July 4

July 4 – AM

Page 104, To Wives, Chapter 8

WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, our book thus far has spoken of men.  But what we have said applies quite as much to women.  Our activities in behalf of women who drink are on the increase.  There is every evidence that women regain their health as readily as men if they try our suggestions.
But for every man who drinks others are involved—the wife who trembles in fear of the next debauch; the mother and father who see their son wasting away.
Among us are wives, relatives and friends whose problem has been solved, as well as some who have not yet found a happy solution.  We want the wives of Alcoholics Anonymous to address the wives of men who drink too much.  What they say will apply to nearly everyone bound by ties of blood or affection to an alcoholic.

*Written in 1939, when there were few women in A.A., this chapter assumes that the alcoholic in the home is likely to be the husband.  But many of the suggestions given here may be adapted to help the person who lives with a woman alcoholic—whether she is still drinking or is recovering in A.A.  A further source of help is noted on page 121.

July 4 – PM

Page 72, Into Action, Chapter 6

HAVING MADE our personal inventory, what shall we do about it?  We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path.  We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory.  Now these are about to be cast out.  This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.  This brings us to the Fifth Step in the program of recovery mentioned in the preceding chapter.