dennisimoto Loc: Washington State (West)

The fellowship dates its start to June 10, 1935 so today marks 80 years officially. There are research results that say that the convention Dr. Bob went to, where he went on his last bender, happened at a different time of year but 6/10/35 works too. AA is not the only way folks get and stay sober but it's helped a lot of people and it showed the world that alcoholics could achieve long term sobriety at a time when the best medical and scientific minds believed that the only thing you could do to help an alcoholic was to lock them up and throw away the key.

CowboyMilt

There was a time when I considered myself a "drunk" but at least I didn't have to go to all those meetings...then came a time all my "waterholes" were gone & I found I didn't enjoy getting drunk every day...

carpenter patriot

Ya cowboy.....I thought I would always drink. Couldn't imagine not drinking. Now I just lost interest. Age has some benifites. I to was considered a drunk..... :oops: :thumbup:

dennisimoto Loc: Washington State (West)

90% of people who would answer "yes" if they were asked if they drank never spend 5 minutes in their whole lives wondering if there's anything wrong with their drinking. For the other 10%, it doesn't matter how much I drank, how often I drank or what I drank that made me different from my other drinking friends. It was what I did when I drank. If I'm having problems with the law, problems at work, or problems at home that are alcohol related, alcohol is the problem. For folks like me complete abstinence is the only option. Sadly, there are tons of people like me out there who will never figure that out.

When you hear about the guy who hit the station wagon full of kids head-on at 2:30 in the morning because he was Northbound in the Southbound lanes of the freeway, you think he "decided" to be there. It's a pretty sure bet that he's in an alcoholic blackout and does not even "know" that he is there. Non alcoholics make laws to regulate this behavior and they make perfect sense even to alcoholics but expecting that guy to make a rational decision using a brain that is "impaired" by alcohol is like expecting Usain Bolt to run a 10 second hundred yard dash with a cast on one leg.

"Drink responsibly" is on every 6-pack and every bottle of wine or liquor. It's called "CYA" or cover your a$$. Non alcoholics don't need to be told. They already do drink responsibly because they can. You can tell alcoholics that till you're blue in the face but if they drink at all they're going to drink irresponsibly because they can't drink responsibly. Big waste of print ink but it makes everyone feel as if the situation is handled because, "Well, we told them. If they didn't do it, it's not our fault."

dennisimoto Loc: Washington State (West)

Two old timers were waking up in Pioneer Square in Seattle one morning. One had been sleeping in a doorway and the other one in the gutter. The one in the doorway looks over at the one in the gutter and says, "Man! If my drinking ever gets that bad I'm going to have to do something about it!"

working class stiff Loc: N. Carolina

Good one.
AA is a very important group, or set of groups. I was able to stop drinking myself, but I know many whose lives were turned around by meetings. Nice of you to commemorate the group.