Once upon a long time ago, there was a little girl
who laughed and played in the sunshine
and touched the flowers.
The little girl looked like everyone else
and talked like everyone else
and walked like everyone else.
But she didn't feel like everyone else.
The more and more the little girl
talked and walked like everyone else
the less and less she felt like everyone else.
She became very, very afraid.
One day
the little girl (who was growing bigger now)
saw a bright, shiny place made of glass.
It looked round and smooth and safe.
She went inside and it was warm.
She could see out of this place
and she could talk to people.
But she could not touch them.
the girl was almost happy.
But it was very lonely
because no one could touch her.
The girl grew bigger and older
and sometimes came out of her glass place.
Not very often, but sometimes.
Every time she did she would feel scared.
She would hurry back to where
it was smooth and round and safe.
The girl did many things.
And she still smiled and walked and talked
just like everyone else did.
But, she never never never felt
just like everyone else felt.
One day
her glass place wasn't smooth anymore.
It was still smooth on the outside
and no one could touch her.
But it was all cracked and jagged on the inside
and it was no longer warm.
Now the girl was very frightened.
She was no longer safe.
There were no corners to hide in
because her glass place was round
Now she wanted to get out of her glass place
but she could not find a door.
All the sides were cracked and sharp.
She could no longer see through them.
They cut her if she bumped into them.
The girl was frightened, very lonely.
She cried.
No one knew she was crying.
Her glass place looked so round and smooth
on the outside and there were so many little
cracks and sharp edges on the inside
that the wall was all cloudy.
No one could see her or hear her or touch her.
She was very sad.
She was so sad and so frightened
and so lonely and cried so much.
That one day
her glass placebroke all to pieces.
Even the smooth round outside part.
At first,
the girl was more frightened
than she had ever been before
in her whole life.
Then Someone touched her.
And then someone else touched her
And someone else.
And someone else.
And someone else.
And all these people helped the girl
walk over the broken sharp pieces
of her glass place to where they lived.
And it was safe and warm and open
with no sides at all.
And all the people
who helped the girl
Walked like she did.
And talked like she did.
And felt like she did.
And laughed
just like she had always wanted to.
And they all lived happily ever after,
one day at a time.
Published 1982
Written by my friend
Mary Greene
2.The Promises of Alcoholics Anonymous:
1. We are going to know a knew freedom and happiness.
2. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
3. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
4. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
5. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
6. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
7. Self-seeking will slip away.
8. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
9. Fear of people and economic security will leave us.
10. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
11. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
3. We read this at beginning of all meetings in Toronto.
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days that should be kept from fear and apprehension. One of these days is yesterday, with it mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall. The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and perhaps its poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does we have no stake in tomorrow, because it is as yet unborn. This leaves only one day - today! Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful enternities yesterday and tomorrow that we break down. It is not the experience of yesterday that drives us mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore live but one day at a time.
4. Fatal Crash
Alcohol-abstinence critic accused of DUI in fatal I-90 crash
The founder of a national movement that says problem drinkers can drink in moderation is accused of being drunk when the pickup she was driving the wrong way on Interstate 90 near Cle Elum crashed head-on into a second vehicle, killing a man and his 12-year-old daughter.
Audrey Kishline, 43, of Woodinville has been charged by the Kittitas County Prosecutor's office with two counts of vehicular homicide in the March 25 crash that killed a Grandview, Yakima County, man, Richard Davis, and his daughter, LaSchell.
Kishline, author of the book "Moderate Drinking," had a blood alcohol content of 0.26, more than three times the legal limit in Washington.
According to literature from Moderation Management, two of the group's tenets are "never drive while under the influence of alcohol" and "do not drink in a situation that would endanger yourself or others."
The accident and the subsequent intensive alcohol treatment she has undergone have made Kishline realize that "moderation management is nothing but alcoholics covering up their problem," her Seattle lawyer, John Crowley, said yesterday.....
To read entire article go to:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/booz17m_
5. Serenity Prayer in entirety 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,
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful 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 Niebuhr
6. 20/20 on Alcoholism
