Sober 22 years since October 1946, Al started working in the Boston newspaper business as an office boy at 14 years old. He was in the business many years.
He drank for 20 years. Of those, 5 were good, 10 were daily drinking with understandable problems but the last 5 were all problems with periods of attempted abstinence.
When he finally came into AA, he was sure he was not an alcoholic. He was also sure that anyone with over a year was probably drinking but he would go along with the gag. After three months of meetings he finally knew he could never drink successfully.
He was sent to New York on a story and was standing in Time Square in front of a bar but knew the guys who were staying sober were doing it one day at a time. So he caught a cab to the airport and surprised everyone at the office by coming back still sober.
He got active in the AA Central Office in Boston
"I can't tell you the path to sobriety for anybody. I don't think there is any road map. I think its a matter of playing the thing by ear."
He then gives his take on the Steps and how he sees them now. He is a fundamentalist as far as AA is concerned. The principles that were in effect then are still good today.
He ends the talk with:
"I believe that there are two great powers at work.
I believe that there is the power of group therapy such as you see here and all over the world, night after night.
And I believe that there is the Power of God as you know him or as you come to understand him.
And if you let those two powers work for you and you do a little work for yourself, no harm can come to you."
(51 min) (11.9 MB) (id#1057)