November 15

November 15 – AM          Page 12, Bill’s Story, Chapter 1

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea.  He said, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”
That statement hit me hard.  It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years.  I stood in the sunlight at last.
It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself.  Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.  I saw that growth could start from that point.  Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what I saw in my friend.  Would I have it?  Of course I would!
Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough.  At long last I saw, I felt, I believed.  Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes.  A new world came into view.

November 15 – PM          Page 147-148, To Employers, Chapter 10

After reading this book, a junior executive can go to such a man and say approximately this, “Look here, Ed.  Do you want to stop drinking or not?  You put me on the spot every time you get drunk.  It isn’t fair to me or the firm.  I have been learning something about alcoholism.  If you are an alcoholic, you are a mighty sick man.  You act like one.  The firm wants to help you get over it, and if you are interested, there is a way out.  If you take it, your past will be forgotten and the fact that you went for treatment will not be mentioned.  But if you cannot or will not stop drinking, I think you ought to resign.”
Your junior executive may not agree with the contents of our book.  He need not, and often should not show it to his alcoholic prospect.  But at least he will understand the problem and will no longer be misled by ordinary promises.  He will be able to take a position with such a man which is eminently fair and square.  He will have no further reason for covering up an alcoholic employee.
It boils right down to this:  No man should be fired just because he is alcoholic.  If he wants to stop, he should be afforded a real chance.  If he cannot or does not want to stop, he should be discharged.  The exceptions are few.