His 60 year sobriety anniversary at the Last Chance House in Chicago, IL

My name is Gary Brown. I'm an alcoholic. Hi, Gary. And I guess, like, all the rest of us here, we're all here to celebrate Paul Martin's gold diamond jubilee, I guess, is what you'd call him. His 60 years has been a sober productive member of Alcoholics Anonymous and probably society.

I haven't looked that close. And he has given me some names of some people that he would like to have come up and and share with you a little bit. They haven't been given any script, but they have been given strict orders. They got 5 minutes. And I will embarrass you if you mess it up.

I promise you. But, Florian, would you join us up here first, please? Thank you, Gary. Congratulations, Paul. God bless.

Paul said not to speak about him while we're up here, but I've got to tell him him I've spoken about him lots of times, particularly when he didn't agree with me on something. I was chosen here because I have a magnetic personality. When I was a kid during the depression, they put, tax in my cereal, and they said years later, it will it would crackle and and and and make other kinds of sounds, and I've been crackling ever since. Snap, crackle, and pop. That's right.

When I called for help to a group in La Grange, I was I was 22 years sober, and I was highly incensed. When the man on the nameless, but his initials are PM, nameless, but his initials are PM, said, you have untreated alcoholism. I said, I'm sober 22 years. He said, that's a good beginning. That really hurt.

But I was so desperate. I never I thought well, I didn't know what AA was about. Had you come up to me, in up up to 19, 1990 and told me that I don't know what I'm talking about, and I don't know about a a I would be highly incensed. But I went to college, and I gotta admit, not that I learned to be honest there, I got to admit that as regards Alcoholics Anonymous, after I came down here and and got to that group and talked with Paul, I really found a new kind of alcoholics anonymous. There's a story, some kind of a little legend book.

I think it's called the Velveteen Rabbit. And there's a sentence in there that says, once you become real, you can never again become unreal. I got real in Alcoholics Anonymous against my will. When I was told to go home and do a 4th and 5th step, and I was a consul at a treatment center with a certificate from the state of Wisconsin that said, I'm not crazy, but you are. And I was told to go home with with what I was telling people in the treatment center to do, go home and do a 4th and 5th step.

I wanted to say, do you know who you're talking to? And I didn't. And I went home and I did that, and then I started doing a lot of 5th steps. And I go, boy, I'm glad I got a couple 5th steps. Matt, I I got with them with Matt, and I got a couple other peep and then other people started calling me, and I said, what what's going on here?

I've done all these 5 steps. I've got this experience. I know I should be honest now. And and I didn't honestly, I didn't know what honesty meant in terms of what I know about it now. And then he wanted me to do amends, and I thought, I haven't heard anybody.

Have you ever heard anybody say that to you? I have no amends to make. I had 60 people on the list. I wrote 35 letters of amends to the south. I had lived in Mississippi and in Memphis for a while, and I wrote things.

And I I I was making apologies if I called somebody a name and so on. My relatives would say, will you stop? That's enough. Quit going back there. And I said, well, I did.

I hurt your feelings once and this and that. I called you, and then we don't wanna know about it anymore. And I wanted to make sure there's gonna be nothing left over. I wanted to make sure then I came down here. I'm not bragging, but maybe I am.

I came down here 14 months every Wednesday to the Wednesday meeting. Humiliated? I was the living example of humiliation. I'm humble now, but you should have saved me then. I wanted to make sure if I was gonna die because I was suicidal when I came down.

And my instrument of choice was a butcher knife. And and that's what made me call this man, and I hope it wasn't home. Remember that radio program a couple decades ago? It would open up with a guy knocking. He was a salesman, and they'd say, I hope I hope nobody's home.

When I called, I hoped and hoped nobody was home. He was home, And then he tells me I got this untreated alcoholism. I've been treating it ever since. I work with other people. I do 5 steps with other people.

I meditate. I enjoy meditation. I I do an hour of it a day, and and I'm not saying that to brag. That's only part of it. But if I say I believe in a power greater than me, but I don't spend any time with the power, figure that one out.

I got you might like the guy who says says I got a wife. I spend 5 minutes a day with her. Something's wrong. So this higher power, I spend time with this higher power. I can't say enough about Alcoholics Anonymous.

I found a spiritual life. I know all about theology. I taught religion for years years. I read Saint Thomas Aquinas in English and in Latin. I made 30 day retreats, silence.

I made 8 day retreats. I've been preached at, prayed over, baptized many times. And I'll tell you what, the spirituality in the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is all I need to be in constant contact with the power greater than myself. I've gotta come back to these people. We used to call them, you know, seculars and ordinary people when I was a brother.

They taught me what spirituality is, and I'm trying to pass that on to other people. God bless you. God bless you, Paul. Thank you. Set the bar pretty high for the rest of you guys.

And, Bernie, you get to do it next. Hi, everybody. I'm Bernie, and I'm slowly recovering alcoholic. Hi, Bernie. And I'm from Columbus, Ohio.

It's also known as Buckeye Country. And, I figured the only way I was gonna stick to 5 minutes is to write down what I wanted to say. So I'm gonna try and refer to that and stick to the time frame. I sobered up in La Grange Park in 1968, and Paul Martin made the first call on me. And I'm grateful that he did.

I'm fortunate that he did. I'm also fortunate that he stuck with me even though as a result of some very severe anxiety attacks, I had some really bad gas the first couple of years of sobriety. And that was one of the measures of the quality of my sobriety. How's your gas today, Bernie? It's worth noting that I spent some time in the Hinsville sanitarium after, going to AA meetings and drinking for about a month.

And, those of you not from Chicago, that's right up the street. And hospital psych wards, state mental main treatment centers of the era. I think Lutheran General Hospital had just just been open a short while by their treatment center. I I remember distinctly Paul and I doing a 5th step in the lobby of Elgin State Hospital with another ex counselor who had chosen to neglect his personal program, not Florian. Different guy in it.

But 2 significant things happened to me in the Hinsdale Sanitarium. I received a document from them that diagnosed me with acute alcoholism. I'm very grateful for that. I had credentials in. And the the chief psychiatrist, doctor Anderson, after listening to my tale of the wall, told me that my best chance of recovery was to go back to Alcoholics Anonymous and do whatever they told me.

And, that was huge for 1968. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was. And, that's not too far apart from what happens today, actually. I was promised that AA would work under Alcoholics Anonymous, which I call doing the deal. I was Alcoholics Anonymous, which I call doing the deal.

I was also promised that I would never be alone again, and both of these promises have been true in my life. I've experienced unemployment, a house flooded by a hurricane, the death of a spouse after 7 years of illness and 40 years of marriage. We raised 4 wonderful children and I have 8 grandchildren. I traveled most of the United States and, 6 foreign countries and made AA meetings everywhere I went. I know that we are truly a worldwide family, and I'm so grateful for that.

Through all the experiences of my AA life, my sober life, doing the deal of AA's 12 steps has enabled me to not drink and to operate with a relatively sane manner with some dignity and grace. And that's all I ever wanted to do. We recently started a 12 Step group in Columbus on Fridays at 7 AM. It's modeled after the Barrington Group's 12 Step format that Pete was kind enough to send me, which is modeled after one of the original many the original meetings that I attended in Riverside that Paul had started. We try very hard to stick with AA as it was designed, straight up and undiluted and we named our group the straight up 12 step distressing group.

Staying current and doing the deal has enabled several of our members to grow. Dean did a new first step with me. It caused him to make amends to his mother for the first time after 16 years of sobriety, and the guy guy has been taken off ever since. I'll tell you. Rex, I'm scheduled with him, actually Monday, to do a new fist step with him.

And he's considering doing an amends to his sister after 20 years of sobriety. So the healing process of Alcoholics Anonymous has never never stopped for me and and the people that I'm in contact with as a result of the hours that have been invested in me. My brother has been one of the weak points in my my sobriety, and I've been trying to love this guy as best I can my whole life. And we recently went on an Alaska fishing trip together, and it was really cool. And and and we reached a new high point in our our relationship.

And I'm just very grateful for that. But my my experience is sustained continuous effort with inventories, My character defects amends prayer and meditation and passing on the good news of recovery to others equals work. That's darn hard work. Last year, I heard the Barrington Group's discussion of the 6th step that willingness without action is fantasy and that's my experience also. This work has enabled me to stay awake, to stay alert, and not fall asleep, returning into untreated alcoholism.

The only payback currency I know is for this unmerited grace, this gift of the grace of God, this passing it on to others, one brother to another, just like it was passed on to me by Paul and others. Getting Better Together, Acts of Love and Service is the gay life. It's the center of my life and for which I'm grateful beyond words. Paul Martin has been and will continue to be, as long as I live, a beacon of truth about what works in Alcoholics Anonymous. I thank you, Paul, for being there for me.

Gosh. I didn't meet Paul till I was 22 years sober. You've had to go with this all along. I'm amazed. I also know that there's 2 guys that that that I I work with a lot that are out there, one in Akron and one in Indianapolis that have brothers that can be difficult.

And you might be talking to those 2 people shortly. I'm real good at handing them off. See, Jack Ryan. We got a lot of people here that aren't well, including those first two speakers. I'm not gonna try to follow them.

Them. Paul gave me 2 instructions when he asked me to talk. One was not to talk about him, which which Bernie and and, Florian have already done, and I'm going to try not to, but I know I will mess up. And the other was not to embarrass him any more than I already have. He told me that three times, and I haven't talked to him in the last 3 or 4 days.

And if I had, it would be 3 or 4 more times. So I made some notes, and I don't know if I can read them or not. I'm nervous as hell, which is kind of nothing new lately, but he suggested I talk about what AA has done for me. As a kid, I had no mother. I had an alcoholic father who was a great guy but emotionally very unstable.

He raised me along with my grandmother. I came to the program of Alcoholics Alcoholics Anonymous literally not knowing how to think. I wasn't looking to be restored to sanity. I had none. I didn't know what it was.

Today, because of Paul and the things Bernie and Florian and Just for today. Just for today, for the 24 hours if I ask for it. And believe me, that's all we got. That's all I want sometimes. And if I could just remember it, I'd be a lot better off.

Pat Kavanaugh, told me I should ask for 24 hours off work. Well, thank God I'm retired from that joint. But, I want to tell you just some notes I wrote earlier. I've been sober in spite of myself for a long time close somewhere around 38 years, I guess. I've had a lot of ups and downs in sobriety, a lot.

Most of you are familiar with them. Many of them are, through the worst of it, Paul stuck with me. He hung on like a goddamn bulldog, if you'll pardon the expression. And I'm I'm grateful to that and will be as long as I live. I came to AA out of a straight jacket, and there's been many times sober that I probably belonged back in one.

I got real close. Willie, you'll appreciate this, on my trip to Loyola a few years back. I met Paul. I knew I had been sober about three and a half years in AA, and I was taken to hear him talk by some friends. I'm gonna mention some of these people.

I wanna speed this up here a little bit. And I knew what I heard was different than what I've been hearing, which was good stuff. I love the south side. I'm a south side guy, but I gotta tell you the Cubs are winning. It's sickening.

But, when I heard Paul talk at the Orrington Hotel, I knew that there was another dimension to the program that I said I believed in, and it was a dimension that I was ready to accept, and do some of the things that he suggested. Bernie and and Florian talked about 5th steps and so on and so forth. And I'm quite overdue. And fortunately, my pal, Mike B, back there, asked me if we were gonna get together one of these days. Apparently, been ducking them for a while.

I didn't mean to do that and we will get together shortly. I'm ready. The message I heard was the message I needed to hear. I think we all hear what we need to hear in AA and those of you that are here apparently need to hear the message that Paul has been so instrumental in carrying to many of us. I will continue to hear this message as long as I hang around you guys and gales And I want to hear this message.

I don't want to drift away from it and it's my nature to drift away from it. I'm gonna close now, but I want to mention some people that personally meant a great, great deal to me, and I'm looking at my buddy Frank right now, who heard my first 5th step in AA and he encouraged me to continue on. His 5th step was about half the size of this paper, and I have continued on and I hope I've continued on in a way that would be to his liking. I know I have. I've tried to.

But I particularly want to mention some people many of you know and I know you've all heard of him. My other sponsor in the group here was Dennis O'Brien. Those of you who know him will never forget him. God knows I won't. I think of my 2 closest pals who are gone now, Al Lesniak, Charlie Daley, and I think of many others that have gone on and guys in the group so we're good guys.

I'm hearing music. It's gotta be getting close to the number. Don Gaines, Bill Cahill, Bill Kelly, and recently, Ray Williamson and Bill Miller. We all knew Landau, but many of you knew these guys or some of them individually. Without them, I and many of you I don't think would be here.

With that, I want to say thanks to all of you for being here tonight, to Paul, and to the guys I mentioned here. And there's many, many more that I didn't mention. Thanks a lot. I can attest that Jack, has done a lot to in this program. Did it about 2 years about 20 years ago, 2 years after I'd come up here and done the deal from Indianapolis.

I get a call from Jack, and he's in Indianapolis. And he shared a 5th step with me, and I'm sure I was discussing it with him earlier tonight that there is an ex volleyball coach of his daughters that's still alive purely because of that fist step. Ron Ron Dobre. Hi. My name is Ron Dobin.

I'm an alcoholic. I appreciate, Paul, number 1, being in my life and number 2, asking me to to do this. It's an honor. It's it's really an honor to be here. I feel humbled, though.

I I I'm sober almost 31 years, and I'm by far the baby of this group. I mean, it's not even close. There are people here with a lot of sobriety, and I got the same marching orders. Talk for 5 minutes and don't talk a lot about you. Talk talk a lot about the program.

I will say, though, Paul's been my sponsor for for the last 8 years of my sobriety, and, and they've been good years. You're you're a great sponsor and a good friend. My story in Alcoholics Anonymous, I came to Alcoholics Anonymous on September 21, 1976. I've been sober ever since. And, because I only got got 5 minutes, I'm just gonna skip to 4 years of sobriety.

At 4 years of sobriety, the best description I can give of me sober is that, emotionally, I'm the same man sober I am drunk, and I can't understand why. I am as active as you can be in Alcoholics Anonymous. I go to 5, 6, 7, 8 meetings a week. I'm secretary in meetings. I'm on service.

I'm doing all this stuff. And I come into meetings, and I learn to talk the talk real well while I'm here. Because as well as being an alcoholic, I'm a copycat. So what I do is I listen to the guys that are sober a while. They say something.

I copy it. I got no idea what it means, how to do it, but I can say it. And, and meetings would end day after day after day, and I'd walk out of the room, and I walk right back to the same world I left where I'm angry all the time, especially at my wife. You know, we were talking about having good marriages. Well, I'll tell you what.

First 4 years of my sobriety, my wife and I had what's called an in and out relationship. And, that's the kind of relationship where you call a house one day, I'm living in the house. You call the next day, I'm moving out. And, you know, you know, and and I just can't get along with people. I'm not sleeping at night, and I have no idea what's wrong with me.

I have no idea what's wrong with me because I'm not new anymore in Alcoholics Anonymous, and I can't figure it out. And, finally, a little over 4 years of sobriety, my world just came crashing down around me. And, and I ran into into a man. I I heard a man at a meeting because it was the one thing I always did right in Alcoholics Anonymous, and and his name was Bob, Bob Anderson. And I heard him talk in a meeting, and I went up to him after that meeting, and I said, I'm in a lot of trouble.

I said, I'm sober for 4 years, and I don't know what's going on. I don't know if I'm coming or going. I just don't know what's wrong with me. Can you help me? And he invited me to his place of business the next day, and and and he said, tell me tell me what's wrong.

Tell me what's going on, and I did. And, and he looked at me, and he said the same words every other speaker, sir, said that they that they got from Paul. I I got those same words from Bob. He said to me he said, do you know what's wrong? I said, no.

He said, you're suffering from untreated alcoholism. And I looked at him and I said, you're nuts, Bob. I said, you missed the part. I said, I'm sober 4 years. And he said, Bob, he's he said, Ron, he said alcoholism has nothing to do with drinking except drink and treat it.

And I asked him where he got that information, and and he told me in the big book. And he opened the big book, and he showed me things in the big book that I'd never seen before, things like the doctor's comfort that come at once by taking a few drinks. And then I'm sense of ease and comfort that come at once by taking a few drinks. And he said, you haven't had a drink in 4 years. Are you restless, irritable, and discontented?

You know? I was. Man was I. And, and then and then what Bob did for me is is the same thing that Paul has done for me for the last 8 years. He took me through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Roy and I were talking about it at dinner. You know, I think it's one thing to have a sponsor. I think it's another thing to have a sponsor that's worked the steps. And this guy took me through the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and he had the same message Paul did in in that and then he said it's not going through them once. It's learning to apply them and then going through them over and over and over and over and over.

And Bob was my sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous for, 17 years. And at 17 years of sobriety, when I was, 21 years sober, I guess it was, he passed away. And I had another sponsor for a year who didn't do this repeated work on the steps. So when he passed away, I asked I I I had had a tape that Bob had given me the 1st week of my relationship with him that Paul had done. And, on this tape, Paul spoke about swapping 5th steps, and I'd done that ever since since 4 years of sobriety.

And and my friend, had Paul's phone number. I called him a few times, and and and I said, you know, would you sponsor me? And, and the funny thing is he said to me for when I asked him to sponsor me, he said he said, okay, Ron. He said, when was the last time you did a thorough 4th and 5th step? None of you I know have ever heard that before.

You know? And, I thought I'd impress him. Right? And I said, Paul, I said, what I do is I take the 12 steps every summer at depth, all 12 steps. Then I asked him the first of many he'll tell you many, many dumb questions since I said, when was the last time you did?

What? Mistake. He said, about 3 weeks ago. He said, why don't you write one and come to Chicago? And, and the funny thing is there's guys here that that, that I've done 5th steps with, and and and it's good to see.

But, you know, I have a good life today. Okay. I have a good life today, and it's because of Alcoholics Anonymous, and it's because of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and a god that I found through these 12 steps. So thanks thanks for being in my life. You think after these years, Paul would find a new script, wouldn't you?

Matt. Matt and Matt and Drake. My name is Matt. I'm an alcoholic. I don't care who knows it as long as I don't forget it.

And that's one of the reasons I go to 4 meetings a week after 44 years of sobriety. This is my spiritual life. It's all based on a program. I was asked to speak here not because I have something special to say. I guess he asked me to speak because to prove that this program is international, so to speak.

You know? Speak to and so I have had many I heard many speakers on this program. I heard Paul speak many times. I was very impressed with his ability to give the message to the people. And I tried to sometimes to imitate him, and I tried to grow in my ability to speak.

And I try to say some funny jokes. But in my case, what happened is that anytime I say funny joke, I start laughing myself before getting to the point. And that kills the Nobody else is laughing except me. Now, the other thing is now, I also even hear speakers that, you know, make the audience cry. I, myself, when I get the sad story of my life, I start crying myself, and I become a sad part of the whole story.

That's the way it is with me. And, as I never was able to speak very well, and I'm not really concerned about it. Paul told me that maybe I should write something down or, you know, get a little card or something. I can't do that. I tried it once, didn't work.

I just even makes it worse for me. I don't know why. Not because I can't read I can't read, I guess, but just I just can't do it. And I first met Paul some 1960, and I heard him talk at a young people's group, so you know that's a long time ago. And And I was very impressed with this talk because he talked about different things and kinda impressed me.

I thought it was mysticism, talking about oriental philosophies, talking about Buddha, talking about yoga, talking about I thought this is the guy that they have to talk to and they have to ask him to be my sponsor, which I eventually did. And now he's my sponsor for over 40 years. And I 2 years ago, I went to this Akron, Ohio Founders Day. And, you know, the 10,000 people, nobody even noticed me. But then again, I mentioned I mentioned that my sponsor was Paul Paul Martin.

I became a celebrity immediately. So that's what happened to me really. And I learned from you a lot through many years. I never I not always took his advice, but in retrospect, I know his also advice was always good. I can't can't tell you a few examples, maybe one that it sticks in my mind.

I heard him talk at that young people's group at that time, and I was still kinda agnostic. Agnostic. That was 1961 or 62. I didn't saw that until 1963. So and he mentioned that in some Hindu scriptures that are saying that God is help for helpless only.

And someone will open the door for me. He always thought maybe as long as I try try to help myself, it's not gonna interfere with higher power. I have to be come back in the people. First step tells me, I have to be completely helpless us and submit to his power. And that's what they open the door for me for the rest of the program.

Then I when they asked him to be my sponsor, and he told me that I should take that, you know, 4th and 5th step like the you've only heard that before. And he told me that at the beginning of Christianity, it was done publicly. The 5th, you know, 5th step of confession. So because, you know, I just wanted to gain some respect from him. So I said, okay.

Now, get a few people and I do it, you know. I mean, I don't wanna do it with 1 person. I done it with 3 people the first time. And this is when I really experienced some relief from myself stayed sober, and then I started stayed sober, and I see some some immediate benefits. And that's when I, again, began to see that this program really works.

It's not only it's not to be talked about, discussed, analyzed, is to be actually worked. And these principles that are written in all 12 steps are the guidelines for our life. And I have been doing this ever since and I to some to some success. I still have some problems and one biggest problem I have is math. And I have to deal with it every day.

And this is the most difficult part. And at one time, I thought that everybody else's fault, but now I know that it starts with me and not what people do to me, my reaction that hurts me. But most he thinks that I'm a Lithuanian. No. Lithuanians don't listen to anybody because we already know everything.

And so that's the problem with our nationality. And I know that. I noticed that. I since then, I have seen some other of my my competitors that they know everything. And so they they cannot stop.

They argue all the time, and Paul tells me I argue a lot. And I try not to, but, you know, somehow in my nature is to somehow or other, you know, I still have that lack of humility maybe. I still try to prove the point some or other. I don't know. And I don't know how long am I speaking now.

But my wife is also on the program. If she was here by now, she would say, Matt. But she she's she's not here, so therefore, I am going to thank Paul for everything. What is this? This is part of me.

It's not that I say funny jokes. I am funny to begin with. It's a lot of me. I don't know why. Anyway, thank you a lot, Paul, for all the help you gave me through the years.

And I'm so to my surprise, it's it's based on his understanding of the program, principles of the program every day as much as I can. Thank you very much. That's great. Same sponsor for 44 years. I had to go through a bunch of them before I got involved.

Wore them out. Garth. Garth there. Hi. My name is Garth, and I'm an alcoholic.

Hey, Garth. And, thanks everybody. I I also, had to, put a couple of notes down, not for the 5 minute reason, although I'll do that. It's just that I can't remember a damn thing from one moment to the next. So, I was also given this same instructions about not talking about, my sponsor, but that's impossible not to mention him.

I met him in 1974 when he came to, Manitoba. And after his meeting, I I I spoke to him about, an article he had written in the grapevine on prayer meditation. And, then he spoke to me about, working the the steps. And, at that time, I wasn't prepared to do anything about it. Although I was sober about 9 years then, and active in AA.

He tried to convince me that if I would work the steps, I could have, you know, some some sanity, in my life, in my sobriety. And, my answer to him was no. Like, I just said no. I I I at least silently, that's what he said. I don't think I can do that.

He came back 6 months later to speak in Winnipeg, and I was also there. And my last, line of defense, was Paul I'll tell you what. When I come to know, my Christ better, then I'll walk your steps. And, of course, you you know right away, I just got myself into a trap there because he said, maybe if you work the steps, then you'll come to know your god. So so that, was a surrender, for me.

And, I made a decision to do that and I came here. Just before coming here though and right after his meeting, I I think maybe this impressed me more than anything that he said. It was an action. When he finished this meeting, there was about a 1000 people there, and, you know, they were coming forward to to shake his hand and and and and and give him the credits. He only had so much time, to get to the airport.

He had to make a decision. Was he gonna stand there and and receive the credits, or was he gonna spend the time with me to listen to my step 5? We snuck out the back door and, he, this impressed me. And and we drove to the airport, and I did my my first 5th step, with him. And I remember when I got finished, I was holding my gut and saying thank god that's over with.

And he said, that's good. But in your case, I would suggest another 5 or 6 right away. It wouldn't be too many. And that's what happened. So the the the repeating of the of the the steps, all of the steps became part of my life.

And I was asked to to, it was suggested that I might mention this. About the same time, Paul had introduced my wife to this, this message. And, she started doing, as an Al Anon member, the same thing. When she came back to when we came back to Winnipeg, we're we're well, we've been together a long time. Tomorrow, we're celebrating 42 years of marriage.

So and last night, we had a fight. There you go. Anyway, it's all fixed up now. So, where was was I? Oh, yeah.

What here's here's what happened. She she was working with some some Al Anon women. She was taking them through the steps the way you're doing here. Right? And then it was 1 woman, and then it was 2, that was 3, that was 4, then it was 5.

There was about 20, and she couldn't handle that many. So she started a thing called step experience, meaning 15 or 20 people would get together once or twice a year and they would go through the steps together. And the whole emphasis was on experiencing the steps. Now since that time, 1975, we've been doing that in our area. And every year, twice or once a year, about 15 or When we come back, let's say we're on step 3 for instance, and we, When we come back, let's say we're on step 3 for instance, and we, we, we all agree in the beginning, we're gonna do the steps.

And, we we we go home, go to our various places wherever that is, and we do our 3rd step with somebody of our choice or sponsor, our wife or daughter or whatever the case may be. And then when we come back the following week, we take 2 thirds of the meeting time to share the experience that we had with that step that week. Not what I did 10 years ago or 20 years ago, but that week. Now if I didn't do the step with another person that week, then I just say pass because you see I have nothing to share. I can do a catch up next week, and we do the same thing all the way through?

We get to the 6th step, for instance. We would say, let's take a look at some of the things that we discovered in 4 and we talked about in 5, and what did we do about it this week? Every day, pay special attention. See what we did that week. When we come back again, we would share that experience.

And then for the last 15 minutes of the meeting, we discussed the upcoming step just as we would at any AA meeting. If we're at any other step, say the the amends, we all agree. Alright. We will, this week, make a couple of amends. And when we come back, people will share their experience with those amends.

Again, if I didn't make the amends, then I just say pass because I have nothing to share. So it's a it's an experience, a step experience, and we start each meeting, every week with a period of quiet time. And, we increase it just a couple of minutes each week. And by the time we get to this 11th step, now we're having a 20 minute meditation. It's not long, but it's not short for some people.

So we do that, and then we share that experience that we just hit, you know, 20 minutes ago. So that's what we do. And then when people leave after the 12th step, we encourage them to and some of them come from other groups. They go back to their group. People see a change in them, or we encourage them to tell people maybe this is the message that they might want to try if there's a change changes that they're they're they're they're they're they're they're hurting and they wanna do something.

Try this. So it's it's an ongoing thing and the the the idea of repeating this, came from Paul. So I'm very grateful for that. I'm not real disappointed that my time's up. Not really.

I was here 10 years ago when Paul was sober 50 years, and I did say that if there was one word that would describe him, and he'd been my sponsor for 30 what's the name from 42? Whatever that is. I didn't write that down. Hey. It's a financial people here.

That's how long he's been my sponsor. And, I said one one one name that would describe him would be mister consistency because I I just haven't heard him, do it any differently. He's been consistent with this message of truth, and it's impacted on so many of us. And I'm sure we're all grateful. So, Paul, if we measure success, by the number of lives, we touch and the way, we reach out to others, truly making a difference, then it's hard to imagine a richer life than yours.

Thanks, Paul. Well, now guess who? Our honoree of the evening. He he told me I called him about 22 years ago, and and I said, is there any possibility that a 44 year old alcoholic grandfather with 22 20 years of sobriety could be going through male menopause? And he said, well, maybe.

And he said, but if you write an inventor, you know what it is. Come up here and take some fist steps. And I wasn't listening. He said, take some fist steps. Make your man your life may change.

And I was in so much trouble even though I've been sober such a long time. I did exactly that. And I've done for the most part exactly what he, has told me since. And if I don't do something, he tells me I've probably lied to him. But I can't remember any of those.

I can't say that I did. So Paul saved my life like it did most of you. Paul. Thank you all. I suppose you wonder why I called this meeting.

I've been in AA a long time. You can tell I've been someplace for a long time. Well, back, I stayed in the motel. It had a mirror on the ceiling. I got woke up in the morning and looked up.

I thought I was being attacked by a giant prune. My name is Paul Martin. I'm a young alcoholic in an old container. For years, I was worried about dying young, and now it's too late. My thanks to, Bruce and, Jane for putting this together.

It was a lot of work, and I appreciate it. My thanks to the 6 gentlemen who talked right before me. You did forget some of the things I told you to say. You know, Jack Ryan, when he was younger, he studied to be an artist, but he gave it up. He gave it up because he wanted to paint this beautiful model in the nude.

And she wouldn't let him. She made him put on his bathroom. I'm an adult child of an Amoy salesman. Friend of mine years ago when he's trying to do something about his drinking, he went to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist said, I've never seen you before. Tell me about yourself.

Start at the beginning. The alcoholic said, in the beginning, I created the heavens and the earth. I ended up doing a lot of things for a living. Years ago, a guy I've known for a long time, I said, you've done many things in your life, but he said none of them will. But I ended up writing for a living.

Some years ago, I was at the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador where Darwin got the idea for for the theory of evolution from the finches and the giant tortoises. And I learned that during mating season, the male tortoises get so excited, they try to mate with large rocks. It's pretty much like your average AA picnic. Don't encourage me. I don't have to be home till Tuesday.

I feel like Paris Hilton's next boyfriend. I know it's expected of me, but I can't figure out how to make it interesting. 1951. I I sobered up on, August 15, 1947. I always wanted to be an old timer.

I just didn't wanna look like this. It's too late to do anything about that. 1950 one, Bill talked at the Medina Temple in Chicago in the spring. And in the course of his remarks, he said, suppose each of us here had not found AA until 10 years after he did, and then he paused. And there wasn't a sound as each of us remembered the despair that filled our souls that we came to AA.

And he said we have an obligation to be here and pass on to that man or woman who hasn't come here yet what we have shared. AA is a sacred community. I had a long time figuring that out. It's the most sacred community I have ever been in touch with. I knew that some of us were destined for greater spiritual growth than others, and, obviously, I was one of those so destined.