Paul was a professional athlete whose career was curtailed by injury at the age of 22. As sportsmen do when their career ends when most people's are beginning he was confused to say the least.
He had no education having left school at 14 to give full-time to his 'sport'. His family, working class and immigrant had acquiesced in this as he was their calling card for upward mobility.
Paul then in a burst of late adolesence began to 'live'.
It was the 60s and it wasn't long before sex, drink and drugs
became his staple diet of escape from the reality of having no job
no education and a sporing fame which which was rapidly losing currency.
A day at a time he continued on his self-destructive path
of believing his drink and drugs were escape, only later to find
ot they were his imprisonment.
So, let's cut to the chase as this is a blog. Paul finds AA in the US of A, the land of la la belief systems. Christopher Hitchens refers to it AA as "a quasi cult" filled with "church basement babble,"
After a hesitant start, over the next decade his life is transformed
in an extrodinary volte face. He marries, his childen are beautiful and go to top universities and all he has done is not take a drink or a drug one day at a time.
But Paul, with a good brain, (he never should have been a sports man) , over time decides this
self help group, AA, is full of nonsensical beliefs, if he goes to a meeting and 'speaks up' about
AA being no more than' group therapy', he is almost drummed out by the 'church elders'
If he voices his belief that a 'higher power' is a nonsense, there are few who will talk to him.
If he asserts that alcoholism is not a 'diesease', but a 'dependancy' like jam on your bread, he gets short shrift.
Paul no longer goes to 'meetings' but is deeply appreciative to this 'group therapy' that is AA
for really changing his life for the better.
Sometimes I look at Paul and am quite envious of the success he has made of his life, and as someone who has never had a
drink/drug problem, I rather yearn at times to have been one of
those people with a 'problem' who could take hold of the opportunity to transform their lives.
He had no education having left school at 14 to give full-time to his 'sport'. His family, working class and immigrant had acquiesced in this as he was their calling card for upward mobility.
Paul then in a burst of late adolesence began to 'live'.
It was the 60s and it wasn't long before sex, drink and drugs
became his staple diet of escape from the reality of having no job
no education and a sporing fame which which was rapidly losing currency.
A day at a time he continued on his self-destructive path
of believing his drink and drugs were escape, only later to find
ot they were his imprisonment.
So, let's cut to the chase as this is a blog. Paul finds AA in the US of A, the land of la la belief systems. Christopher Hitchens refers to it AA as "a quasi cult" filled with "church basement babble,"
After a hesitant start, over the next decade his life is transformed
in an extrodinary volte face. He marries, his childen are beautiful and go to top universities and all he has done is not take a drink or a drug one day at a time.
But Paul, with a good brain, (he never should have been a sports man) , over time decides this
self help group, AA, is full of nonsensical beliefs, if he goes to a meeting and 'speaks up' about
AA being no more than' group therapy', he is almost drummed out by the 'church elders'
If he voices his belief that a 'higher power' is a nonsense, there are few who will talk to him.
If he asserts that alcoholism is not a 'diesease', but a 'dependancy' like jam on your bread, he gets short shrift.
Paul no longer goes to 'meetings' but is deeply appreciative to this 'group therapy' that is AA
for really changing his life for the better.
Sometimes I look at Paul and am quite envious of the success he has made of his life, and as someone who has never had a
drink/drug problem, I rather yearn at times to have been one of
those people with a 'problem' who could take hold of the opportunity to transform their lives.
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