Beyond a reasonable doubt, the typical active alcoholic simply drinks way too much every day and is intoxicated whenever and as often as he or she wishes, regardless of the consequences.  Their ever-present drunken ego joins the frolic and unconditionally releases him or her from that person’s moral standards:

“So, what if I collapsed into a stupor, vomiting on the kitchen floor or on my   spouse, or if I lost a job because I was drunk and lied about a contract. Divorce? You bet, she just didn’t understand nor did the kids and at last I can live without all their nagging and crying.”

Looking back, at some point, the active alcoholic may have entered a phase where this promise was made to a spouse, the kids or boss or judge, and perhaps made to all simultaneously:

“Never again will I drink.”

It was uttered with seriousness, perhaps it was really meant ... then.  The commitment may have lasted for a period, but too frequently, it was broken.

This is the reality of our alcoholism, a path as clear as can be.

The alcoholic may be aware of this reality but just can’t seem able or willing to quell its power and apparent inevitability.

The terrible fact is that he or she need not ride the car to the bottom of that canyon for he or she can get out of their “drunk-mobile” before it crashes and burns. Part of the tragedy is that the alcoholic probably knows that truth and nonetheless continues the ride down.

The Program’s sunshine tells us that all this horribleness can be stopped, eliminated from our lives. But it calls for drastic changes needed to reject the seductive calls of our alcohol-loving ego.

Make no mistake. Christ came because of the sinner ... we sin, always.  But He reaches out to us the sinners, to the downtrodden, to the prostitutes, the tax collectors. He offers His hand to assist us. At “the place of the Skull,” He reached for a thief hanging beside Him.

It’s said that Bill W and Dr. Bob, after they seemed to have found a way out of their own drunkenness, went to the hospitals in Akron and asked if there was “any patient who might be suffering from alcoholism”, and sure enough, they met and carried the Program’s message found in the Twelve Steps:  

Those steps cannot be clearer:

Steps 1,2 and 3-We’ve tried everything, we’re at the bottom, it’s “do something about it or die”. We turn to our Higher Power maybe not knowing what it is, but admitting that whatever it is, at a bare minimum, it - perhaps, maybe, dare I hope - will be “better for me” than the bottle.

Steps 4 through 10 provide a detailed step-by-step path to rid our minds and our darkness of the past, to remove it from our being, to make amends where appropriate and possible.

Eleven tells us not to sit on our fannies once we have “worked the Steps” for, as humans, we must recognize that we will always be attacked by our egos and risk returning to ego’s dark days. Step 11 calls us to rework the Steps, to deepen our reliance on a Higher Power who calls us to look for “that next right thing” in our daily lives.

And then comes Step 12 ... it politely says, don’t relax and feel comfortable with yourself...carry the good news. You found folks at the AA Clubhouse who responded to you when you reached out. Do the same for others in the same straits as you were.

It’s just as Christ always does for us...we reach for Him and His hand is there ... always  

Jim A, St X Noon, Springboro Noon, Wednesday