Page 180 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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A VISION FOR YOU 159
church. He suffered horribly from his sprees, but it
seemed as if nothing could be done for him. He con­
sented, however, to go to the hospital, where he oc­
cupied the very room recently vacated by the lawyer.
He had three visitors. After a bit, he said, “The way
you fellows put this spiritual stuff makes sense. I’m
ready to do business. I guess the old folks were right
after all.” So one more was added to the Fellowship.
All this time our friend of the hotel lobby incident
remained in that town. He was there three months.
He now returned home, leaving behind his first ac­
quaintance, the lawyer and the devil-may-care chap.
These men had found something brand new in life.
Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if
they would remain sober, that motive became second­
ary. It was transcended by the happiness they found
in giving themselves for others. They shared their
homes, their slender resources, and gladly devoted
their spare hours to fellow-sufferers. They were will­
ing, by day or night, to place a new man in the hos­
pital and visit him afterward. They grew in numbers.
They experienced a few distressing failures, but in
those cases they made an effort to bring the man’s
family into a spiritual way of living, thus relieving
much worry and suffering.
A year and six months later these three had suc­
ceeded with seven more. 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. In addi­
tion to these casual get-togethers, it became customary
to set apart one night a week for a meeting to be at­