First, let's have a look at Bill Wilson's birthplace, also known as .. The Wilson House ..
When I am asked to share my experience, strength and hope at a discussion meeting, I like to state what my topic(s) are and then begin sharing on them. So when the discussion portion of the meeting begins, everyone knows the topic(s).
Tomorrow Tuesday June the 28th, I am going to share the below thoughts in a meeting.
When I share, I like to emphasize the topic so everyone knows what it is.
So I begin by naming the topics :
The Word : Alcoholic
Chapter 3 of the A.A. Big Book and Denial
The Third Tradition.
It is my earnest and sincere belief that the word Alcoholic kills more of us than anyone would ever care to admit.
We turn to Chapter 3 of the Big Book and I quote what it says about denial.
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attemps to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
Then the Big Book goes on to say ..
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic.
Now I talk about my own denial.
My problem is that I drink all liquids in great quantity and I drink them rapidly. I don't sip. I gulp. So IF I could learn to drink alcoholic beverages slowly I wouldn't have the issues that I had before I got sober. This is denial! Denial? It is insanity!
When I die (and at age 85 years it is no longer IF but when), if there is an after life (heaven), and if I go there, and if there is a maker, and if I meet the maker, and if my maker tells me I can ask one question .. My Question Will Be : God, was I really an alcoholic?
If God has a forehead, in light of my drinking history, he well may slap his forehead with the palm of his hand in disbelief because, like happened to Bill Wilson (see pages 120 and 121 of the A.A. conference approved book 'Pass It On') it is God himself that brought me into the life of sobriety. Not into A.A. that came 16 years later.
Then I go into detail about a life changing meeting that I attended in Elko, Nevada back in the late Spring of 1986. The below link will take you back to that Elko meeting.
http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/search/label/Tradition%203
So what is the answer to the challenge and the denial that come with the word Alcoholic? Don't use it unless you can 100% fully accept it !
With early newcomers I suggest they replace the word Alcoholic by using the Third Tradition and ask themselves IF they want to not drink alcohol today.
I myself use and readily accept the below definition :
I am an Alcoholic because I cannot predict, nor can I guarantee my behavior and my actions, after I take a drink of alcohol.
I was given the gift of this definition of an alcoholic by an Akron long timer, Mary Beth Herndon, who dated back into the 1940's.
Post Script : My share, and the meeting, I felt went very well.