The Message of Experience
By Jim L.
Drug Rehab:
A derelict once staggered into a storefront
drug rehab meeting because there wasn’t
another warm place on the street where
he could get away from the cutting wind
without going back into the bus station
– the same bus station from which a
cop with a short fuse had just ejected
him. This drunk had been to meetings
– many meetings - before, and this
meeting looked no different. He
shuffled quietly over to get a cup of hot
coffee and resigned himself to the
prospect of sitting through one of
“those” meetings again.
This shell of a man was prepared one
more time to sit and listen and argue
about a Higher Power, which hadn’t
been particularly useful to him before,
and there was not much indication that
this “Higher Power” was going to do
much for him today, either. As some
old man sat in front and read the ritual
literature, this drunk sipped coffee and
looked interested. In front of him sat
another two or three denizens like
himself. One of them had draped his
jacket across the back of his chair, and
in the pocket of that jacket the newest
attendee saw clearly a partly-consumed
pint of whiskey. This drunk looked at
that bottle as the old man in the front
of the room droned on, “…Those who
do not recover are people who cannot
or will not give themselves to this simple
drug rehab program …”
He stared at that bottle and listened
to the words. The idea formed in his
halting thoughts that this is what he
had been doing for years now – coming
to meetings, listening to words, and
carrying with him in his mind that open
bottle waiting only for the words to stop,
and once the words stop the bottle is
open again. That was it. Sobriety was
limited to the time during this meeting
when the words were real and tangible,
but no more than that. Somehow this
seemed cleaner and clearer to him than
his years-long battle with “notdrinking.”
With that moment of clarity, the
journey toward sobriety began to
rumble forward. It may have been
unstoppable, but the drunk didn’t want
to stop it so he didn’t try to stop it. It
took him to one more geographic cure,
one more binge, and the help of people
whom he had met in the meetings who
were convinced that he really was trying
to sober up. These people took him to
one more drug rehab center. He started
one more program, and one more time
his defiance and his pride reared up.
These people told him that his
experience shows that he can’t sober up.
These people told him that he had to
learn to do what sober people told him
to do if he was to have any hope of
living. And that was enough.
He began to do what he was told to
do by these men and women. He didn’t
drink. He disliked the things he was
told, but did them anyway. He didn’t
drink. He got to a place where he was
furious with them all and was given the
choice to do what he was told or leave
them, so he stayed and did what he was
told. He didn’t drink. One day after
another, with tears and then with quiet
reflection and then laughter, he gave up
trying to figure it out. He finally
understood only one truth - that “this
simple drug rehab program” for himself was doing
what sober people told him to do.
Today, this sober drunk waits for
another derelict – another walking dead
man – to come to the store front door,
the clubhouse door, the hospital door
and see if there’s a pot of hot coffee.
There is only one message here, and it
is the message of experience. The
message is simple – there is hope. If
there is any evidence that the “Higher
Power” is here or that it will extend the
miracle of recovery to this walking dead
man, that evidence is the fellow or the
gal who’s pouring the coffee – and the
thousands of thousands of now-sober
friends – men and women and even
children - who all made the long, long
journey in their hearts and minds to
that front door seeking that cup of
coffee. The evidence is the presence of
all these lost folks who now extend to
one more lost seeker the hope of
recovery. They live today with the
assured confidence of those who know
recovery is possible, because they have
lived the miracle. Today – just today –
the evidence proves that even I can live
a miracle.
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