Page 279 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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264 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
did get a group started in Chicago; third, I decided I
must place this program above everything else, even
my family, because if I did not maintain my sobriety,
I would lose my family anyway. If I did not maintain
my sobriety, I would not have a job. If I did not main­
tain my sobriety, I would have no friends left. I had
few enough at that time.
The next day I went back to Chicago and started a
vigorous campaign among my so-called friends or
drinking companions. Their answer was always the
same: If they needed it at any time, they would surely
get in touch with me. I went to a minister and a doc­
tor whom I still knew, and they, in turn, asked me how
long I had been sober. When I told them six
weeks, they were polite and said that they would con­
tact me in case they had anyone with an alcoholic
problem.
Needless to say, it was a year or more before they
did contact me. On my trips back to Akron to get my
spirits recharged and to work with other alcoholics,
I would ask Dr. Bob about this delay and wonder just
what was wrong with me. He would invariably reply,
“When you are right and the time is right, Providence
will provide. You must always be willing and continue
to make contacts.”
A few months after I made my original trip to
Akron, I was feeling pretty cocky, and I didn’t think
my wife was treating me with proper respect, now that
I was an outstanding citizen. So I set out to get drunk
deliberately, just to teach her what she was missing.
A week later I had to get an old friend from Akron
to spend two days sobering me up. That was my les­
son, that one could not take the moral inventory and