Table of ContentsDecember Articles Online
About Grapevine |
Vol. 65 No. 7
Editor's NoteDear Readers, Stories about relapse — the subject of this month's special section — can be double-edged swords, as Betty L., author of "Just Visiting," points out. On the one hand, they offer proof that alcoholics can stop drinking and stay sober, even after years of chronic relapse. On the other, as Betty says of her own story, "it is also dangerous. I worry that a casual AA can take it as license to drink — imagining that he or she can always come back. None of us has that guarantee." The stories in this issue abound in hope. Looking at what's different about their recovery this time, the writers strive to pinpoint the attitudes and actions that helped them break the deadly cycle of relapse in order to help others. For the author of "On the Rebound," sober fourteen years, it is working the Steps and getting "rid of the shame of being me those feelings of worthlessness, self-pity, and other negative emotions that had led to my drinking again." For the author of "Wake Up Call," an ex-Marine who relapsed when "I bumped God out of my life and took control," it is realigning his will with God to avoid not only "the pain of my unmanageable life, but also that fi rst drink." For Betty, who came to AA for eighteen years before getting sober in 1990, it was "awakening from the last drunk and wanting, as I never had before, what AA has." The stories do not gloss over the fact that most alcoholics don't make it back after relapse, however. They remind us that we have "only a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition." Just when I am tempted to take them for granted, I am reminded again. As the writer of the letter "The Prodigal AA" says: "God and the Grapevine kept me sober for twenty years." If the magazine has been useful to you, I hope you will pass it on. Give a subscription to a newcomer or someone just coming back from a relapse. Or encourage your group to subscribe so it will be available to the alcoholic who might be on the verge of a relapse. It just might make the difference between staying sober and drinking for someone. In fellowship, |
