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Not Just The Washingtonians

There exists a mythology which has been perpetrated and perpetuated by those who take pleasure in perpetrating and perpetuating mythologies - Regarding the treatment of alcoholism, the pre-AA world was one of darkness, total blackness, a vacuum, a void. Not only had human power efforts done poorly, they had failed completely. In rare cases, through the direct intervention of the Loving Creator, here and there, an odd individual had been redeemed. "God could, and would, if He were sought," whereas "probably no human power could relieve our alcoholism."

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The Ninth Step of William Beebe – A Cautionary Tale

William Beebe, a real estate agent and massage therapist in Las Vegas, was in and out of alcohol rehab centers in the early 1990s. In 1993 he came into AA where he got sober and stayed that way. In September 2005, Beebe wrote a letter to Liz Seccuro in which he acknowledged his guilt and shame at having raped her. Seccuro, then age 39 and living in Connecticut, says she didn't even need to open it when she saw Beebe's name on the envelope.

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Rediscovering AA

I was aware of my potential alcoholism by the time I was 20. Less than two years into college and I was in trouble. My grades were borderline and the only major I settled on was drinking. I was on the Rugby team and my drinking behavior and escapades became legendary. But I knew something was not right with me. About this time I seemed to experience a self-realization that I might be on the verge of full blown alcoholism. I frequently had nights that caused me great shame and embarrassment. I was already having blackouts. I mostly avoided legal issues (with the exception of one disorderly order charge). I knew something was wrong with me.

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Outsiders Anonymous

It took a long time for me to admit that the fellowship of AA had anything for me. Maybe they didn’t want me; maybe I didn’t want them -- a bunch of seedy guys chugging cigarettes outside beat-up back doors. Inside was worse: ratty chairs and sofas, torn carpets, dog-eared books that looked and sounded like children’s readers. Bad coffee guaranteed, the options black or fake creamer.

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Step One

I opened the door and walked into the room, the first to arrive. Across from me, displayed on the wall were the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. As I read that first step, it got my attention. It was the perfect description of my situation and my life at that moment, and honestly just reading the words filled me with a sense of relief. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.

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Compassion

Nick hobbled into the AA meeting, shuffling his cane, serenely drunk again, lobotomized by Ripple. He gazed about him, quick-moving darts of blurry eyes, as if uncomprehending fully what he saw.

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Henrietta Sieberling

Bill Wilson was having some panicky moments in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel, in the early afternoon of the second Saturday of May, 1935. Much has been made of his “hot flash” spiritual experience of five months earlier at the Towns Hospital, but at least equally important was his theory that attempts made to reach out and help others could KEEP him sober.

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My Journey to Atheism

I’m Mike, alcoholic and atheist; sober since March 1990. I accepted atheism at age 65. Now 70, I realize my beliefs changed as a result of a paradigm shift in my spirituality. I don’t hate god or religion and I’m grateful theists find sobriety in AA. Unfortunately god and religious based AA does little for the spiritual growth of non-theists. That is my experience.

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