There
are times when I wish I were an alcoholic.
I mean I wish I were a member of
Alcoholics
Anonymous. The reason is that I consider
the AA
people the most charming in the world.
Such is my considered opinion. As a
journalist,
it has been my privilege to meet many
people who
are considered charming. I number among
my
friends stars and lesser lights on stage
and
cinema; writers are my daily diet; I know
ladies
and gentlemen of both political parties;
I have
been entertained in the White House; I've
broken
bread with kings, ambassadors and
ministers; and
I say that I would prefer an evening with
my AA
friends to any person I've indicated.
I asked myself why I considered so
charming these
alcoholic caterpillars who have found
their
butterfly wings in AA. There are more
reasons
than one, but I can name a few. The AA
people are
what they are, and they are what they
were,
because they are sensitive, imaginative,
possessed of a sense of humor, an
awareness of
the universal truth. They are sensitive,
which
means they are hurt easily, and that
helped them
become alcoholics. But when they found
their
restoration they are as sensitive as
ever;
responsive to the beauty and the truth
and eager
about the intangible glories of this
life. That
makes them charming companions.
They are possessed of a sense of
universal truth,
that is often new in their heart. This
fact that
this at-one moment with God's universe
had never
been awakened within them is the reason
they
drink. They have found a power greater
than
themselves which they diligently serve.
And that
gives them a charm that never was
elsewhere on
the land and sea; it makes you know that
God is
charming, because the AA people reflect
his mercy
and forgiveness.
They are imaginative, and that helped
make them
alcoholics. Some of them drank to flog
their
imaginations onto greater efforts. Others
guzzled
only to block out unendurable visions
that arose
in their imaginations. But when they
found their
restorations, their imagination is
responsive to
new incantations and their talk abounds
with
color and might, and that makes them
charming
companions, too.
They are possessed a sense of humor.
Even in
their cups they have known to be damnably
funny.
Often it was being forced to take
seriously the
little and mean things of life that made
them
seek their escape in the bottle. But when
they
found their restoration, their sense of
humor
finds a blessed freedom and they are able
to
laugh at themselves, the very height of
self-conquest.
Go to their meetings and listen to
their
laughter. At what are they laughing? At
ghoulish
memories over which weaker souls would
cringe in
useless remorse. And that makes them
wonderful
people to be with by candlelight."
And they are possessed of a sense of universal truth, that is
often a new thing in their heart. The fact that this 'at-one-ment'
with God's universe had never been awakened within them is
sometimes the reason they drank. They have found a power greater
than themselves which they diligently serve. And, that gives
them a charm that never was elsewhere on land and sea; it makes
you know that God himself is charming, because the AA people
reflect His mercy and forgiveness
by Fulton Oursler
© AA Grapevine, July 1944
reprinted © AA Grapevine, June 1959
originally Liberty Magazine, 1940
