I do not know a family that does not have a family member or a relative who is not an alcoholic.
A member of Alcoholics Anonymous once sent columnist Ann Landers the following:
We drank for happiness and we became unhappy.
We drank for joy and we became miserable.
We drank for sociability and we became argumentative.
We drank for sophistication and we became obnoxious.
We drank for friendship and we made enemies.
We drank for sleep and we awakened without rest.
We drank for strength and we felt weak.
We drank “medicinally” and we acquired health problems.
We drank for relaxation and we got the shakes.
We drank for bravery and we became afraid.
We drank for confidence and we became doubtful.
We drank to make conversation easier and we slurred our speech.
We drank to feel heavenly and we ended up feeling like hell.
We drank to forget and we were forever haunted.
We drank for freedom and we became slaves.
We drank to erase our problems and we saw them multiply.
We drank to cope with life and we invited death.
A gentleman emailed me one day to say that it had been exactly ONE YEAR since I had published the above article in Treats for the Soul. He told me that he was an alcoholic. He emailed me to thank me for publishing the article. He was celebrating ONE YEAR of sobriety after he had read the article.
Who do YOU know that YOU can pass this article along to so that they too can enjoy being sober?
I ASKED GOD TO PROTECT ME FROM MY ENEMIES….AND I STARTED LOSING FRIENDS!
