Bill L. from Dunellen, NJ and Mike L. from West Orange, NJ reading A Vision For You (pages 153- 164) at a Big Book step workshop in West Orange, NJ

And it's, it's been truly an incredible experience.

I wouldn't go shouting this from the rooftops or anything, but it's on tape. So it's probably the equivalent. I'm down 30 lbs. And I think it's a direct result of right net inventory that I read to you guys some weeks ago.

And it's just incredible the the power of God has once again

taken me past what was my current agnosticism. So

some incredible stuff's going on in my life and in other areas too. So

I look forward to possibly hearing from you guys later on some, some of the neat experiences that that have happened to you as the result of redoubling your spiritual efforts and going through this work one more time.

Let's pick up where we left off last week. And like I said last that's going to be page 153. And like I said last week, we, it's kind of ironic we we begun this deal with some history.

If you look in the Roman numeral section, there's a lot of history. And the text portion of this book ends with history,

so I'm going to cover this the best I can. I'm probably going to do a drive by shooting of it. I'm not going to be as detailed as others may be.

Barefoot Bill is just incredible with

giving talks and presentations on honor a history. We're talking before the meeting started about this thing in Bernardsville.

I recently heard the tape. Or they actually do CD's.

Boy A A is really come of age, huh? But he, Bill does an excellent talk. He's done it twice now on obscure in quotes, obscure A a history And all that means is that history that you're really not going to hear about in our quote conference or approved history books that A, A World Services puts out.

And to me, a lot of stuff is humorous like the 1st 13 step call and and or the 1st 13 step rather. And it just so happened to be on the 1st 12 step call to a woman. So pretty incredible stuff,

stuff that

maybe people in the head office, so to speak, would cringe at. But it it's, it's, it's true stuff. Bill has the sources to back it up

and he's you know, Chris S has has said it and all all kind of echo it. Bill has is slowly becoming one of the

one of the best archivists there there are. He would probably term himself as an amateur archive archivist because I've never seen him make dollar one off the off of any of the stuff he puts out there.

If you're not on

barefoot bills e-mail address e-mail list, get on it. He sends I believe 2:00 to 3:00 daily emails

and I'm sure he won't mind me giving out his e-mail address. I I do have it memorized. I don't have his phone number memorized. Thank God for Rolodexes.

Bill L's e-mail address is

W lash, as in the lash of alcoholism. WLASH

at Avaya not Hawaii Avaya

avaya.com

Most people here have it. Just tell them put them on your e-mail address, his e-mail list. You'll get all sorts of

neat things about a history, spirituality,

incredible stuff.

Absolutely. Flyers, announcements.

Your computer will quickly. Your hard drive will fill up quickly. My e-mail address is.

We'll get to the reading at some point tonight, I'm sure. MJLM as in Mike J as in John L as in Lawrence 221

at att.net NET. That's my home e-mail address. I send a lot of emails from my office account,

but if you get my home e-mail address,

I'll be sure to give you my other e-mail address as well. My phone number

973731

1073,

my birth date, Social Security number and home address are to be determined

page 153, last paragraph, bottom of the page years ago. And that seems like when I got started tonight. Years ago, in 1935, one of our number made a journey to a certain western city and they're talking about Build W going on his stockbroking adventure, which was failed by the way,

to Akron, OH.

From a business standpoint, his trip came off badly. Had he been successful in his enterprise, he would have been set on his feet financially, which at that time seemed vitally important.

But his venture wound up in a lawsuit and bogged down completely. The proceeding was shot through with much hard feeling and controversy,

barely discouraged. He found himself in a strange place, discredited and almost broke, still physically weak and sober but a few months. Bill had six months sobriety at the time. He saw that

as predicament was dangerous. He wanted so much to talk with someone, but whom? One dismal afternoon he paced a hotel lobby, wondering how his bill was to be paid. At one end of the room stood a glass covered

directory of local churches. Down the lobby, a door open into an attractive bar. He could see the gay crowd inside. No, I don't think this was a gay bar in 1935. That's why I love dictionaries today.

When I was a kid, you'd be hard, hard pressed to find me crack a dictionary.

But I tell you, Alcoholics Anonymous taught me how to read.

You know, you look up this word, gay crowd. And back in 1935, all I meant was happy, happy, joyous and free. So I guess I'm gay today in that sense.

In there he would find companionship and release. I'm going to get busted on this tape, I know it. Unless he took some drinks, he might not have the courage to scrape an acquaintance and would have a lonely weekend. I'm sure he wouldn't be lonely if he continued to hang out in that gay bar. But of course he couldn't drink. But why not sit hopefully at a table? A bottle of ginger ale before him, After all, had he not been sober six months now?

Anyone in here say that? Well, I've been sober six months.

I can go to the bar and just drink soda pop. They never tell you why they're going to the bar now. Perhaps he could handle, say, 3 drinks no more. Fear gripped them. Fear gripped them because he saw the truth. He actually got a chance to watch his thinking. Remember we took a look at the 10th step about watching her thought life. Well, Bill was watching his thought life here because

six months prior he had had a spiritual awakening,

or spiritual experience as it was at that time.

He was on thin ice again. It was the old insidious insanity, that first drink. And the insidious insanity is the thought which precedes the first drink, not the actual taking the drink. Yes, we know taking the drink is pure insanity if you're a real alcoholic, but the real insanity is the thinking that precedes the first drink. With a shiver, he turned away and walked down the lobby through the church directory.

Music and gay chatter go easy. Guys still float it to him from the bar. But what about his responsibilities, his family and the men who would die because they would not know how to get well? Yes, those other Alcoholics. There must be many such in this town. He would phone a clergyman.

His sanity turned, His sanity returned. And it's kind of funny because before the meeting, we're talking about suddenly, suddenly in the negative sense.

And this is a direct quote. I'm stealing this from, from Bill. And this is the first time I'm saying this. So I guess this is the first time I'm giving them credit. His sanity returned. And Bill says that this is a positive. Suddenly, so

suddenly, Bill sanity returned and he thanked God. Selecting a church at random from the directory, he stepped into a booth and lifted the receiver.

His call to the to the clergyman and the clergyman's name was Reverend Walter Tunks of the Episcopal Church.

His call to the clergyman led him presently to a certain resident of of the town, who's Doctor Bob, of course, who, though formally able and respect it, was then nearing the nadir of alcoholic despair.

Here's a little play on words if you will.

The the word tonk, Reverend Walter Tunks last name a tonk is another word which means walk.

Believe it's an old English word. I'm going for a tongue. I'm going for a walk

and the word nadir means lowest point.

So he, Doctor Bob was nearing his lowest point of alcoholic despair today. We might call that bottom

It was the usual situation. Home in jeopardy, wife I'll children distracted, bills and arrears and standing damaged.

I mean, to me that's a perfect description, or

more of a description of the spiritual malady.

Home in jeopardy, wife I'll, children distracted, bills unpaid and standing damage. He had a desperate desire to stop, but saw no way out, for he had earnestly tried many avenues of escape, painfully aware of being somehow abnormal. Somehow abnormal. The man did not fully realize what it meant to be alcoholic. There's an asterisk there

down at the bottom of the page. In my book it says this refers to Bill's first visit with Doctor Bob. These men later became Co founders of a. A Bill story opens the text of this book.

Doctor Bob's heads the story section.

When our friend Bill W related his experience, the man being Doctor Bob agreed that no amount of willpower he might muster could stop his drinking for long. A spiritual experience, he conceded, was absolutely necessary, but the price seemed high upon the basis suggested.

Where Bill and Bob actually ended up meeting together was at Henry was at the gatehouse of the Cyberling estate

a doctor Bob and his wife Ann, who is probably considered even though a non alcoholic but a St. to Alcoholics Anonymous because of what she did for us in the early days was incredible.

But Doctor Bob and Ann were were friends with Henry and the Henrietta Cyberling, and

so they shuffled off to the

the Cyberlink gatehouse.

Doctor Bob wasn't originally going to go because Henrietta called Ann. And

you know, as we probably talked about at the beginning of this thing, when we cover the history early on

after Doctor Bob finally, or excuse me, after Bill finally got a hold of

Henrietta Cyber Lane, she thought this was a pure godsend that another alcoholic or recovered alcoholic was coming to help Doctor Bob. Because what they were doing in the Oxford Groups at that time, and Doctor Bob was a member of the Oxford Group even even before he got sober, he had been trying to get sober

by spiritual means for a couple years.

But what they had been doing at the Oxford Group is praying for Doctor Bob to get some help. So when Henrietta received a phone call from Bill W, she said, God has answered our prayers. So she set up the meeting between Bill and Bob, and the rest is history.

So during that meeting, he told how Bill told how he lived in constant worried about those who might find

out about his alcoholism. Actually, that was Bob. He had, of course, the familiar alcoholic obsession that few knew of his drinking. Why, he agreed, should he lose the remainder of his business, only bring still more suffering to his family by foolishly admitting his plight to people from whom he had made his livelihood. Doctor Bob was really afraid of coming out of the closet, so to speak,

because he had a medical profession. He was a proctologist

and it was a flimsy medical practice at that. He would they were because of his drinking. Him and Anne were barely hanging on by a thread. So his biggest fear was that

if his patients and the community at large found out about his alcoholism, like they didn't know it already, he was just going to lose his whole practice because people weren't going to be interested in seeing him for his

proctoring services, if you will.

And we're going to find out later on that because of that fear that Doctor Bob had, at first,

he wasn't willing to make his amends. He had another slippy poo. And after that, that last drunk of Doctor Bob's was enough to convince him that he needed to do the whole program, the whole program that they had at that time, which by the way, was

the six tenants of the Oxford Group, and one of them, one of those tenants was a men's and restitution.

So until Doctor Bob had another slip, he wasn't willing to make his immense.

And it happens to a lot of us, too. Why, he argued, should he lose a remainder of his business, only bring still more suffering to his family by foolishly omitting his plight to people from whom he had made his living? He would do anything he said but that. And again, he would do anything but immense. So we're going to find out what happened to Bob because he wasn't willing to make his amends. So that's a pretty good warning to me. What happens if I'm not willing to make my events?

If it's good enough for our Co founder, it's good enough for me.

Here's Doctor Bob's night step and I'm grateful this is in the book because this is a wonderful example. Being intrigued, however, he invited our friend to his home.

Bob's ninth step is coming up in the next paragraph. I'm sorry. Sometime later, and just as he thought he was getting control of his liquor situation, he went on a roaring Bender. This is Doctor Bob's last

last drunk. For him, this was a spree that ended all sprees. He saw that he would have to face his problem squarely, that God might give him masterly. Doctor Bob was going to a medical convention

in Atlantic City, NJ of all places. And a couple years ago they, they had a little spirituality breakfast deal and in Atlantic City and I got to go there and it was,

it was not too far away from,

from the train station where, where doctor where they poured Doctor Bob off the train or actually poured him onto the train, I think.

And it it was just an incredible experience to to be near a place where our co-founder

awakened. He awakened. He awakened off his last drunk as a result.

Last straw. So it was a neat experience for me.

This is Doctor Bob's ninth step. One morning he took the bull by the horns. What actually happened was

they got him home from this medical convention. He was detoxing off alcohol. He had some surgery to perform. If you can imagine he had to go Proctor on some poor bastard. He was coming off a booze. You can imagine his hands were trembling. I don't know if I want anyone proctoring on my most intimate of areas if

if they're trembling, but this is what happened. And Bill said,

Bob, if you're going to go ahead and do the surgery, you got to calm down. So I gave him a bottle of beer and that was enough to take the edge off.

As far as we know, the the surgery came off successfully as far as we know. But what I would like to say, whoever he operated on that morning, that's got as far as Alcoholics Anonymous as is concerned, that's probably the most famous asshole we'll ever talk about.

Unbelievable. I can see why some people wouldn't laugh.

So Bill gave him the beer. And what Doctor Bob said was, I'm ready to go through with this. Bill thought Bob was referring to the surgery. He slipped down a beer, boom, I'm good to go. I'm ready to go through with this. What ended up happening was that what Bob really meant was

he was willing to go through the rest of the process. He was willing to, he was ready to do, willing and ready to do what he was not willing to do previously, and that was to go about town and make his amends. Can you imagine? Back in those days you could complete all your amends within one town, much less one state.

Buddy of mine says he still has a resentment at our Co founders because of that. He had to make a amends throughout seven different states.

I was pretty fortunately, I, I only had a couple states that I wrecked having it. But

so and, and this is what he did.

But as we're going to see, what ended up happening was he didn't he didn't come home after that surgery.

And what he did was he went he went about town and made amends. And when Bill and because Bill was staying with Ann and Bob in in Akron, what Bill and Ann figured was at the bottle of beer triggered the allergy and doctor Bob was off to the race. But no, what had happened was Bob had become willing to make these amends. The starts the birthday of alcohol synonymous.

One morning he took the bull by the horns and said out to tell those he feared what his trouble had been like. They didn't know alcoholism.

He found himself surprisingly well received. Yeah. Bob, we were waiting for you to get your act together for years now. And he learned that many knew of his drinking. Can you imagine stepping into his car, He made the rounds of people he had hurt. He trembled as he went about for this might mean ruin, particularly to a person in this line of business. So Doctor Bob was still he was still fearful.

But if I know anything about Doctor Bob and their early members of alcohol synonymous,

he probably had God in his back pocket. He probably said, God, I'm scared to death. I'm just coming off my last trunk. But I got to do this. I know my sobriety and my life depends on cleaning up my past. So please help me. Please take away my fear and direct my attention to what you would have me be and of course, what God would have. Doctor Bobby was sober

and in order to get sober,

Bob knew he had to clean up these immense.

So that's a good lesson for me that even if I'm fearful,

I can still make my amends.

I can store,

I mean everywhere I am, God is there, so why am I to be afraid?

At midnight he came home exhausted but very happy. He had not had a drink since

he came. He has not had a drink since. As we shall see, he now means a great deal to his community and a major liabilities of 30 years of hard drinking have been repaired in

4.

OK, let's get down to the last paragraph,

2/3.

Let's just continue on with that third paragraph. I'm sorry

30 years of hard drinking have been repaired in four. But life was not easy for the two friends. Plenty of difficulties presented themselves. Both Bill and Bob saw that they must keep spiritually active. One day they called up the head nurse. Her name happened to be Missus Hall. And most of these names and dates and stats and stuff I, I got from Bill,

our friend Barefoot Bill. So

go to him for further information. They spoke to the head nurse of a local hospital.

I I believe that would be Saint Thomas Hospital. That's where they did a lot of work with with Trunks in Akron. They explained their need and inquired if she had a first class alcoholic. We don't want some third rate drunk, we want a first class alcoholic. Nothing but the best for us,

she replied. Well, yes, we've got a Corker. He's just beaten up a couple nurses. Nice guy goes off his head completely on his drinking,

but he's a grand chap when he's sober though he's been in here eight times in the last six months. Understand he was once a well known lawyer in town, but just now we've got him strapped down. Tight

asterisk. This refers to Bill and Bob. Bill and Doctor Bob's first visit to a A number 3A. Number three was Bill Dotson. See the Pioneer section. This resulted in a as first group at Akron, OH in 1935

and build these story begins on page 138

called a #3.

OK,

now let's skip over to page 159. I'm just skipping for the time factor. All good stuff in here. Please read it on your own,

page 159.

OK. They they visited Bill Dean in the hospital says he had three visitors. After a bit, he said the way you fellows put this spiritual stuff makes sense. I'm ready to do business. I guess the old folks were right after all. So one more was added to the fellowship. And again, this is in the summer of 1935.

All this time our friend of the hotel lobby incident, Bill, remained in that town. He was sober. He he was there for three months. He now returned home, leaving behind his first acquaintance. Who is Doctor Bob the Lawyer and the Devil May Care chap

And that's Ernie G They referred to him in the previous pages

which we skipped.

But at that time they did have 4 Alcoholics sober on the Oxford Group program of the six tenants in the summer of 1935.

OK,

these men had found something brand new in their life. Though they knew they must help other Alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves to others. These are good, some direct. These are some good directives for myself. These are some really good 12 step tips. They share their homes, their slender resources and gladly devoted their spare hours to the fellow sufferers. They were willing, by day or night,

to place a Newman in a hospital and visit him afterwards. By day or night, folks, these folks meant business. They truly went to any lengths for their recovery.

They grew in numbers. They experienced a few distressing failures, but in those cases they made an effort to bring the man's family into a spiritual way of living, thus relieving much worry and suffering. This was long before Al Anon came into the picture. So if the drunk wasn't willing, they made the pitch to the

to the family. Credible stuff. They set the bar really not a drinking bar. They set the spiritual bar really high back then. They set it real high for me because these are things that I can ask myself, am I currently doing today?

A year and six months later, these three has succeeded with seven more seeing much of each other scarce and evening pass that someones home did not shelter a little gathering of men and women happily in their release and constantly thinking. Constantly thinking how they might present their discovery to some newcomer.

In addition to these casual get togethers, it became customary to set apart one night a week for a meeting

to be attended by anyone or everyone interested in the spiritual way of life. Anyone or anyone or everyone interested in the spiritual way of life. They included the family. Aside from fellowship and sociability, the prime object was to provide a time and place where new people might bring their problems. Where they might bring their problems to staying sober, they might bring their problems with the A A program.

I don't think what they're talking about here is bringing the problems of well, my shoelace broke. My cat died, which by the way, mine did in February, but I didn't share about it in the meeting.

You know, meetings were about a spiritual solution to the alcoholic problem. That's what they were all about at that time. At that time in the early fellowship was which was actually stole the the Drunkard squad of the Oxford Group. They met in two wonderful people's homes,

home non alcoholic T Henry and Clarice Williams.

Beautiful folks that do for the fledgling Society of drunks what they did. And they weren't even Alcoholics, but they were members of the Oxford Group. So their main, their aim was to help anybody where they could. Good folks, incredible.

Talks about them a little bit in this next paragraph. Outsiders became interested. One man and his wife placed their large home at the disposal of this strangely assorted crowd. Perfect description for Alcoholics. If you describe me. If you ask me, I guess they are describing me.

Yeah, I guess being one person I can be a strangely assorted crowd. Yeah, that's true. Committing in the head chat over 1000 monkeys.

Has anybody? I don't know where I'm getting this stuff folks, stay with me. Has anyone ever been alone in the car with themselves? No one else in the car but had group therapy. Think about it, you know? Anyway,

strangely assorted crowd. Yeah,

I was on the phone.

Oh man, so much for the history. I was on the phone with a non alcoholic today folks.

Sick people. These non Alcoholics are.

She said that in her view, I was one of the most healthy people she knew. I was the one of one of the most

put together people that that she knew.

Now either she's a real sick bird or she's hanging out with some lowlifes. I'll tell you, but

what else do you do? What else do you do when non alcoholic or non drug addict or a person who isn't in 12 step recovery tells you something like that? And you know, you say thanks, I know this person pretty well. So I said you're nuts. But I think they're anyway at the risk of hurting her feelings. By God,

this couple has since become so fascinated,

Fascinated with Alcoholics, I'll tell you that. They have dedicated their home to the work. Many a distracted wife has visited this house to find loving and understanding companionship among women who knew her problem. To hear from the lips of their husbands what had happened to them. To be advised how

own wayward mate might be hospitalized and approached when next he stumbled. Wayward mate, huh?

OK,

skip down to the last paragraph of that page. Good tips here. The very practical approach to his problems, the absence of intolerance of any kind, the informality, the genuine democracy, the uncanny understanding which these people had were irresistible.

You don't have to, but I'm going to do a quick flip over to page 19

because it says something very similar.

See,

this directly hooks into the absence of intolerance of any kind. Bottom of 19 says most of us sense that real tolerance of other people's shortcomings and viewpoints, and respect for their opinions or attitudes which make us more useful. The early members knew this. Our very lives as X problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.

It says he and his wife is talking about the the Williams, T, Henry and

Clarice. He and his wife would leave Elaine It by the thought of what they could now do for some stricken acquaintance and his family. They knew they had a host of new friends. It seemed that they that they had known these strangers always. They had seen miracles and one was to come to them. They had visioned the great reality. Capital G, Capital R, their loving and all powerful Creator

and beautiful words to describe power,

power, God, Spirit of the universe, great reality, their loving and all powerful Creator. I smell another workshop.

Go through the text portion of the book, start at the title page, go to page 164 and pick out every word, and they're usually capitalized. Every word or reference that points to the word God. Neat stuff. Neat stuff.

OK, 161

go to the second paragraph. 161 This is Bill Wilson's vision because he wrote this in

3839, right? So how did he know what Alcoholics Anonymous was going to be 6567 years later? You know, how do you know?

The life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals, cleaning up old scrapes, helping us settle family differences.

Sorry, messed up again.

Bill's vision is

from surrounding towns. Families drive long distance to be present. A community 30 miles away has 15 fellows. Alcoholics Anonymous, that's all they had to work with back then. Bill's vision being a large place, we think that someday it's fellowship will number many hundreds.

And the asterisk says it was written in in 1939.

Bill envisioned many hundreds.

He definitely saw that before he passed away in 1971. But now our fellowship is approximated at 2 million. I'd say that's many hundreds. But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals, cleaning up all scrapes, helping us settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to to his irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other.

When justified, these are everyday occurrences. No one is too discredit or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially.

If he means business, notice the condition there. If he means business, social distinction, petty rivalries and and jealousies, these are laughed out of countenance

of being being wrecked in the same vessel. And I'm not going to go there. But that hooks back to page 17. Being wrecked in the same vessel, being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned to the welfare of others. The things which matter so much to some people

no longer signify much to them. How could they? Sounds like a spiritual awakening. Complete shift in their consciousness

I where ideas and conceptions are suddenly cast on one side and a whole new belief system dominate them. Incredible stuff.

Page 163. We're widening it down here. 163 paragraph one.

These are some of my favorite lines in here.

Rather the very bottom of 162,

last line 162. Thus we grow, and so can you,

though you be but one man or woman with this book in your hand. Now think about this. Let's think about this for ourselves. Bottom of 162. And now I'm at top of 163. Let's put ourselves in this context, folks. Though we be but one person with this big book in our hand, we, the members of Alcoholics Anonymous, believe and hope it contains all you will need to begin.

We know what you're thinking,

and I get this response when I work with people, particularly when I let them know that the only thing I want in repayment for me helping you is that you help the next fellow traveler. That's the only thing I expect out of you. I don't want money, I don't want credit. God forbid you give me any credit. I don't want anything but you to give away to the next suffering alcohol

which was freely given to you. And this is this speaks to it.

We know what you're thinking. You're saying to yourself I'm jittery and I'm alone. I couldn't do that,

and this is the response that I get from people

before they have completed the 12 steps.

You kidding me? I can't do for someone what you're doing for me. I could never do that. I don't know this book like you do. That's probably a good thing. I think sometimes the less information we have, the more the more guided by spirit we are and sometimes the better job we do.

But this, I'm scared to do that. I, I can't do that. And what I tell them early on is don't worry about it.

Sit back and watch the experience you will have. And when sometimes that happens, when we get through our fist steps, we just get this thing that comes within us and it's boom, I got to help somebody.

But if it doesn't happen in your fist step, by God, it's gonna happen in your night step. And then you start doing 10 and 11 on a daily basis. Now we got power. See, before the steps, we didn't have power to help other people. 52 tells me that I couldn't seem to be of any help to other people. Of course not. I didn't have power. Now I got power in my life. I got the power I got in my life and now I can help others.

So we think that I'm jittery and I'm alone and I can't do that.

But the book promises it says, but you can you forget that you have just now tapped a source of power much greater than yourself to duplicate what such backing. What we have accomplished is only a matter of an underlying these 3 words willingness, patience and labor. I think of a lot of us have the willingness,

a lot of us have made great strides towards patience,

but how many of us really want to take the back breaking labor? That sometimes it helps, that sometimes it takes to help a drunk,

you know, I still have to be on guard with that stuff because, you know, sometimes. The Family Channel, 10:00 weeknights. Drew Carey, Whose line is it anyway, looks pretty good

when a drunk is calling on the other end of the phone, you know? But I got to remember where I came from. And just as importantly, I got to remember the man who helped me and the men and women who continue to help me

when I'm down and out.

You know, the man who 12 step me at my first a a meeting. He wasn't home watching Jeopardy. He was at the meeting. He put his hand and I get passionate as hell when I talk about this. He put his hand out to me. I didn't have to put my hand out to him or get on my knees or put my hand up in a meeting and say, will you sponsor me? He knew I was hurt and he knew I was seeking for help. He said, Mike, I'll help you.

I'll be your sponsor. My name is Henry. I'm an alcoholic. I'll sponsor you. I'll give you the help. Because he knew I wasn't capable of asking for it. I might have died if it wasn't for somebody who put their hand out to me. And that's what I try to do for the men and yes, I dare say the women who come into our great fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Yes, there's great strength in men with the men, women with the women,

but

God has directed me in part of making my amends where I seem through stuff like this, through workshops, stuff we've done like this somehow I've seen to be

just as useful to women Alcoholics as I have been to men Alcoholics. Of course, with the I, I never work one-on-one with another women woman unless I have permission from my wife and unless she really doesn't have another woman that to go to. Sometimes we run into that and and it has to be done,

but I I've had an incredible experiences along those lines.

I'm open and willing to help anybody and I'll make the effort to do it. Man, woman, black, white, green, yellow, gay, straight, transsexual. Although that would be a new experience. I don't care who or what you are. I don't care if you got an alcoholic dog. And folks, we're pretty close to having one. Gizmos is about alcoholic as you can get.

He's definitely Alan on

on there.

I'm getting at a loss for words. I'm there, you know, I am charged with this responsibility, but more,

more deeper than that, I have this spirit within me, this hunger to just to just do more and help people and continue to redouble my efforts. And if there's one person at an Alcoholics Anonymous who has this passion for help and other people more than I do, let me go on on the record here and say that that's Barefoot Bill.

This guy is always going somewhere

doing weekends, helping people one-on-one

do an ignorant Floridian weekends plug plug. I'm not going to tell you what it is. Ask Bill. He goes that he's been to Delaware in the past couple couple times in the past couple months. This guy, I tell you, he'll, he'll go to the most sordid spot on earth. And

again, I'll just go on a record and say that I'm blessed to have Bill in my life and to have a friend and a partner like him.

Incredible.

I am so far away from this book tonight. It's incredible, but I don't think I am.

I

second full paragraph 163. We know of an AA member who is living in a large community. He had lived there but a few weeks when he found that the place was probably, he found that the place probably contained more Alcoholics per square mile than any city in the country. By the way, this was Hank P Hank Parkhurst from Montclair, NJ,

very close to home. Good old Hank P Unfortunately, Hank didn't make it. He didn't stay sober. He stayed sober for a couple years.

He wrote to employers, which was the chapter we covered last week.

I tell you, if it wasn't for Hank, if it wasn't for the scheming and manipulative abilities, but the businessman abilities that he had, I don't know that the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous would have ever got off the ground. I mean, they were doing stuff like phony stocks, certificates for a book that wasn't even published yet. I mean, incredible stuff, but I tell you

it goes back to six and seven. Just when I think something is a defect, God uses it and turns it into something that creates an asset. You know, that's why in a seven step prayer, I'm not just asking God to remove the bad, I'm asking God to take the good and bad. All of me.

You know, I don't know when my poor example is going to be another man's good example. I don't know when if I may be in a bad place and I may be in a meeting and slip on the tongue and say a bunch of cuss words, which which I normally don't do, but I don't. And, and I'm not condoning this, but I don't know where

where that might be uniquely useful. Useful to a down and out drunk

who can only relate to that type of language,

to a guy who only knows FS&A's and s s. You know, I mean, don't get me wrong, I try to, I'm cleaned up and I, and I try to really be the best example, the best, the best walking example of the big book that I possibly can. But I've seen situations Bill has an excellent story where he went off on a guy on a 12 step call. He yelled at him and

got it. Just

real unlike anything I've ever seen from our barefoot friend. And he went off on this guy and the guy went into into the drug house and he came back out and he didn't get high.

And he later on told Bill, he said, you know, when you went off on me, something snapped within me and he broke down and the guy broke down crying. Bill thought he was doing a bad thing in retrospect by yelling at the guy. But this helped the guy to hit an emotional and spiritual bottom and he didn't go back out and use.

So again, goes back to what Scott R from California always says. We don't even know what we're doing when we're doing it.

This chapter war will end sometime tonight, I promise you that.

Unbelievable.

Hank P Montclair, NJ This was only a few days ago, at this writing, 1939. The authorities were much concerned. He got in touch with a prominent psychiatrist who had undertaken certain responsibilities for the mental health of the community. The doctor proved to be able and exceedingly anxious to adopt any workable method of handling this situation. So he inquired what did our friend have on the ball? Our friend proceeded to tell him and with such good effect that the doctor agreed to test among his patients and certain other alcoholic

from a clinic which he attends. Arrangements were also made with the chief physician of a large public excuse me, hospital to select still others from the stream of misery. The stream of misery, Beautiful words in this big book which flows through that institution. So our fellow worker will soon have friends galore. Some of them may sink and perhaps never get up. But if our experience is a criterion, and again, bring this to your own experience,