Vol. III No. 5January 1, 2018

A District 16 of Area 33 Publication

Publ icat ion produced and d i s t r ibuted by: BB, CD, CF, CW, DC, DM, DW, JC, JF, JH, JJ, JR, JR, JS, KH, KK, KM, LC, LF, LG, LJ, LN, LM,

w i t h o u t b o r d e r sa wo r l d t r av e l e r d ro p s i n to D i s t r i c t 1 6

Keep on Trudgin’ story and illustrations by MP

Once in recovery, I never thought that I would ever seriously consider taking a drink of alcohol. November 25th, 2016, I fell in the Dubai airport and broke my left hip. November 28, 2016, I flew from Hong Kong, China to Phoenix, Arizona to seek medical assistance with my broken hip. At the beginning of my Hong Kong to Seattle flight, I encountered an enormous crisis. I actually felt that if I did not pick up a drink of alcohol, I would not be able to survive, with any degree of sanity, the up-coming 12-hour flight. I felt that I was about to go mad with the nag-ging pain and the enormous physical discomfort of my broken hip. The thought occurred to me, “No one will ever know. Just one drink will give me relief from this pain and discomfort.” Think the drink. Play the tape all the way through. Be on guard for the unguarded moment. I firmly believe that if we are diligently working the program of A.A., and we have a considerable amount of sober time since our last drink, we have indeed acquired the power to choose not to drink. And after playing the tape all the way through, I did not take the first drink. We have two books, two Big Books if you will: The Holy Bible and The Big Book of Alcoholics Anony-mous. In the Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 30:19, God tells us, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” Biblical scholars teach that this verse tells us that God’s great gift to all of mankind is that we have been given the power of choice. This, the power of choice, is indeed God’s great gift to us. I feel that A.A.’s great gift to us is the gift of having the power to choose not to take a drink. Recently one of my closest A.A. friends and I were having dinner. I recounted the above story about my in-flight crisis and actually needing a drink. He

listened quietly and then, quoting the Big Book (page 43) he said, “The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.” He went on to say, “I don’t think I could have done what you did. When the urge to drink would hit me, I drank without thinking it through.” Bill Wilson wrote the A.A. Big Book back in the late 1930’s. At that time, no one in A.A. had the long term sobriety that some of us now have. Decades. Several decades. Many decades. The Big Book also states, “We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hope-less state of mind and body.” I feel that this recovery allows us the power of choice over alcohol. I believe, again with the proviso that if we are diligently working the program of A.A. and we have a considerable amount of sober time since our last drink, we have indeed acquired the power to choose not to drink. I add a final proviso. We have several realms of reality: physical, mental and spiritual. In the physical realm, we are NOT equal. I will never be able to run 100-yards in eleven seconds. At my stage of life, I can barely walk 100-yards. The decision of whether or not to pick up a drink falls into the mental and spiritual realms. In these realms, I believe, if one of us can achieve the power to choose not to drink, we all can. If I could choose not to pick up the drink on the above airline flight, all of us can make the same decision. If you doubt your power of choice over alcohol, let me be an example that you too can choose not to pick up a drink when, and if, that urge to drink seem-ingly overwhelms you. If I can … You can.

CC

BB, CD, CF, CW, DC, DM, DW, JC, JF, JH, JJ, JR, JR, JS, KH, KK, KM, LC, LF, LG, LJ, LN, LM, LP, LW, MD, MG, MJ, MR, MS, MT, MW, RS, RS, SS, TK, TM, VC, DY, JC, D16, AE, BB, JZ, KW, LF, MP, BB, CC, DM

a wo r l d t r av e l e r d ro p s i n to D i s t r i c t 1 6

You probably think that your drinking problem—the blackouts and binges and money spent—is unique to you, and that you are a spe-cial case, one of those ‘problem drinkers’ des-tined to, as you said, drink himself to death one way or another, sooner or later. This is not the case. You are what we in AA call a “garden va-riety drunk.” Me too. Most of us are such types. You are not unique, although you probably think you are. If you decide to ask for a sponsor and commit yourself to AA you will begin to understand and even accept that you are one of a large group of individuals for whom alcohol is poison. When I asked you if there is even a small part of you that “has a desire to stop drinking” you responded in the exact same way almost ev-ery man or woman of our type has responded initially. You said that you would like to be able to have a few drinks (like our friends and rela-tives) and then stop. You want to enjoy the pleasure and cama-raderie that come with drinking, and then stop, as most others can and do. Don’t we all. If you take the time to read the Big Book of Alcohol-ics Anonymous you will see this common mindset described eloquently and concisely. You and me are different from our friends, families and col-leagues: once we start drinking, we cannot stop drinking. Period. Why would we drink ourselves into black-outs and despondency if we had the choice to avoid that terror? Of course we would stop. Al-most all of us “problem drinkers” think we lack the willpower to stop at a few drinks, and there-fore lack of willpower is our problem. We are weak-willed creatures, and thus worthy of con-demnation by others and most forcefully by our-

selves. Thinkingthisway,wefightaninnerbattlein which we try somehow to fortify our wills so that the next time we drink, we will possess the will to stop drinking after a few drinks. And when we cannot, we condemn ourselves anew, repeat-ingthecycle,baffled,despondent,confused,de-jected, convinced that we are pitiful creatures, that we are fate-driven to self-destruction. So, what the hell, we’re hopeless. You are not weak; you have a disease that produces a craving for alcohol that only increas-es as you drink. We are different from others. See the passage from THE DOCTOR’S OPIN-ION. We “problem drinkers” often attribute our inability to stop at a few drinks to someone or something outside of ourselves, some aspect of our environment. Again, untrue. Our drinking problem lies with ourselves and ourselves alone. Let me share with you a personal story. When I was exactly your age, I thought there was no way I was an alcoholic. Well, in the pre-ceding years, I had had a few binges. A female bartender once called a cab to take me home because she saw that I was blitzed. Another time I was pulled over by the police while driving er-ratically from another bar. When I shared these stories with friends, they always said, “Well, once in a while it is o.k. to get wasted. It’s part of being an adult.” I was adept, as you said you are, at “sweeping it under the rug.” But we are different. We cannot stop. If even a small part of you genuinely wishes to stop drinking, then AA is for you. However, if you do not want to stop drinking, AA is a waste of time. Indeed, the Big Book of AA actually says as much.

BBAA of Detroit Wayne County: (313) 831-5550

AA of Greater Detroit: (877) 337-0611

Newsletter Staff: District16News@gmail.com

AA of Oakland County: (248) 332-3521

C O N T A C T

S e r v e i t u p

New Year’s Day Alcathon

An alcathon is a holiday refuge that offers friendship, fellowship, good food and sober company. It is a good time to ease off from the breakneck pace of daily life to chat at ease with your fellow sufferers. At one alca-thon, I had the opportunity to share my experience with a yet-to-be sober alcoholic. This is what I said...

“It is this publication’s mission to provide groups within District 16 a means to communicate and carry the message.”

B i g B o o k B i t s

An illness of this sort—and we have come to believe it an illness—involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all things worth while in life. (BB pg. 18)

$ 1 0 W o r d sOblivion (n): the state of being unaware or unconscious of what is happeningEx. Then a mental fog settled down ... So two bottles, and—oblivion. (BB Pg. 6)

Belladonna Treatment (n): the hourly dosage of a mixture of bel-ladonna, hyoscyamus and xanthox-ylum given every hour, day and night for about fifty hours

Ex. Under the so-called belladonna treatment my brain cleared. (BB Pg. 6)

W h a t ’ s h a p p e n i n gJANUARY 1, 2018The PRIMARY PURPOSE group will host a New Year’s Day Alcathon from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Starr Presby-terian Church located at 1717 13 Mile Road in Royal Oak. The main meal will be provided by the group, and the group encourages bringing a dish to pass for those who are able. For service opportunities, questions, or group donations, call Tom H. at (248) 219-9993.

JANUARY 2, 9, 16, 23The SOUTHFIELD GROUP will be hosting the AA beginner’s meetings BACK TO BASICS from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at St. David’s Episcopal Church located at 16200 West 12 Mile Road in Southfield. The meetings are de-signed for attendees to complete the 12 steps in 4 weeks. All individuals are welcome to these OPEN meetings.

JANUARY 25DISTRICT 16 will hold its 7:00 pm monthly meeting at United Methodist Church located at 246 East 11 Mile Road in Madison Heights. The meeting is open to all, and GENERAL SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES (GSRs) are encouraged to attend to represent their groups.

JANUARY 30The SOUTHFIELD GROUP will host a GUIDED MEDITATION MEETING at St. David’s Episcopal Church located at 16200 West 12 Mile Road in Southfield. The meeting begins at 6:30 pm.

Group Change: The NEW STEPHENSON group has split into 2 seperate groups: one that meets on Saturdays and the other that meets on Tuesdays. The Saturday group, now called the NEW STEPHENSON BIG BOOK STUDY meets at 8 pm at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church located at 814 N. Campbell in Royal Oak. The meeting is “open.” Come get your Big Book on.

New Group: The recently established WORKING WITH OTHERS group meets at 6:30 pm every Monday at Basha Open MRI building located at 30701 Woodward on the 2nd floor in Royal Oak. This is an “open” discussion meeting and all are welcome.