THE FIRST STEP

[janbear]

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bluidkiti
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Age: 44
Joined: 01 Dec 2005
Posts: 7079


Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 10:10 am Post subject: THE FIRST STEP

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THE FIRST STEP
The following is an Editorial from the Cleveland, Ohio Central Bulletin
dated December, 1942. The Central Bulletin was A.A.'s first newsletter and
according to many A.A. Historians, contained some of the best early writing
relating to recovery from alcoholism. This Editorial, one of a series on
the Twelve Steps, is about the First Step.
The First Step
Vol. l - No. 3 -- December 1942
When we became members of A.A., we admitted that we were powerless over
alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable.
This was the most important step in our getting dry. We had to admit
to ourselves that we were alcoholics. We had to recognize that all our
efforts to control our use of alcohol had failed. We had to recognize that
our periodic spells of not drinking had not given us the ability to control
the use of alcohol. We had to recognize that we could make our lives
manageable only when we had given up alcohol entirely.
Habits are tricky. They are the result of years of doing some thing
under certain conditions. They have associations that we often are not
aware of, which tend to lead us back to the path of that habit despite our
efforts. The Devil within us is the prompting of our nerves, which leads us
either to act without thinking or to think up excuses for denying the
lessons we have learned.
The single act of confession that made us dry is not enough to keep us
dry. The Devil within us prompts us anew in many mysterious ways. The
habit that prompts us is an unconscious body yearning, which calls now and
then for that "one little drink" that will line up the tracks for twenty
drinks and a blackout.
To stay dry we have to continue to recognize that we can escape
alcoholism only by not drinking.
Mental Reservations
There have been enough of us in the seven and a half years of A.A. who
have been tempted to believe that through A.A. one could regain control over
alcohol. The experiences of those thus tempted have been tragic.
Some men have had difficulty at the start, because they never really
admitted that they were powerless over alcohol. They had a mental
reservation. They kept debating with themselves and finally reached the
wrong answer.
But some men get into difficulty long after they think that their
troubles are over. They work hard. They pray. They attend meetings and
work with new candidates. But the Devil of old habit, sleeping in the nerve
cells, sneaks up on them and begins to whisper that they have themselves
under control and it would be all right to take a drink now and then.
When a man tells himself "I know I can take a drink right now and
nothing will happen," his old habits and body yearnings are prompting him to
think dangerous thoughts.
That is the seed of disaster. Call the roll of those you know who have
had to have this bitter experience of learning all over again that they were
powerless over alcohol.
No Respecter of Geography
Strange too, how some members sometimes get the notion that because
they have gone off to another city that the rules no longer apply. They
couldn't drink in Cleveland, but they think it would be all right in New
York or Chicago or Detroit or Akron! Of course we are just as powerless
away from home as at home. Devil habit may prompt us to forget that first
lesson and may whisper in our ear that "no one will know!" Well, call the
roll, here too.
Wherever we are and regardless of the passage of time, we are
alcoholics. We are powerless over alcohol. We cannot use alcohol and
successfully manage our lives.
We learned that painfully. But our whiskey-hungry nerve cells have sly
ways of working on the mind. If we yield, disaster awaits us.
That first step is important always: at the beginning, after the
passage of time; at home and away from home. We are powerless over alcohol.

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_________________
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K.
"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
God says that each of us is worth loving.
We stay sober together - one day at a time!