Chapter: Three
Page: 34
Step we are on: Step One
Subject: Potential Alcoholic
Good morning. We are are still in the Step One part of the Book. The co-authors are using the term "potential alcoholic" now for the third time.
Apparently there is such a creature, and ALL of us were one, at one time, BEFORE we became a 'real alcoholic'.
"Potential Alcoholic" is no mere semantic fluke of the Big Book then, is it?
(And to think: How many of us who, as children, were harangued by teachers and parents into thinking we might never amount to anything -- that we might never reach our "potential." Boy were they ever wrong. Ha!)
If you "get" what these recovered men and women are saying it is then easy to lose any notion that a human being can be "born an alcoholic" . You show me someone who cannot see the absurdity is that and I'll show you someone who hasn't understood what is is this book.
Potential - Capable of being, but not yet in being; possible but not actual.
-- The Winston Simplified Dictionary – 1938
- Can we be successful at staying away from drinking in the early stages of this malady?
In the early days of our drinking we occasionally remained sober for a year or more,
- But then what happens to us later on?
becoming serious drinkers again later.
- Can a "potential alcoholic" stop for any lenght of time?
Though you may be able to stop for a considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic.
That's a YES!
- Did the co-authors believe that very many real alcoholics seeking this book's spiritual solution had the ability to get "a year" under their belt?
We think few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year.
TOMORROW:
- Even though a real alcoholic may decide to quit for a year, how soon will most of them return to drinking?
- If a person can’t drink moderately, what is the question?
- What do they assume when they say that?
Peace & Love,
Danny S – RLRA
Real Live Recovered Alcoholic
http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com
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