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Old 05-11-2016, 12:01 AM
  # 25 (permalink)  
alaek
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Hawaii
Posts: 23
Originally Posted by tomsteve View Post

heres something from the big book:

We think that about one-half of today's incoming A.A. members were never advanced cases of alcoholism; though, given time, all might have been.
Most of these fortunate ones have had little or no acquaintance with delirium, with hospitals, asylums, and jails. Some were drinking heavily and there had been occasional serious episodes. But with many, drinking had been little more than a sometimes uncontrollable nuisance. Seldom had any of these lost either health, business, family, or friends.
Why do men and women like these join A.A.?
The twelve who now tell their experiences answer that question. They saw that they had become actual or potential alcoholics, even though no serious harm had yet been done.
They realized that repeated lack of drinking control, when they really wanted control, was the fatal symptom that spelled problem drinking. This, plus mounting emotional disturbances, convinced them that compulsive alcoholism already had them; that complete ruin would be only a question of time.
Seeing this danger, they came to A.A. They realized that in the end alcoholism could be as mortal as cancer; certainly no sane man would wait for a malignant growth to become fatal before seeking help.
Therefore, these twelve A.A.'s, and thousands like them, have been saved years of infinite suffering. They sum it up like this: "We didn't wait to hit bottom because, thank God, we could see the bottom. Actually, the bottom came up and hit us. That sold us on Alcoholics Anonymous."



true friends wouldnt try andconvince me i dont have a problem with alcohol.
Thank you so much for this. It's really what I needed. I haven't read the Big Book yet, not sure why, but I really appreciate this passage. Could you tell me where in the book it is? But yes, I agree, true friends wouldn't try to convince me I don't have a problem... So then, do I have to make the decision to let go of those friends? Or do I forgive them because they are simply in denial of their own problem themselves?
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