"The Evansville Courier" : 28 Février 1941
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Liquor Addicts Help Each Other to Sobriety In Program of ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’
Mutual Aid Deemed Strong Factor in Rejuvenation of Drunkards
(Editor’s Note: This is the second of two articles on “Alcoholics Anonymous,” a national organization aiming at the reformation of liquor addicts.)
By JOHN McCORMICK
It takes an alcoholic to talk to an alcoholic.
That was the basis of the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous; from it stems the success it has achieved.
Where doctors, ministers and teetotalers have failed, admitted drunkards have succeeded in not only whipping their liquor appetite, but have done the same for others.
A New York broker conceived the idea while taking institutional treatment for drunkenness. While in Cleveland, O., on a business venture, which failed, he was ready to go on a binge. A random call to a minister for the name of an alcoholic with whom he might talk and work, sent him to a doctor just recovering from a drunk. Together, some five years ago, they worked out the program, gradually increased the group by their self-sacrificing service to other alcoholics. In 1939 they wrote the book “Alcoholics Anonymous,” which has been the guide for the work since.
Sincerity Required
The first step for any person to enter into the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, is a sincere desire to quit drinking. He must recognize that while others can drink or leave it alone, he is one of those individuals allergic to liquor, or to whom use of alcohol becomes a disease.
He then must believe in some Supreme Power. Not of any particular faith, for it is wholly nonsectarian; but that there is a power greater than himself.
He must make a searching moral inventory, admit his wrongs to himself and other persons, prepare to remove those shortcomings and make amends to those whom he has injured, insofar as possible.
Must Help Others
He must seek spiritual aid daily, keeping in mind his resolve to abstain from liquor in all forms. He must be ready at any time, day or night, to go to the aid of another alcoholic who needs his assistance in either quitting liquor, or staying off of it.
This program of mutual aid through a confession of wrongs probably is the longest step in the rejuvenation of the alcoholic, one of the oldest members in Evansville says.
When an alcoholic goes about to his friends and acquaintances confessing his misdeeds, paying for things pilfered, bad checks issued, bad accounts run up; apologizing for his misdeeds, he has given a moral peg to hang onto, says this man.
When he begins to assist others to quit drinking, citing his own ability to break the hold of liquor, he then assumes the responsibility of an example to restrain him from drinking again himself.
When the urge to return to drink becomes too great, he has brother alcoholics to turn to, understanding men who have been through the same trials, who have made the same apologetic excuses to drink, but know them to be nothing but excuses. He can unburden his troubles on that man who will care for and nurse him through a “binge” if he does “slide” again.
Liquor’s Grip Loosened
As the time rolls by he finds that his associates are persons who either don’t drink, or have joined in the fight to quit drinking, and thus the urge to drink again is minimized.
The meetings, held weekly, are further restraints to return to old habits. Alcoholics, he points out, are sociable persons as a rule. They like to talk and discuss their problems. At the meetings there is a freedom, an informal camaraderie, where each person feels perfectly free to discuss his former shortcomings, his futile fights with liquor, his remorse afterwards. He finds sympathetic and understanding ears of those who can match his tales with one as bad or worse.
The AAs are not prohibitionists. They serve liquor in their homes to friends who desire it; they drop into a bar with a friend and buy him a drink, taking a soft drink or coffee for themselves.
Courier To Aid Work
“We are a group of people,” explains one of the local leaders, “who has come to realize that with us liquor was a disease, that we couldn’t drink. Others can, but we can’t. We have joined together to aid each other in quitting. We are happy in the work. Happy to wake up each morning without remorse about what we did the night before. We fought the battle to drink and lost. We are fighting the battle to not drink and winning.”
(The local Alcoholics Anonymous have no mailing address. To accommodate those who might desire contact those in the fellowship, The Courier will forward mail to the proper person. Address Courier Editorial Department, Care Alcoholics Anonymous.)