March 19

March 19 – AM          Page 157, A Vision For You, Chapter 11

Hopelessness was written large on the man’s face as he replied, “Oh, but that’s no use.  Nothing would fix me.  I’m a goner.  The last three times, I got drunk on the way home from here.  I’m afraid to go out the door.  I can’t understand it.”
For an hour, the two friends told him about their drinking experiences.  Over and over, he would say:  “That’s me.  That’s me.  I drink like that.”
The man in the bed was told of the acute poisoning from which he suffered, how it deteriorates the body of an alcoholic and warps his mind.  There was much talk about the mental state preceding the first drink.
“Yes, that’s me,” said the sick man, “the very image.  You fellows know your stuff all right, but I don’t see what good it’ll do.  You fellows are somebody.  I was once, but I’m a nobody now.  From what you tell me, I know more than ever I can’t stop.”  At this both the visitors burst into a laugh.  Said the future Fellow Anonymous:  “Damn little to laugh about that I can see.”
The two friends spoke of their spiritual experience and told him about the course of action they carried out.

March 19 – PM          Page 34, More About Alcoholism, Chapter 3

As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could quit on our will power.  If anyone questions whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving liquor alone for one year.  If he is a real alcoholic and very far advanced, there is scant chance of success.  In the early days of our drinking we occasionally remained sober for a year or more, becoming serious drinkers again later.  Though you may be able to stop for a considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic.  We think few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year.  Some will be drunk the day after making their resolutions; most of them within a few weeks.