"men" in the Big Book

I fancied myself a leader, for had not the men of my battery given me a special token of appreciation?

We had long talks when I would still her forebodings by telling her that men of genius conceived their best projects when drunk; that the most majestic constructions of philosophic thought were so derived.

The papers reported men jumping to death from the towers of High Finance.

In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment.

I have since talked with scores of men who felt the same way.

God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.

The good doctor now sees many men who have such experiences.

I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities.

Business and professional men have regained their standing.

Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.

W e, of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill.

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men.

He can go anywhere on this earth where other free men may go

Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them.

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men.

The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book “Varieties of Religious Experience,’’ indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God.

Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, “Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing.”

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking.

We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.

our kind like other men.

Then he fell victim to a belief which practically every alcoholic has —that his long period of sobriety and self-discipline had qualified him to drink as other men.

Several of our crowd, men of thirty or less, had been drinking only a few years, but they found themselves as helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years.

I reasoned I was not so far advanced as most of you fellows, that I had been usually successful in licking my other personal problems, and that I would therefore be successful where you men failed.

One of these men, staff member of a worldrenowned hospital, recently made this statement to some of us: “What you say about the general hopelessness of the average alcoholic’s plight is, in my opinion, correct.

As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help.

It is open, we believe, to all men.

On one proposition, however, these men and women are strikingly agreed.

As a celebrated American statesman put it, “Let’s look at the record.’’ Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed.

Students of ancient history tell us that the intellect of men in those days was equal to the best of today.

In the realm of the material, men’s minds were fettered by superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas.

Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.

They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.

All men of faith have courage.

We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people.

Unwilling to be honest with these sympathetic men, we were honest with no one else.

Better men

The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track.

We have seen men get well whose families have not returned at all.

TO WIVES* W ith few exceptions, our book thus far has spoken of men.

There is every evidence that women regain their health as readily as men if they try our suggestions.

We want the wives of Alcoholics Anonymous to address the wives of men who drink too much.

Our loyalty and the desire that our husbands hold up their heads and be like other men have begotten all sorts of predicaments.

We have had retaliatory love affairs with other men.

Our friends have counseled chucking the men and we have done so with finality, only to be back in a little while hoping, always hoping.

Our men have sworn great solemn oaths that they were through drinking forever.

We seldom had friends at our homes, never knowing how or when the men of the house would appear.

How heartbreaking was this discovery; how cruel to be told they understood our men as we did not!

Sometimes we sensed dimly that we were dealing with sick men.

How could men who loved their wives and children be so unthinking, so callous, so cruel?

Could we have been so mistaken in the men we married?

Today most of our men are better husbands and fathers than ever before.

We realize some men are thoroughly bad-intentioned, that no amount of patience will make any difference.

He knows that thousands of men, much like himself, have recovered.

You would suppose that men in the fourth classifi­ cation would be quite hopeless, but that is not so.

Yet often such men had spectacular and powerful recoveries.

Some men have been so impaired by alcohol that they cannot stop.

Some men cannot or will not get over alcoholism.

The wives and children of such men suffer horribly, but not more than the men themselves.

You have been starving for his companionship, yet he spends long hours helping other men and their families.

Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases.

Alcohol is so sexually stimulating to some men that they have over-indulged.

He has hired and fired hundreds of men.

His present views ought to prove exceptionally useful to business men everywhere.

But let him tell you: I was at one time assistant manager of a corporation department employing sixty-six hundred men.

Here were three exceptional men lost to this world because I did not understand alcoholism as I do now.

I pointed out that I had had nothing to drink whatever for three years, and this in the face of difficulties that would have made nine out of ten men drink their heads off.

Seeing your attempt to understand and help, some men will try to take advantage of your kindness.

But there are many men who want to stop, and with them you can go far.

Wherever men are gathered together in business there will be rivalries and, arising out of these, a certain amount of office politics.

Men under them are frequently their friends.

So, for one reason or another, they cover these men, hoping matters will take a turn for the better.

It will permit the rehabilitation of good men.

Alcoholism may be causing your organization considerable damage in its waste of time, men and reputation.

Of course, this chapter refers to alcoholics, sick people, deranged men.

It may seem incredible that these men are to become happy, respected, and useful once more.

But what about his responsibilities—his family and the men who would die because they would not know how to get well, ah—yes, those other alcoholics?

These men later became co-founders of A.A. Bill’s story opens the text of this book; Dr. Bob’s heads the Story Section.

He entered a political campaign, making speeches, frequenting men’s gathering places of all sorts, often staying up all night.

He has helped other men recover, and is a power in the church from which he was long absent.

These men had found something brand new in life.

Seeing much of each other, scarce an evening passed that someone’s home did not shelter a little gathering of men and women, happy in their release, and constantly thinking how they might present their discovery to some newcomer.

The expression on the faces of the women, that indefinable something in the eyes of the men, the stimulating and electric atmosphere of the place, conspired to let him know that here was haven at last.

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