No Monopoly Great Hope New Freedom
February 16, 2009 by Mark
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
If there were someone who could offer you an answer to something you’d been suffering from for a long time and hadn’t yet found a way out, what would you say to them when they presented it to you?
From the foreword to the Second Edition of the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous;
“So far, upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we have made only a scratch. In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem in all its ramifications. Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly. Yet it is out great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom.”
Let’s see – you’ve been dying horribly for a long time, you’ve chased away all those who love you, no one has, up until now, told you there is a way to change, someone says “I have a way out,” and you tell them they’re lying to you. Or – you tell them no thanks. Better yet, you blast it across the globe by way of the Internet that the solution is a lie. People continue to die. You continue to fight the solution.
How does that make sense? Please, someone clue me in?
Oh yes, one more thing, did I mention you can have it – for free???
I think this is very common in newcomers and those who are still suffering. We need to remember, always, that it doesn’t just immediately make sense to the newcomer. We need to show them some empathy and compassion. Addiction is a manipulative disease that will lie to you and do anything it needs to stay alive. When your life has fallen apart sometimes it is very difficult to have faith or hope in anything.
Right on Jennifer… and thanks. But – what of those who have been around for some time and still do this?
Couldn’t agree more with Jennifer.
“we have made only a scratch” Perhaps the very nature of this illness means recovery will only ever be a reality for the few. Of course we should do everything in our power to make what we have available to others, unfortunatly this is a fatal illness and there may always be those who never find us or just cannot accept us or our message, regards Michael