PRIDE CAN KILL ME

LET GO OF OUR OLD IDEAS, THINGS, AND PEEPS

NEIL

"Some of us tried to hold onto our old ideas and the
result was nil until we let go absolutely." BB pg 58

At about 15 years sobriety I sat daily in a noon meeting. Every single day this old fellow Neil would read "How It Works" out of our Big Book. Except he did not read it. He had it memorized. He would start off with the book open, then make a big to-do about closing the book while he continued to recite the two-and-a-half pages, 58-59-60. He did make errors, but he did not know that. I did. He impressed many a newly sober person that way.

I remember thinking--judging--that Neil had an Ego problem. So did I. Pride was what defined him. So it was with me. Always when I have ever judged someone and found fault with them...it was my faults being mirrored and looking back at me from outside myself. Also I wondered how much time Neil had before he would drink again. That was NOT me!

Neil had been sober 21 years. He did get very angry one night, stormed out of the "cookie" meeting, and never came back. He lost his wife, his car, his truck, his boat, his business, his self-respect, his life. Yes, Neil died drunk. About 3 years after his meeting tirade. About 1992.

You might see why I look at Pride as my number one nemesis. You might understand why I consider Pride as my large defectiveness. I have other defects, find some each week. Pride is where a next drunk likely begins.

Soon after Neil went out drinking, we had a visitor--very young, very loud, very talkative, very alcoholic ("Thunderbird and Coolade is mah drink!") from Southern Alabama. He spoke that 'foreign language' which is heard in south Alabama, and which really quite beautifully rolls off the southern tongue. He was asked to read "How It Works" one afternoon.

Remember the word "nil". And remember the name "Neil". Here is what brought down the house, nobody could stop themselves from laughing.

The young boy quite innocently read this sentence from page 58 in our book "Alcoholics Anonymous", to sound like "Some of us tried ta hold onta are old idees and the result was NEIL 'til we let go absolutely." (And for Neil, the old ideas did not work--nor will they work for me!)

TRIVIA

Q. How many different poker hands are possible in a 52-card deck?

A. 2,598,960. If you dealt a hand every second, it would still take you more than a million years to play all the combinations.

Well, that's it, peeps, for now.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY--HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

Peace.
Love.
From Steve E

Trivia captured from L.M. Boyd's "Curiosity Shop" page 101