SEP 23, 17 .. DO WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHOOSE NOT TO DRINK..

Today's Rhetorical Question : 

Do we have, within us, the power of choice not to drink?

Once in recovery, I never thought that I would ever seriously consider taking a drink of alcohol.

November 25th, 2016, I fell in the Dubai airport and broke my left hip.

November 28, 2016, I flew from Hong Kong, China, to Phoenix, Arizona, to seek medical assistance with my broken hip.

At the beginning of my Hong Kong to Seattle flight, I encountered an enormous crisis. I actually felt, that if I did not pick up a drink of alcohol, I would not be able to survive, with any degree of sanity, the upcoming 12-hour flight. 

I felt that I was about to go mad with the nagging pain and the enormous physical discomfort of my broken hip.

The thought occurred to me..

"No one will ever know. Just one drink will give me relief from this pain and discomfort." 

I wrote a Post about this crisis and what happened.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2016/

Think the drink. Play the tape all the way through. Be on guard for the unguarded moment.

Back to my Rhetorical Question. 

I firmly believe that.. If we are diligently working the program of A.A., and we have a considerable amount of sober time since our last drink, we have indeed acquired the power to choose not to drink. 

We have two books, two Big Books if you will..

The Holy Bible, King James version.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In the Holy Bible, in the Old Testament, in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 30, Verse 19, God tells us..

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

Biblical scholars teach that this verse tells us that God's great gift to all of mankind is that we have been given the power of choice. This, the power of choice, is indeed God's great gift to us.

I feel that A.A.'s great gift to us is the gift of having the power to choose not to take a drink.

Recently one of my closest A.A. friends and I were having dinner. I recounted the above story about my in-flight crisis and actually needing a drink.

He listened quietly and then, quoting the Big Book, page 43, he said..

"In the Big Book it states that.. The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power."

He went on to say.. "I don't think I could have done what you did. When the urge to drink would hit me, I drank without thinking it through."

Bill Wilson wrote the A.A. Big Book back in the late 1930's. At that time, no one in A.A. had the long term sobriety that some of us now have. Decades. Several decades. Many decades. 

The Big Book also states that..

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

I feel that this recovery allows us the power of choice over alcohol.

I believe, again with the proviso that..

If we are diligently working the program of A.A., and we have a considerable amount of sober time since our last drink..

We have indeed acquired the power to choose not to drink.

I will add a final proviso.

We have several realms of reality. The physical. The mental. The spiritual.

In the physical realm we are NOT equal. I will never be able to run 100-yards in eleven seconds. At my stage of life, I can barely walk 100-yards.

The decision of whether or not to pick up a drink falls into the mental and spiritual realms.

In these realms, I believe that, IF one of us can achieve the power to choose not to drink, we all can.

If I could choose not to pick up the drink on the above airline flight, all of us can make the same decision.

If you doubt your power of choice over alcohol, let me be an example that you too can choose not to pick up a drink when, and if, that urge to drink seemingly overwhelms you.

If I can.. You can..

AUG 24, 17 .. A VISIT TO RUSSIA AND SOME MEETINGS IN SIBERIA..

After two years of on-again, off-again efforts, with a tremendous and invaluable amount of help from a friend, I received a VISA that enabled me to travel into Ulan-Ude, in Southern Siberia, North of the border with Mongolia.

I can NOT read Russian BUT, I know their cyrillic alphabet so I can 'sound out' words. 

The top words in the road sign below say.. Ulan-Ude. This is the largest of the two cities that I visited.  

A little hard for you to see, but we have arrived in Ulan-Ude, Russian Siberia.

I stayed with a Russian friend, Sergei, in his apartment.

We had a lot of fun the two of us.

I was in Ulan-Ude two nights. I spoke at two meetings in Ulan-Ude.

I had an excellent translator. It is vital for a speaker and a translator to be able to work hand-in-glove. We two worked together for both of my Ulan-Ude talks. 

The first set of photos below show the room in which I spoke my first night in Ulan-Ude.

This second set of photos show the venue I spoke at my second night in Ulan-Ude.

As I said above, I worked with the same translator in both Ulan-Ude meetings.
  

There are always 'treats' after the meeting!

I said I spoke in two cities..

When I die, I can think to myself.. 

"I gave an open talk in Gusinoozyorsk, Russian Siberia."

A hospital.

I ate my very first-ever meal in Russia in the below cafe here in Gusinoozyorsk.

In the below photo, on the right side of the photo, you can see a cashier wearing a red top.

In this very small cafe, behind the cashier, you have a fully stocked supply of liquid refreshments to assist your local Russian Siberian to pass the long winter nights.

We decided not to partake of the above liquid refreshments and settled for good, solid, basic Russian food.

Now it was Time to Stand and Deliver in Gusinoozyorsk, Russian Siberia. 

Keep in mind that I did NOT know that the Gusinoozyorsk City Fathers had assembled a group to meet with us. I did NOT know that yours truly was to stand and deliver the message. I did NOT know that this was a real, formal, meeting and that it was set for 3pm. I did NOT know this was a big deal coming down.

So I spoke to a gathering of some of the citizens of Gusinoozyorsk who are interested in A.A., what it is and its mission.

What an honor it was to 'carry the message' in Russian Siberia.

The gentleman below was the team leader for this event. After we were all finished, I asked him, "How did it go?"

"Just Great Cap!"

Goodbye, sweet dreams, Gusinoozorsk, Southern Russian Siberia. I will treasure my visit with you and with your people.

It was both an honor and a pleasure to visit Russian Siberia for a few days and to share freely of what has been freely given to me to pass on to others.