We can do no great things..only small things with love.
					--Mother Teresa
 
"It was never in God's design to create us for a purely natural
life, even of the intellectual and moral order.  If, therefore, 
we lead a purely natural life, we miss the end for which we were
made. Though good as far as it goes, this sort of life can produce
only mediocre fruit which will satisfy neither the soul nor especially
the Creator Who expects fruit possessing definite qualities.
If we live such a natural life, we dwell not in the true light
of God, but in darkness."  -- Francis Libermann ("Living With God" pg 36)
 
"It's Hollywood--we all try to be something we're not, and most
of us succeed only in being something we outght not to be."
         --Edgar Rice burroughs (tarzan & The Lion Man, pg 83
 
“Are you willing to spend time studying the issues, making yourself 
aware, and then conveying that information to family and friends?” 
                                              —Ronald Reagan
 
"Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it."-Winston Churchill
 
"Merchants have no country."  --Thomas Jefferson
 
It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy
to love those close to us...Bring love into your home for this
is where our love for each other must start.
                                           - Mother Teresa
 
"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live,
the more convincing proofs I see of this truth --
that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow
cannot fall to the Ground without his Notice,
is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid?"
--Benjamin Franklin, to Colleagues at the Constitutional Convention
 
 "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
work,  instead of living on public assistance."
                                           -  Cicero   - 55 BC
 
".....most alcoholics are bankrupt idealists." - AA 12X12 pg 156
 
Semper Fidelis is Latin for "Always Faithful".  --US Marine motto
 
Our strength is often composed of the weakness that we're damned if
we are going to show.
                                         - Mignon McLaughlin
 
"He who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse
than himself."                            --Plato's Republic
 
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear....."
				--Old Tibetan Proverb
 
"In my experience, men go to far greater lengths to avoid what
they fear than to obtain what they desire.
                        --Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code pg 266)
 
"Conservatism is equality of opportunity,
not equality of results"  --Anon
 
"So you grow into your world, generation by gereration.
It's not walls and machinery, it's this tree you climbed
when you were little and that field your grandfather cleared
and yonder hilltop where youkissed your first girl.
Your poets have sung it, your artists have drawn it,
your history has happened on it, your forebears returned
their bones to its earth and you will too, you will too.
It is you and you are it.  you can no more give it away,
freely, than you could cut the heart our of your breast."
               --Poul Anderson (The People of the Wind)
 
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of 
servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, 
go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. 
Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your 
chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that 
ye were our countrymen."
                                               --Samuel Adams
 
"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it,
derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned
and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates,
their pleasure, and their blood."
--John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765
 
"A closed mind gathers no wisdom"    --Frank Clyburn
 
"It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his
views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not 
only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but
that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp
political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."
                                           --George Washington
 
"When the people fear their government, there is TYRANNY,
when the government fears the people, there is LIBERTY."
                                      --Thomas Jefferson
 
"Rome is the mob...he'll conjure magic for them and they'll be
distracted, and take away their freedom, and still they'll roar.
The beating heart of Rome is not the mob or the Senate, it's the
sand of the coliseum.  He'll bring them death and they'll love
him for it."
                                   --From the movie "Gladiator"
 
"The trouble with socialism is that it always runs out of other people's money"
                                      --Margaret Thatcher
 
"I have been made victorious through terror." 

                            -- Muhammad, founder of Islam
 
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from 
the government and I'm here to help."
                                         -Ronald Reagan
 
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little 
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
                                           --Ben Franklin
 
Meaning (for life) is found through service to another or to a cause
					--Viktor Frankl
 
Sobriety:  The ability to live comfortably, peacefully, and joyously with me....
                                                  --Chuck Chamberlin
 
"Some day cultural historians are going to look back on this time, and 
judge the actual effects (as opposed to the predicted effects, by folks 
like me) of the Too Big To Fail doctrine. What will it do to all those 
egalitarians who line up so regularly to vote Democratic? They have such 
faith in “everybody’s equal” (or “should be made so”), but their 
politicians keep proving that some people are more equal than others."
                                                  --Paul Jacob, Nov 2008
 
"I reckon no man ever dies who leaves a son or a daughter"
--Louis L'Amour (Hondo)
 
"The measure of this man's life can be found in his character, in his 
optimism, in his joy and humor, in his courage, in his passion for what 
was good and right, and in his love for God and family and neighbor and 
country. Tony Snow did not need a long life for us to measure. It was, 
rather, we who needed his life to be longer."
                     --Rev. David M. O'Connell at Tony Snow's funeral 
 
"A  liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, 
which debt he proposes to pay off with your money." 
                                            -G. Gordon Liddy
 
"Men may plan, they may dream and struggle,
but the buzzard has only to wait,
for all things come to him in the end."
           --Louis L'Amour (Reilly's Luck)
 
We make a living by what we get,
We make a life by what we give..
		--Winston Churchill
 
"It's easier to care about someone
after they are dead....."
                 -- Frank Clyburn
 
"The mind will only absorb
What the rear-end will allow..."
              --Charley and Joe
 
"A  government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the  support of Paul."
                                                - George Bernard Shaw
 
"Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you."
                                         --Matasgorda by Louis L'Amour
 
"It's good to feel useful in this old world.  To hit a 
lick against what's wrong or to say a word for what's right, 
even though you might get walloped for saying that word.  
I may sound like a Bible-beater yelling up a revival at a 
river-crossing camp meeting, but that don't change the truth 
none: there's right and there's wrong.  You've gotta do one 
or the other.  You do the one and you're living.  You do the 
other and you may be walking around, but your're dead as a 
beaver hat."
                   --John Wayne (as Davy Crockett in 'The Alamo')
 
"Foreign  aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor
people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries."              
                                              -Douglas Casey
 
"Do you know what it is that makes you so special?............
your unique and special quality is this:  When I'm around you, 
I'm happy." 
      -from "The Cat Who Walks Through Walls" by Rbt Heinlein

 
"...It' important to me that my fans will always come back 
because they know I won't be mean, I won't be small and like 
an old friend, I won't let them down."
                                              --John Wayne
 
"The further away a person is,
the easier it is to love them!"
              --Frank Clyburn
 
A man who is too afraid to die is too afraid to live...
                         --Clark Gable in "The Misfits" 
 
I used to feel very hurt if anyone gave me an angry look, 
  spoke in a harsh tone, or didn't speak at all.  I've 
  grown enough in Al-Anon to realize that the look, tone, 
  or mood of another person toward me often has nothing to 
  do with me.  It generally has more to do with what is 
  going on inside the other person.
So why do my feelings still get hurt?  It occurs to me 
  that my extreme sensitivity is a form of conceit--I 
  think I am the focus of everyone's actions.  Am I so 
  important that everything that goes on around me must 
  have something to do with me?  I suspect that attitude 
  reflects my vanity instead of reality.  And vanity is 
  simply a defect of character that I am working on changing.
		--Al-Anon, Courage to Change Pg 320
 
One Day At A Time......
 
      End Of The Rainbow
Weekends are a bit like rainbows;
they look good from a distance,
but disappear when you get close to them.
			--John S.
 
When you're up to your ass in alligators...,
It's hard to remember that your primary purpose was to
drain the swamp,
                           --Chuck LeClair
 
Life is....
10% of what happens to you
           and
90% of how you deal with it!
                  --Charlie Johnson
 
"Never does one have so fully, as when he gives to another."
                     --The Destroyer #28, Page 45
 
The most loving form of detachment I have found has been 
  forgiveness.....When I am consumed with negativity over 
  another person's behavior, I have lost my focus.  I 
  needn't tolerate what I consider unacceptable, but 
  wallowing in negativity will not alter the situation.  
If there is action to take, I am free to take it.  
  Where I am powerless to change the situation, I will 
  turn it over to my Higher Power.  By truly letting go, 
  I detach and forgive.
When my thoughts are full of bitterness, fear, self-pity, 
  and dreams of revenge, there is little room for love or 
  for the quiet voice of guidance within me.  I am willing 
  to love myself enough to admit that resentments hold me 
  back, and then I can let them go.  
	   --Al-Anon, Courage to Change pg 289
 
                   I Love You
I love you
  Not only for what you are,
  But for what I am when I am with you.
I love you
  For the part of me that you bring out,
I love you
  For putting your hand into my heaped-up heart
  And passing over all the foolish, weak things
  That you can't help dimly seeing there,
  And for drawing out into the light
  All the beautiful belongings that no one else
  Had looked quite far enough to find.
I love you
  Because you are helping me to make
  Of the lumber of my life not a tavern
  But a temple,
    Of my every day
      Not a reproach
        But a song........
 
  When I was a pup, I lived in a hut,
My father was a drunkard, my mother was a slut,
	And oh, my love, how the rains came down;
  We had not to eat, neither bread nor meat,
Not a rag for our sores, nor shoes for our feet,
	And oh, my love, how the rains came down;
  Take a fortune for your fee, it's no matter to me,
for last week I journeyed that hovel for to see,
	And oh, my love, how the rains came down;
  It was burnt to the ground; not a cinder to be found;
And I fell upon my knees, as I had a mortal wound,
	And oh, my love, how the rains came down!
		--from the book "All the stars a Stage"
 
I thought AA would teach me how to drink,
but I already knew how to drink.
AA taught me how to live.....
				--Anon
 
"Acts are supernaturally perfect according to the
measure of the supernatural sentiments which inspire
them. Whatever holiness our actions may contain is due
to the principle of grace adn to the inspiration of
Faith, Hope and Charity.  Therefore, in all these
virtues the soul unites itself to God. Herein lies the
good which virtues may contain."
      --Living With God, by Francis Libermann, pg 41
 
"If I didn't get my way yesterday it's a resentment.
If I'm not going to get my way tomorow it's a fear.
If I'm not getting my way today it's an anger."
                             --Tina H. - Al-Anon
 
"But I knew that folks can sometimes come to hate a man 
they owe; and as time went on they would find reasons for 
liking me less and less."  
                          --Louis L'Amour (Chancy)
 
"To ride fast, to travel far, these were empty things 
unless a man took the time to savor, to taste, to love, 
to simply be."  --Louis L'Amour (The Proving Trail)
 
"Those who conquer the crisis in their lives, 
do not retreat in disgrace.  Instead, they 
develop a tenacity born of the belief that 
their ordeal is not an end but a beginning...."
 
"Many meetings, many chances
Few meetings, few chances
No meetings, no chances..."
                    --Anon
 
"One who fears failure limits his activities.
Failure is only the opportunity
To intelligently begin again..."
 
Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect 
produced by alcohol.  The sensation is so elusive that, while 
they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differen-
tiate the true from the false.  To them, their alcoholic life 
seems the only normal one.  They are restless, irritable and 
discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease 
and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks--drinks 
which they see others taking with impunity.  After they have 
succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon 
of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of 
a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink 
again.  This is repeated over and over, and unless this person 
can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope 
of his recovery.  
			--The Doctor's Opinion pg xxvii  
			  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
"In life you're only living,
If you move forward...."
                    --Anon
 
An illness of this sort--and we have come to believe it an illness--
involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can.  If
a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or 
hurt.  But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there
goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life.  It en-
gulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's.  It brings misunder-
standing, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted 
friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad
wives and parents--anyone can increase the list....
				--There is a Solution pg 18
				  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
"It seems to me a man comes into this world with a little ready 
raw material--himself.  His folks can only give him a sort of 
push, and a mite of teaching, but in the long run what a man 
becomes is his own problem. There've always been hard times, 
there've always been wars and troubles--famine, disease, and 
such-like--and some folks are born with money, some with none.  
In the end it is up to the man what he becomes, and none of 
those other things matter.  In horses, dogs, and men it is 
character that counts."  
                               --Louis L'Amour (Chancy)
 
"Our very first problem is to accept our 
present circumstances as they are, 
ourselves as we are, 
and the people about us as they are...."
 
"An individual is not selfish because he 
pursues his own legitimate good, 
but rather because he lacks concern 
for the well-being of his fellows.  
The selfish individual lives 
and cares only for himself with 
no regard for the welfare 
and concern of others...."
                   --AA Grapevine Story
 
"Don't you know that real revolutions never work? Only
the fake ones.Turn the whole world topsy-turvy and every-
body gets hurt. But if it's well planned, you can make
a minor adjustment up at the top levels without dis-
turbing the machinery at all." 
               --Mankind On The Run by Gordon Dickson
 
"Who then can so softly bind up 
the wound of another,
as he who has had the same wound himself?"
		--Thomas Jefferson
 
The most lovable quality any human being can possess is 
tolerance....It is the vision that enables one to see 
things from another's viewpoint....It is the generosity 
that concedes to others the right to their own opinions 
and their own peculiarities.  It is the bigness that 
enables us to let people be happy in their own way, 
instead of our way.  
					--Anonymous
 
There is nothing wrong with your life 
that the removal of alcohol can't help 
but make better.
				--Anon
 
Our very first problem is to accept 
our present circumstances as they are, 
ourselves as we are, and the people 
about us as they are.....  
	      --As Bill Sees It pg 44
 
We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability 
to control our drinking.  We know that no real alcoholic 
ever regains control.  All of us felt at times that we were 
regaining control, but such intervals--usually brief--were 
inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time 
to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.  We are 
convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the 
grip of a progressive illness.  Over any considerable period 
we get worse, never better....  
			--More About Alcoholism pg 30  
			  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
I came - I came to - I came to believe....
 
"Guns and arrows may stop an army, but they cannot stop 
men and women with their dreams."  
                   --Louis L'Amour (The Proving Trail)
 
Once upon a time I was lonely, insecure and unloved.  
All those negatives were taken away.  I found a God 
to love me, I found Al-Anon and I found me.  
Once upon a time is now history.  
		 --The Forum, April, '92 pg 4
 
		Twelfth Step
If they're ready, you can't say anything wrong.
If they're not, you can't say anything right.
					--Anon
 
	    Insanity:
Doing the same thing over and over,
expecting different results.
 
"I have faith in a supreme being.  I don't believe in 
organized religion because ther are too many of them and I 
just don't think God could be so disorganized as to have 
that many churches all claiming His authority."
                                    --John Wayne
 
	MENTAL - SELF - WELLNESS

1.  Look at the problem
2.  Recognize what it's doing to me
3.  Decide what to do about it
4.  Act on my decision - Do something!
5.  Pat myself on the back & say 
    "I did it...I got it done!"
 
	SERENITY PRAYER
God, grant me the serenity to accept
 The things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
 And the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
 Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.
Taking as He did, this world as it is,
 Not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make
 All things right if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and
 Supremely happy with Him, forever, in the next
			--Reinhold Neibuhr, 1926
 
"We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, 
thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it.  
Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated 
out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere..."
				...AA pg 49
 
"If you don’t know where you came from 
you have a much harder time understanding 
where you wish to go in your life."
                          -- Frank Clyburn
 
'(There are).....those who prefer to vote for a living rather 
than work for a living"
                                   --Grover Norquist
 
"I respect the Mormans because they were the great pioneers, 
and I know John Ford respected them which is why he made 
"Wagonmaster".  The Mormons are fundamentally American, 
except they don't drink coffee or alcohol, which is a bad 
thing in my book and they don't smoke, which is a good thing."
                                   --John Wayne
 
Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, 
woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God.  It may be 
obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, 
but in some form or other it is there.  For Faith n a Power 
greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that 
power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.  pg 55  
					--We Agnostics  
					  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
Live and Let Live......
 
I will examine, with a sharp and honest eye, my own motives, 
 for I need to do a lot of straight thinking about my own 
 attitudes and actions.
If I am troubled, worried , exasperated or frustrated, 
 do I rationalize the situation and put the blame on someone else?  
Or can I honestly admit that I may be at fault?  My peace of mind 
depends on overcoming my negative attitudes.  I must try, day by day, 
to be honest with myself.  
				--Courage to Change Pg 130
 
There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear,
because fear involves punishment and the one who fears
is not perfected in love.
 				 --1.  John 4:18
 
"Whenever a civilization or society declines or perishes there is
always one condition present – they forgot where they came from."
                                    -- Carl Sandburg 
 
'A kiss--to you a little thing!
Yet I heard the angels sing.
The stars all fell from out the sky,
We cannot forget--my heart and I!'
           --Barbara Cartland (The Wicked Marquis)
 
The practicing alcoholic is the only person in the world
who can lie in the gutter and still look down on others.
 					 --Chuck LeClaire
 
When ready, we say something like this:  "My Creator, I am
now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.
I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of 
character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you
and my fellows.  Grant me strength, as I go out from here,
to do your bidding.  Amen."
				--Into Action pg 76
				  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
AA meetings are the jumper cables God uses to get love flowing 
from one alcoholic to another.
 					 --Anon
 
"You find that big people discuss ideals, average people discuss
things, and little people--they just talk about other people.
  --AA Big Book, second edition - There's Nothing The Matter....  
 
Sometimes I find myself so busy wondering what someone else 
is doing, and where and why, that my own thoughts create 
turmoil inside me.........I can change nothing but myself.  
Do I need changing?  If things are going wrong--or seem 
to be--maybe it's because of the way I'm reacting to them.  
If I accept the fact that the principal source of my unhappiness 
is in me, I'll be giving myself a good reason to do something 
about me.  It isn't easy--but the rewards are beyond reckoning!  
				--Courage to Change, pg 216
 
"So-called minority groups need to stop being in the minority 
and join the majority.  They shouldn't let what other people 
say keep them in the minority...
                                            --John Wayne
 
"God has never failed me,
but God yielded to my increasing
Self-reliance, stepped aside to
let me sow my wild oats of self-will
but hovered close at hand
looking for any welcome of
His guidance....."
		--AA Grapevine
		  Mar '91 pg 4
 
AA won't keep you from going to hell,
nor is it a ticket to heaven.
But it will keep you sober long enough
for you to decide where you want to go to.
 			 --Anon
 
Cessation of drinking is but the first step away from a highly 
strained, abnormal condition.  A doctor said to us, 
"Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife 
or child neurotic.  the entire family is, to some extent, ill."  
			  --The Family Afterward pg 122  
			    Alcoholics Anonymous
 
Alcohol is the great solvent:
It dissolves marriages, finances,
careers and health.
 			 --Letter to Ann Landers
 
Those who conquer the crisis's in their lives, 
do not retreat in disgrace.  Instead , 
they develop a tenacity born of the belief 
that their ordeal is not an end, but a beginning.... 
		--Winning Life's Toughest Battles
		  Dr. Julius Segal
 
The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost 
the power of choice in drink.  Our so-called will power becomes 
practically nonexistent.  We are unable, at certain times, to bring 
into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the 
suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago.  We are 
without defense against the first drink.  
				--There is a Solution pg 24
				  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
The evil I dimly perceive in myself
I try to stamp out in others.
 			 --Anon
 
(Jesus said) After this manner therefore pray ye:
"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  
Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into 
temptation, but deliver us from evil:"  for thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, and the glory forever.  Amen.
 
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, 
your heavenly Father will also forgive you;  
but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, 
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
			       --The Bible
 
God and Alcoholics Anonymous did for me what I couldn't do for myself....
 
The great fact is just this, and nothing less:  That we have had
deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our
whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's
universe.  The central fact of our lives today is the absolute 
certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives
in a way which is indeed miraculous.  He has commenced to accomplish
those things for us which we could never do ourselves.
					--There is a Solution pg 25
					  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
A Puritan is someone who is deathly afraid that someone, somewhere, is
having fun.
                                                --Anon
 
"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." 
                                            --Benjamin Franklin
 
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which
is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man
in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to
investigation."
						--Herbert Spencer
 
At the CROSS where I first saw the light,
The burden of my heart rolled away.
It was there by FAITH I received my sight,
And NOW I am happy all the day.
 
"Before AA I judged myself by my intentions,
while the world was judging me by my actions."
			--Bronzed Moccasins
  			  May '75 Grapevine
 
A bachelor is a selfish, undeserving guy who has cheated 
some woman out of a divorce.
                                      --Anon
 
No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate
A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues,
particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion.  
The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one.  Concerning such
matters they can express no views whatever.
					--Tradition ten, long form
					  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
I've seen "THINK, THINK, THINK" on the walls at 
some meetings.  For an alcoholic it would be more appropriate to 
have "FEEL, FEEL, FEEL" on the wall!
					 --Clearance Snyder
                                           a founder of AA
 
We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, 
else most of us will finally die alone.
					 --AA Big Book Pg 563
 
A city is a large community where people are lonesome together.
                                            --Anon
 
As the treatment progressed I began to get a picture of myself, 
of the temperament that had caused me so much trouble.  I had 
been hypersensitive, shy, idealistic.  My inability to accept 
the harsh realities of life had resulted in a disillusioned cynic, 
clothed in a protective armor against the world's misunderstanding.  
That armor had turned into prison walls, locking me in loneliness 
and fear.  All I had left was an iron determination to live my own 
life in spite of the alien world--and here I was, an inwardly 
frightened, outwardly defiant woman, who desperately needed a prop 
to keep going.
  Alcohol was that prop, and I didn't see how I could live without it....
  			  --Women Suffer Too, AA Big Book pg 226
 
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
                       --Anon
 
With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group should be responsible 
to no other authority than its own conscience.  But when its plans 
concern the welfare of neighboring groups also, those groups ought 
to be consulted.  and no group, regional committee, or individual
should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole 
without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board.  
On such issues our common welfare is paramount. 
 					--Tradition four, long form  
					  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
First Things First.....
 
  I went to a meeting to see for myself this group of freaks or bums 
who had dome this thing.....I went trembling into a house in Brooklyn
filled with strangers...and I found I had come home at last, to my 
own kind.....That was the beginning of a new life, a fuller life, 
a happier life than I had ever known or believed possible.  I had 
found friends, understanding friends who often knew what I was thinking 
and feeling better than I knew myself, and didn't allow me to retreat 
into my prison of loneliness and fear over a fancied slight or hurt. 
Talking things over with them, great floods of enlightenment showed me 
myself as I really was and I was like them.  We all had hundreds of 
character traits, of fears and phobias, likes and dislikes, in common. 
Suddenly I could accept myself, faults and all, as I was--for weren't 
we all like that?  And, accepting, I felt a new inner comfort, and 
the willingness and strength to do something about the traits I 
couldn't live with.
  It didn't stop there.  they knew what to do about those black abysses 
that yawned ready to swallow me when I felt depressed, or nervous.  
There was a concrete program, designed to secure the greatest possible 
inner security for us long-time escapists.  the feeling of impending 
disaster that had haunted me for years began to dissolve as I put into 
practice more and more of the Twelve Steps.  It worked!
 			 --Women Suffer Too, AA Big Book pg 228-229
 
"Our disease qualifies us for a 'club' where the initiation fees 
have been high, but where there are no dues other than love, 
Service, participation, involvement, and Carrying the message.'  
				--C.C. N Hollywood, CA  
				  May '79 Grapevine pg 23
 
Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of 
a great whole.  AA must continue to live or most of us will 
surely die.  Hence our common welfare comes first.  But individual 
welfare follows close afterward.	
 				--Tradition one (The Long Form)
			 	  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
"To escape the ravages of our disease, we must realize that we are 
all people who need people.  We say, "WE can do what I can't."  
We receive by giving.  
					--C.C.  N Hollywood, CA  
					  May '79 Grapevine pg 23
 
"In 'pastures green'? not always; 	
   sometimes He
Who knows best, in kindness
   leads me
In weary ways, where heavy
   shadows be.
And by 'still waters'?  no, not
   always so;
Oft times the heavy tempests 
   round me blow,
And o'er my soul the waves
   and billows go.
But when the storm beats
   loudest, and I cry
Aloud for help, the Master 
   stands by,
And whispers to my soul,
   Lo, it is I.'
So, where he leads me, I can
   safely go,
And in the blest hereafter I
   shall know
Why, in His wisdom, He has
   led me so.
	   --Author unknown
 
A person who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely
called a liberal.
                                            --Anon
 
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority--a loving 
God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.  
				--Tradition two-long form  
				  Alcoholics Anonymous
 
The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, 
from life itself.  As we became subjects of King Alcohol, 
shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is 
loneliness settled down.  It thickened, ever becoming blacker.  
Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding 
companionship and approval.  Momentarily we did--then would come 
oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous 
Four horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.  
					--AA Big Book pg 151
 
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism.
Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover.  Nor ought A.A.
membership ever depend upon money or conformity.  Any two or
three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call them-
selves an A.A. group, provided, that as a group, they have no other
affiliation.
			--Tradition three, long form
			--Alcoholics Anonymous
 
Accident: a condition in which presence of mind is good, 
but absence of body is better.
                                          --Anon
 
Once upon a time, there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not
to fly south for the winter.  However, soon after the weather turned
cold,the sparrow changed his mind and reluctantly started to fly south.
After a short time, ice began to form on his wings and he fell to
earth in a barnyard almost frozen.  A cow passed by and crapped on this
little bird and the sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure
warmed him and defrosted his wings.  Warm and happy the little sparrow
began to sing.  Just then, a large Tom cat came by and hearing the
chirping investigated the sounds.  As Old Tom cleared away the manure,
he found the chirping bird and promptly ate him.
....There are three morals to this story:
(1) Everyone who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
(2) Everyone who gets you out of shit is not necessarily your friend.
(3) If you are warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut.
 
A day for firm decisions!!!!! Or is it?
                          --Anon
 
Socialism - a state of mind where dissatisfied men and women wanted 
to share what harder working or more gifted people possessed.
                             --Zane Grey in Call of the Canyou 1924
 
"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive..."
                                               --Sir Walter Scott