I stayed sober for two entire weeks! Then I pitched a "lulu"—a terrific drunken affair in which I became violently insane. I also landed in the City Jail. I don't know exactly what happened on this bender, but here are some things that did happen which I was told about subsequently. First, the officers who had come out to my house did not want to take me in—but I insisted! Also, I insisted that they wait in the living room while I went back to the bedroom and changed into my best and newest suit with socks and tie to match , so that I would look nice in jail!
I don't remember the ride downtown, but when I "came to" in the jail corridor, I didn't like the looks of the little cage they were shoving me into, so I took issue about that with three officers and indulged in some fisticuffs with all three of them at once—each one of them twice my size and armed with a gun and a blackjack. Now what kind of thinking and acting is that? If that isn't insanity, or absurd grandiosity, or some sort of mental illness, what is it?
Because I yelled so loud and made so much noise, I ended up downstairs under the concrete in a place they call "solitary. Two days later I was willing to try A. I called at the home of the man who started the A. As I look back, something must have happened to. Some forces must have been at work which I do not understand. But on those two days—between jail and A. I repeat, I don't know what it was.
Maybe I had made a "decision "—just a part of Step Three I had made lots of promises but never a decision —though it seems to me that I was at the time too confused and fogged up to make much of one. Maybe it was the guiding hand of God, or as we Baptists say the Holy Spirit. I like to think that it was just that, followed by my own attempt to take the Twelve Steps to recovery. Whatever it was, I have been in A. That was more than six years ago.
For example, instead of using our "will power," as everyone outside A. Another example: If twenty or thirty of us real drunks get away from home and meet in a clubroom downtown on Saturday night, the normal expectation is that all thirty of us will surely get roaring drunk, but it doesn't work out that way, does it?
Or talking about whiskey and old drinking days one would normally think is sure to raise a thirst, but it doesn't work that way either, does it? Into Action - pp. Working With Others - pp. To Wives - pp. The Family Afterward - pp. To Employers - pp. A Vision For You - pp. Personal Stories Appendices i. The A. Tradition - pp. Spiritual Experience - pp. The Medical View On A. The Lasker Award - pp. The Religious View on A.
How to Get in Touch With A. Twelve Concepts Short Form - pp. Big Book in ASL. A brief overview of the four editions of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
How the content outlining A. Earle was a very active member of AA throughout…. In this 67th episode, story number 7 in Part 2 of the Personal Stories section of the Second Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous published in As with the last story, the author…. Unlike many stories in the First and Second Editions of the Big Book, the author of this story is unknown.
We know from the story that he got sober in and was still sober…. Second Edition Big Book Stories. A British officer, this Irishman—that is, until brandy "retired" him. But this proved only a temporary setback. He survived to become a mainstay of A. I belonged to one of the Irish families who, more or less traditionally, sent their boys to the British armies. I had a very happy upbringing at home.
When I look back, I can't see anything that would have predisposed me towards being either a neurotic or a drunk. I went to a very good public school run by Jesuits. I got along well there. I was going to be sent to the Indian Civil Service, which, in those days, meant that people thought you had a certain amount of brains.
I was very fond of music. I was one of the star singers in the choir and one of the leading violins in the orchestra. I liked games. There was nothing in my school life that I can look back on which was responsible for anything that happened afterwards. Then I had a year in Germany at school—that was, incidentally, when I got drunk for the first time.
But that was just a mistake. I went out and drank some German wine and it went to my head. When I came back, I told the priest, the Chaplain of the place, exactly what I thought of him and he didn't like it. But I pointed out to him that as I was the first British boy who had been to the school, it wouldn't be a very good advertisement for him, so I got over that all right.
The term was nearly over and we parted on fairly friendly terms. The war was on and it was a fairly short course, about eight months. Up to that time, drinking didn't really mean anything to me at all. In fact, I couldn't have told you the difference between sherry and brandy. But as soon as I got out on my own in France, I started drinking. At first, like everybody else, I could keep control when I drank, but if I did start to drink, even in those days, I was always one of the last to leave the party.
When the war was over, we had about a year in Germany, occupying the place. When I came home to ordinary garrison life in England, I found that I was drinking rather more than most people of my age. It didn't worry me very much, because at that time I could shut off for a couple of months without taking a drink or even wanting one, and without feeling that I was giving anything up. I should say there was less drinking in the Army than I thought at that time.
Lots of the older people had taken to drinking quite a good deal more during the war, but the younger generation was, I think, about the same. In my own generation I stuck out, I can see that now, as being a very much heavier drinker than the average man.
But as long as you did your work and didn't disgrace yourself, you. I was still very fit and good at games. Then I went over again to Germany for four years on an occupation job.
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