[00:35:22.593 – 00:35:27.093] How did you ever get out of school?” Well, I was my class valedictorian in high school.

[00:35:27.093 – 00:35:33.333] I finished second in a class of four hundred and fifty at Southern Methodist University, and I’m a graduate of Baylor University College of Dentistry.

[00:35:33.333 – 00:35:34.893] And they say, “How do you do it?

[00:35:34.893 – 00:35:37.453] How’d you do it?” It’s real simple.

[00:35:37.453 – 00:35:39.053] You cheat.

[00:35:39.053 – 00:35:43.893] You steal, and you lie.

[00:35:43.893 – 00:35:49.373] And as for these things that are happening, that’s all Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:35:49.373 – 00:35:59.613] In the words of our co-founder, Bill, ours is not a personal success story, but one of colossal human failure converted into great strength by the alchemy

[00:35:59.613 – 00:36:04.813] of the living grace of God, as expressed through the recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous and our fellowship therein.

[00:36:04.813 – 00:36:10.513] So you see, only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have a sober life today.

[00:36:10.513 – 00:36:20.563] And only because of God’s grace through the miracle of the recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have a God today, a God of my very own, a God that I found through the Twelve Steps, The

[00:36:20.563 – 00:36:23.233] Big Book, and through you people and from nowhere else.

[00:36:23.233 – 00:36:29.113] And only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have a family that loves and respects me.

[00:36:29.113 – 00:36:32.353] I have the best way to make a living I’ve ever had in my life.

[00:36:32.353 – 00:36:37.553] I have hundreds of thousands of friends in Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Alateen, in the world in which we all live.

[00:36:37.553 – 00:36:39.373] I have a roof over my head.

[00:36:39.373 – 00:36:43.773] I have a few dollars in my pocket and a few dollars in the bank, very few.

[00:36:43.773 – 00:36:46.713] I have two cars with gasoline in them, I hope.

[00:36:46.713 – 00:36:53.213] I’ve got some nice clothes today, and I have meat in the refrigerator and groceries in the pantry.

[00:36:53.213 – 00:36:55.053] And I’ll tell you a little secret.

[00:36:55.053 – 00:37:01.273] If you want anything any more than that, you’re either oversexed or plumb nuts.

[00:37:01.273 – 00:37:11.353] When I got sober, they said, “Get that Big Book.” Well, I wrote a hot check on

[00:37:11.353 – 00:37:12.453] a nonexistent bank.

[00:37:12.453 – 00:37:20.613] You said, “Get one.” And I got one.

[00:37:20.613 – 00:37:24.013] But my eyes were too crossed to read it.

[00:37:24.013 – 00:37:32.733] But there on that flyleaf on April twenty-one, nineteen sixty-seven, were written these words: “Good luck, old partner.

[00:37:32.733 – 00:37:42.753] Your friend,” and this member of Alcoholics Anonymous initially, so he’s passed away, a former delegate who was responsible for me when I was five and a

[00:37:42.753 – 00:37:48.053] half months sober, burning general service structure in and through me.

[00:37:48.053 – 00:37:58.093] And so on this nineteenth day of November of nineteen eighty-three, may I most thankfully

[00:37:58.093 – 00:38:08.203] and gratefully, and with all the love that I can express to each and every one of you, may I be privileged to inscribe on each and every one of your flyleafs,

[00:38:08.203 – 00:38:09.063] “Good luck, old partners.

[00:38:09.063 – 00:38:11.363] Your friend, David A.” God bless each and every one of you.

[00:38:11.363 – 00:38:12.763] I love you so much, and thank you.

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