Page 286 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM 271
had tried everything from having me attend daily mass
at six a.m. to performing the most menial labor for his
charity patients. Why he bothered with me as long
as he did I shall never know, for he knew there was no
answer for me in medicine, and he, like all doctors of
his day, had been taught that the alcoholic was incur­
able and should be ignored. Doctors were advised to
attend patients who could be benefited by medicine.
With the alcoholic, they could only give temporary re­
lief and in the last stages not even that. It was a waste
of the doctors’ time and the patients’ money. Never­
theless, there were a few doctors who saw alcoholism
as a disease and felt that the alcoholic was a victim of
something over which he had no control. They had a
hunch that there must be an answer for these appar­
ently hopeless ones, somewhere. Fortunately for me,
my doctor was one of the enlightened.
And then, in the spring of 1939, a very remarkable
book was rolled off a New York press with the title
Alcoholics Anonymous. However, due to financial dif­
ficulties, the whole printing was, for a while, held
up and the book received no publicity nor, of course,
was it available in the stores, even if one knew it ex­
isted. But somehow my good doctor heard of this
book, and he also learned a little about the people re­
sponsible for its publication. He sent to New York for
a copy, and after reading it, he tucked it under his arm
and called on me. That call marked the turning point
in my life.
Until now, I had never been told that I was an alco­
holic. Few doctors will tell a hopeless patient that
there is no answer for him or for her. But this day my
doctor gave it to me straight and said, “People like