Endigar 140
From the 12 x 12, Page 23:
When our membership was small, we dealt with “low-bottom cases” only. Many less desperate alcoholics tried A.A., but did not succeed because they could not make the admission of their hopelessness.
In the following years, this changed. Alcoholics who still had their health, their families, their jobs, and even two cars in the garage, began to recognize their alcoholism. As this trend grew, they were joined by young people who were scarcely more than potential alcoholics. How could people such as these take the First Step?
By going back in our own drinking histories, we showed them that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal progression.
A fatal progression. How much evidence must be accumulated before the mind confirms that it is not a mere habit. It can be gathered prior to being out of control. Consequences? The realization that controlled drinking is not satisfying? A spotlight shinning on that still, small voice whispering “not enough…more?” Once we gather evidence sufficient to see life and death, to leave the debate team behind, we have hit bottom. But some of us, from time to time, feel the need to do just a little bit more research and the file is re-opened. The list of things I haven’t done yet or that hasn’t happened to me yet becomes a reality.
This is where helping others is powerful. They have come in from recent field tests demonstrating that it still doesn’t work. This protects our minds from the insanity that grows in isolation.
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Daily Reprieve 
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