A. A. DIGEST-Excerpts from Group Publications

[admin]

Grapevine, March '48

A. A. DIGEST-Excerpts from Group Publications

'Central Bulletin', Cleveland; "Take Care of That Cold! It's when you've got the sniffles and your back is aching and you feel that you're gonna die, when you search your mind for some remedy, that ye old time rock and rye recipe keeps edging into the forefront. Na! Na! Na! Don't touch that bottle. Get the thought out of your mind. Stop drooling! Load yourself up with lemon juice and orange juice and call a doctor. Tell him, if you value your sobriety, that you're an alcoholic so that he prescribes a non-alcoholic prescription."

'Alanews', Dubuque, Iowa: "Sitting at a meeting the other night, we looked at the crowd and we thought of our ladies. Memory took us back 20 years. Here were the flappers of the roaring '20s, those madcap, addlepated, hell-bent, tantalizing she-devils we chased over many a county line in our Model T's. Brother, if you think the pre-New Look skirts were short, you should have seen them in the 1920's. To us oldtimers, the New Look skirts are not much of a disguise. They remind us of prohibition. The joints are still there, just harder to find. But here were these same flappers, whom we once lovingly called our bungalow girls -- painted in front, shingled in back and nothing in the attic. When we bought the wedding license, they thought they had a through ticket to heaven. And then came the detours -- detours that led them through corridors of hell that even Dante couldn't describe. And yet, here they were, right beside us Thursday night. Rattle-brained ninnies? No morals? No stamina? No loyalty? God grant us another generation like the flappers of the 1920's!"

'The Brighter Side', Waterloo, Iowa: "These are the (12) Steps we took, which are suggested as a Program of Recovery. ... Many of us exclaimed, 'What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged! No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection."

'Thought Starter', Minneapolis, Minn.: "Consulting engineers employed to study defects in a big factory system usually make their notes on their first visit. They know that on later visits they will be less observant. The reason most of us are slow to correct our own faults or habits is that we have ceased to notice them."

'Weekly', Jefferson City (Mo.): "When everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks."

'Camel Club Chronicle', Marshalltown, Iowa: "Making friends reminds me of a little dog that trotted up to me wagging his tail as though he was genuinely happy to see me. I leaned over and patted him and he was overjoyed. I wondered just how many friends he made in a day, probably more than I make in a year; yet he had never read any books on psychology, but by the divine instinct, he was interested in people."

'Rope Yarn', Seamen's Club, New York City: "My Blarney lies over the sea. A sea of suds. That's the way it is. When we are hanging over a bar we are the most wonderful people in the world. What a sparkling wit we have! What wonderful repartee! After a few drinks, how brilliant we can be! It really is amazing how so much brains could be contained in one head! But next morning it appears more amazing still how such a headache could be contained in one head. Truly the way of the transgressor is hard, and this is most true of the poor drunk. But virtue actually can be its own reward and a clear head is the reward we get for being sober, and it is not the only one."

'The Screwball', Nacogdoches, Texas: "Don't be alarmed if you fail to catch the full vision of A.A. like a bolt from the blue. Was not your full-fledged plunge into the limbo of alcoholism a progressive business from an occasional social drink to absolute drunkenness? Wouldn't it be just as reasonable if your final, richer, more complete A.A. experience came about by easy stages -- from the first glimpse of the happy way to its ultimate fruition? ... One of the main reasons for anonymity in A.A. is that it helps those who need aid most. It also helps to keep the guy who decides to quit A.A. and go back to his old drinking ways from being pointed out as a 'bright and shining example' of A.A."

'The Paradox', Kansas City, Mo.: "Alcoholics Anonymous -- Analysis & Adjustment. To the explanation of the initials A.A., which we use to describe our association . . . we might well add the terms 'analysis' and 'adjustment'; for no matter what method we use to work out the solution of our problem those two factors are the basic elements in any success we may enjoy. To most of us the need for self analysis has been too apparent to go unrecognized, even if unheeded. ... A really honest session with ourselves is all the analysis we need and having come upon the facts, however distasteful they may be, we are better prepared than ever before to proceed with any necessary adjustments. The real and the lasting adjustment comes within ourselves and is predicated upon the more complete and realistic appraisal and understanding of our character that the searching analysis has produced."

'Alky Argot', Wisconsin Prison A.A. Fellowship: "Humility is the state or quality of being tolerant in spirit. It is to be free from pride and arrogance. It is the opposite of being conceited and vain. Psychiatric studies reveal that most alcoholics are introverts, that we bend and direct our thoughts within us. From this we see the importance of humility in our lives. Introverts are so wrapped up in their own likes and dislikes it is difficult for them to see two sides to any question."

'A.A. Tribune', Des Monies, Iowa: "Remember me writing several months ago about the fellow who came into the club and, told us, he wanted to resign? Well, the poor fellow, 78 times arrested last year for drunkenness, thought he didn't have any problem. To me that illustrates how twisted our thinking becomes -- we think we don't have a problem, and yet, on 78 occasions it was necessary to lock us up." ... 'A fellow in from New York this week who travels all the time; when he checks into a hotel he immediately sees the house physician and tells him if, during his stay he can help another drunk in the hotel, under the doctor's orders, that his room number is such and such and he's available for calls. So far, he's received great reception from the house doctors."

'Twelve Stepper', Omaha, Neb.: "Not so long ago, we had a complaint that someone had received very cold treatment at one of our Monday meetings. Is it possible that some of us have forgotten the agonies of that first meeting? Have we become so smug in our sobriety that we have no time to offer a word of cheer to a fellow sufferer? Remember, these are the people who could have been you had you not been fortunate enough to find A.A. And judge them not, for you must not forget they may be 'just a little more ill than you! Next time you see a stranger there, go up to him and extend your heart, and give him his chance, as you had yours. In order that someone accept the responsibility of hospitality, the board has asked that two people be appointed each Monday night to welcome strangers."

[admin]

Grapevine, April '48

A.A. Digest-Excerpts from Group Publications

'The Screwball', Nacogdoches, Texas-"Traditionally there are 13 steps to a hangman's platform, and sometimes an alcoholic winds up there because of a deed he commits while in a drunken stupor. While this statement isn't calculated to scare anyone, we would point out that there are just 12 Steps to a life full of happiness in the A.A. program."

'Weekly', Jefferson City, Mo.-"You will succeed better when you put the restless anxious side of affairs out of mind, and allow the restful side to live in your thoughts."

'The Paradox', Kansas City, Mo.-"The passing of the 24-hour periods of sobriety dims our memory of our first night at an A.A. meeting. Whether sponsored or on our own, we should not forget the self-consciousness, bewilderment and shyness with which we surveyed the meeting and its aftermath of fellowship and refreshments.
"Some of our strongest A.A. friendships began when a member walked up to us with a smile and outstretched hand and spent a few minutes making us feel at home.
"The people now coming to meetings are no different than we were -- a welcome gives them as big a lift as it gave us.
"Even though we're not natural born glad handers, we are masters of self assurance compared to the first nighter. They can easily be identified by their resemblance to our own selves on our introduction to the A.A. Program.
"Try it. It will help you, too!"

'A.A. Tribune', Des Moines, Iowa-"Every night I tell my youngster a story-usually it's about how I fought the Indians -- or how I sank a Jap submarine -- but here's one that's the truth. It has a strong lesson for me so I thought I'd pass it on. Recently an A.A. who flies his own plane landed in Des Moines and came right to the club. He had to fly on to Sioux Falls, S. D., on the day of our meeting, although he wanted to stay. He took off on the morning of the meeting but the control tower grounded him -- too much wind velocity. That gave him the opportunity to attend our evening meeting. During the meeting I was looking over my portfolio (an old shoe box that I keep for the club correspondence) and in it I found a letter from a lady at Grundy Center -- just one of those pitiful letters that we get all the time. This lady wanted us to write and have someone call on her father in Birmingham, Ala. And what do you know -- the flying member who was grounded was from Birmingham, Ala. I know it's easy to say that the wind velocity that grounded the flier, thus allowing him to attend the meeting, was coincidence, BUT I prefer to think it is something else. And, with a call that got a start like that one, I'll be willing to wager that the man will make A.A. Any takers?"

'A.A. Deacon', Victoria, B. C.-"There is not a member of A.A., who is really sincere, who has not had experiences which, looked upon in the proper light, cannot help but have a lesson to teach to someone. This lesson cannot be taught -- or learned -- if we continue to remain silent and only listen to the other fellow. Everyone must have some sort of an opinion and idea on the philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous -- if he hasn't he had better get one in a hurry -- and that idea or opinion will surely be of benefit to someone else. If we refuse to give these thoughts to others we are either being very selfish -- and selfishness can soon return us to drinking -- or we are hanging on to our original self-consciousness which is a result of the inferiority complex which originally had to do with the start of our problem, and if we continue to hang on to it and do nothing to rectify it we are very apt to be drinking again."

[admin]

Grapevine, May '48

A.A. Digest- Excerpts from Group Publications


'Camel Club Chronicle', Marshalltown, Iowa: "'We all know that A.A. is designed specifically for the alcoholic, but that other persons can and are helped by its teachings. Hence the A.A. wife and family are the first to feel the blessings and the greatness of the Program. To an A.A. wife it gives relief from fear and worry that is almost beyond words to express. However, I believe it is right to bring out that, in spite of all the fine tributes which are paid to the women who have stuck by their husbands through this trying period, she has usually become a quite neurotic person. I think you could almost describe her neurosis as "battle fatigue" and, like the soldier, she may have it even though she feels she is winning the battle at last. Consequently most wives need the Program as badly as their husbands and, moreover, they must believe in it if it is to really work for their husbands and for them."

'A.A. Rebound', Asheville, N. C.: "We have heard recent talk about A.A. Tradition and that we should study and familiarize ourselves with the 12 Points. There may be some who immediately view with alarm and look around inquiringly to ask, 'What's wrong?' There is nothing wrong. The ship is on an even keel. All is well. But do we recall our various school day (and later) vaccinations and their purpose? Well, that's what a study of the A.A. Tradition can be, preventive medicine. We owe it to ourselves and to the group to inoculate ourselves against any possible disease of disharmony or disunity. In knowledge we are forewarned and forearmed. The booklet of A.A. Tradition, properly absorbed, is a concrete vaccination."

'The Sahara', Birmingham, Ala.: "A good way to 'stay away from liquor,' as your friends advise, would be to go either to the North or South Pole. Any good member of Alcoholics Anonymous can buy a friend a drink and yet leave it alone himself. He does not stay away from social affairs to maintain sobriety, nor does he urge anyone else to leave liquor alone. Nor is he sanctimonious. At a party, he'll probably have more fun than you if you are a heavy drinker."