Aa history Lovers 2010 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page
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==================== BURNING DESIRE February 1959 Vol. 15 No. 9 From the Grass Roots A Minority of One
her
own opinion. I had a rather humbling experience not long ago and I am now aware,
I think, of a responsibility when I form an opinion . . . and a still greater
responsibility when I express it. It was humbling to realize in a moment of self-analysis that all too often my so-called opinion had been not so much an opinion as an expressed burning desire to be the vociferous voice of the minority, I further realized that all too often that minority consisted of one--myself. Therefore my so-called opinion, in all too many cases, was the expression of my own arrogant, dogmatic, opinionated self-confidence and the desire to take exception to and belittle any thought or idea that did not find its inception, in my own intellectual genius. Needless to say, the foregoing has given me much food for thought and I hope marks another milestone along my AA road to eventual growth. Phil W. Jackson Heights, New York ================= BURNING DESIRE January 1961 Vol. 17 No. 8 It Comes to Us
Those of us who were less disabled, were likely to parry, evade and brush off, even as I did. Then perhaps we kicked it around too, even as I did. But in the beginning and in the end, it was the fellowship that came to us when needed. It is a good thing to remember, once learned. After all these years of sobriety I am certainly grateful to the speaker who happened to say that "AA came to him." He learned that early in the game. He had only been sober nine months. This little experience, of great moment to me, may not have such an impact on others
but it served to show me for perhaps the first time that my whole approach to sobriety was negative. The fellowship came to me. Sobriety came to me. The only qualification for AA is the desire to stop drinking, a negative desire. I did not desire sobriety. I bumped into it through the love and understanding of the fellowship when it came to me as I was backing away from alcohol. And but for the guiding hand of AA, I would never have found sobriety, or serenity, or God as I understand Him. You cannot find things when you are backing up. It is when we slowly turn in the direction of the guiding hand which leads us, that our negative desire to stop drinking becomes the burning desire of a full heart and
determined mind and spirit, for a sober life of quality. It is as we turn, that
gratitude leads us to God as we understand Him, for that is what our guiding hand tells us. Anon. Cleveland, Ohio ========================= BURNING DESIRE February 1968 Vol. 24 No. 9 Durban Celebrates an AA Birthday A traveler from America reports on nineteen years of AA in South Africa [excerpt] When I sat alongside the bed, he pulled me close. Carefully, in words spoken from a shattered voice-box, he said, "Bob, I want to tell you something. For three years after I came to AA all those years ago, I tried every way I knew to find the Higher Power, so I could express my gratitude for my sobriety. But it wouldn't come. All my efforts to visualize God failed, and night after night I was frustrated and tortured by this burning desire to reach the God I knew was there. Then one night, quietly and without effort, I said, 'Thanks, pal' to Him, and that was that. Yesterday I looked death in the face, and I'm not afraid, because AA has taught me to accept what I cannot change. He'll take me in his
time; then I'll find the Object of my gratitude." Bob Mac. Sarasota, Florida ================== BURNING DESIRE October 1979 Vol. 36 No. 5 Surrender POWERLESS OVER ALCOHOL. . . LET GO AND LET GOD. . . [excerpt] As children, we get on a two wheeler for the first time and fall off. We are encouraged to get back on and try again. As students, we are urged to study harder, to do our best! On the athletic field, we are subjected to pep talks, urged to have "that burning desire to win" as my old high-school football coach used to repeat and repeat and repeat. (It had its effect; we went undefeated.)
Burning desire Thu Apr 15, 2010 "Dolores" Where does the phrase "burning desire" come from? Who used it first? At the beginning of meetings, one often hears the phrase used, "does anyone have a burning desire?" What does this really mean? as I often find it misused by some members to complain about other members.
From: hdmozart . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/2/2010 10:02:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII The next right thing - the earliest Grapevine article containing the entire phrase was: ================== August 1987 Vol. 44 No. 3 A Comrade In Odessa [excerpt] Suddenly, I remembered a neat idea I had heard at a meeting a few years back: there was a bulletin board in the hotel lobby for the posting of tour group itineraries. I hadn't seen any personal messages on it, and didn't even know if I would be breaking some Soviet law by doing so, but this trick had worked for another AA member once, and it seemed like the next right thing to do. S. C. Evanston, Illinois ==================
Grapevine articles: ================== November 1947 Vol. 4 No. 6 And a Mother Wins Back Her Son [excerpt] With that as a stepping stone, I am slowly building a structure in which I can live with myself. As the structure rises I find many of the bricks and stones are placed imperfectly and have to come out and be reset. I make mistakes, but I am soon aware of them and make an honest effort to rectify them. Many times I am not honest with myself. But when I am not, that which goes hand in hand with honesty--conscience--asserts itself immediately. And to live with myself I have
to do the right thing J.Y. Chicago, Illinois ================== March 1948 Vol. 4 No. 10 Friendly Follow-ups By Mail Help Newcomer Get Started (Following are excerpts from a letter from an A.A. to a new member with whom he had had several talks before she returned to her home in another city--another example of doing 12th Step work by mail.) [excerpt] The 50 per cent who want A.A. and make it stick right from the start prove that it isn't necessary to go through more hell. I think it proves also that this bunch considers from the start that it is his or her job to make A.A. work--NOT A.A.'s job. A.A. has already proved that it offers everything needed to make and
keep you sober--in 50,000 demonstrations including me and other A.A.s whose stories you have heard, including doctors, psychiatrists, clergymen, men, women, youngsters, oldsters, college professors and individuals who can barely read and write (at some stage that last includes all drunks!). The only requirement apparently is that you can feel pain--or worse, despair--and want to stop feeling it. Going back to the slippees: The 50 per cent who have slips after coming into A.A. don't realize fast enough, it seems to me (based on my two and one-half-year slip after reading the A.A. book but before I knew there were groups), that we got drunk on deeds, wrong acts, and that we get and stay sober on deeds, the kind that jibe with A.A. principles. I think that they think--and I thought--that some kind of magic has taken place and now you are wrapped in cellophane and can't be damaged. Lady, it only seems so! (It does seem so. I think that's because we go around only negatively charged--that is, just not doing wrong things and not positively doing right things. Bill McA. Manhattan, New York ======================= April 1948 Vol. 4 No. 11 Mail Call for All A. A.s at Home Or Abroad Ballyhoo" Viewed with Alarm
are
sure doing the right thing for A.A. when you publish articles like the one by J.F.H. that appeared in the February issue of The Grapevine. I view with some alarm the "ballyhoo" that is being made for A.A. Although nothing can hurt us, the continued effort to make A.A. a "by-word" is not good. Articles restating the plain simple purpose of A.A. as outlined in the "big book" are very good at this time. Keep up the good work! I'm on my way to seven years of A.A. sobriety and I can and will do all I can
for it because it saved me and has given me a new concept of life. W.O.R. Hoosick Falls, New York ================= December 1949 Vol. 6 No. 7 Mail Call MY husband has been a problem drinker since long before I knew him. Thanks to AA
he is today sober, clear headed, adjusting himself to a world that had seemed
alien to him without alcohol. I have always had faith in God, but I did not really know how to draw Him into
my daily life so that He would be a part of it. I really tried everything I could think of to get my husband either to stop drinking or at least to cut down on it. He got into worse and worse trouble. For a year he tried to stop drinking, but couldn't. Always (so he told me) he would think of the time when
he could drink again. Finally he lost his driver's license and sold our car, which had been our greatest pleasure, for we are both stone deaf, and have been from childhood. Sometimes I wonder how it happened that with me I could accept my deafness, but my husband could not. He rebelled against it. We both speak well, orally, and read the lips quite well.
and
maybe someone of you readers can help us, but while nearly all of the people have come to my husband for help in understanding the AA way of life, they have one by one reproached him for being so deeply religious, then gone to drink again while he stays sober. Is there something wrong in the way we talk to these
people that sends them away from us, when we try so hard to help them? We don't
know how others talk, for we cannot hear them, and trying to follow speeches is difficult unless they are talking to us directly. We would be glad to hear of someone with a problem similar to ours, who has worked it out. We wish to do the right thing by those who come to us for help, and not send them away empty-hearted. M.E.L. Brewer, Maine ============ April 1950 Vol. 6 No. 11 The Need for Prayer Is Great [excerpt] To pray I do not think I must conform to "time," "place," or "posture." Eloquence seems to be out of place and may savor of insincerity. My need should
rather be my eloquence. My shortcomings my recommendation. Simplicity the keynote. Ceremony does not attract me. I seek to pray for forgiveness for my daily faults, both of omission and commission. I pray for daily strength and power to do the right thing, for guidance, for strong faith that brings serenity. In this way, and only in this way, will I progress and allow the spirit of AA to possess me, rather than I merely possess it. O. S. Burwood, N. S. W. ================ June 1950 Vol. 7 No. 1 Is This Trip Necessary AA DAYTON
"The H-bomb hangs over us," says our editor friend. All humanity lives in the midst of alarms. Everything, except the right thing, has been tried. Mac Dayton, Ohio IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6845. . . . . . . . . . . . Montana - Georgia connection From: gvanrobinson . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/30/2010 2:48:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 14th National Archives Workshop Macon, Georgia Thurs. Sept. 23 - Sun. Sept. 26, 2010 http://aanationalarchivesworkshop.com/ I am excited to be traveling to Macon GA at the end of this month to attend the
14th Annual National AA Archives Workshop. What is also exciting is, at the end
of the event, I will have the opportunity to invite everyone there to come to Montana in 2011 to attend the 15th Annual version of the workshop. Believe it or not, there is some historical significance to this trip and to the
invitation. In August 1942 a fellow named James C. moved from Atlanta, GA to Billings, MT and made one of the initial contacts with Alcoholics Anonymous from the state of Montana. His letter was the first to discuss the possibility of starting an AA group in the state. In advance of my trip, I would be very interested in gathering as much information as I can about early AA in Georgia, especially the early groups in Atlanta. I know that Bill Wilson visited Atlanta on July 31 1942, just shortly before James C. moved. In fact James mentions meeting Bill in his letter to AA. Any information - ANY! - is welcome and greatly appreciated. Of particular interest is, of course, any information pertaining to James C. Thanks for any help received and we'll see you all in Macon, Sept. 23rd - 26th.
Area 40 Archivist
From: Jim . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/31/2010 9:24:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII This could be wrong, but I've been told that Barry L. wrote the foreword to the
Third Edition. --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, Tom Hickcox > The Fourth Edition of Alcoholics Anonymous has a preface and four forewords. > > Are there any hard data that show who the authors of these are? > I note that the Foreword to the Fourth Edition was immediately > changed, presumably as a result of the brouhaha from equating online > meetings with face to face meetings. I have no idea what the > approval process was for this change, which would be another question. > > So, please, what do the records show of the authors to the preface > and forewords? > > Tommy H in Baton Rouge > IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6847. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Irma Livoni letter of December 6 1941
From: planternva2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/31/2010 12:34:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Does anyone know the reason those people wanted to kick Irma out of the L. A. group? IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6848. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Irma Livoni letter of December 6 1941
From: Jim M . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/1/2010 5:25:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII The letter can be viewed here reproduced in html to look like the original to the best of my ability: http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory/irmal1941.html A few years ago, if my memory serves me correctly, the daughter or possibly the
grand daughter had the original letter in question. Most certainly, it was a family member who had the original letter at the time
of the email I received. I usually save all emails having to do with AA history,
but I have yet to locate the email I received from her. She emailed me because
she thought the letter might be of interest to me and to possibly post it on silkworth.net with her permission. She sent me a scanned copy of the letter she had in her possession and I did my best to duplicate it on silkworth.net in html format just as it appeared and the way it was typed out on the scanned copy. I have many back up copies of my web site done over the years and many emails to sift through. When and if I am able to locate it, I will post the original email
I received from the family member about the Irma Livoni letter that the family
member sent me. And as I mentioned, the letter can be viewed here reproduced in html to look like the original to the best of my ability: http://www.silkworth.net/aahistory/irmal1941.html Yours in service, Jim M,
http://www.silkworth.net/ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6849. . . . . . . . . . . . 1946 March of Time tonight (Sun. Sept. 5, 2010) From: BobR . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/5/2010 4:48:00 PM
Classic Movies is presenting the March of Time feature from 1946 on Alcoholics Anonymous
From: schaberg43 . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/5/2010 9:45:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII For an ongoing research project, I am trying to locate any and all information on a man named STERLING PARKER -- who accompanied the Wilsons to and from Akron
on their October, 1937 visit. He almost surely lived in New Jersey. Any information over and above that would be greatly appreciated. Best, Old Bill IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6851. . . . . . . . . . . . RE: 1946 March of Time tonight (Sun. Sept. 5, 2010) From: Chuck Parkhurst . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/6/2010 3:22:00 AM
Turner or available through any media. Can it be purchased from anyone, loaned from any AA service structure groups or libraries? Also, if anyone has feedback on the actual feature, that would be great. In Service with Gratitude, Chuck Parkhurst -----Original Message----- From: BobR Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2010 1:48 PM Subject: 1946 March of Time tonight (Sun. Sept. 5, 2010) If anyone happens to be up at 11 pm tonight EST (Sunday September 5) Turner Classic Movies is presenting the March of Time feature from 1946 on Alcoholics Anonymous
Book
From: lanhamcookj . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/6/2010 4:05:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From G.C. the moderator: I will defer to the experts on this, but surely the reference in the following question is not to a place called "Sterling," but to a printing of the Big Book
made for sale in the U.K. and those other parts of the world which used the British pound sterling as their official currency (instead of the U.S. dollar or the Mexican peso or Australian dollar or Indian rupee or whatever). See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_sterling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_silver One point raised in your question has me a bit curious. Did they in fact simply
use the plates from the U.S. version and keep the American spellings? Or did they re-set the type in the U.K. and convert to the British spelling of words? So for example, does your U.K. edition spell the word "color" or "colour"? "center" or "centre"? "defense" or "defence"? Etc. - - - - THE QUESTION: I have just bought a UK first edition, 2nd impression - printed in 1956 in Aylesbury, england. It mentions the Sterling area in a brief paragraph explaining how to contact AA and that the book was printed for distribution in the Sterling area acknowledging 'the American co-founders, the Alcoholic Foundation and General Service Head Quarters of New York. It's marked as a 14th
printing (1951) so I'm guessing they were able to use the plates for that edition ... I'm no expert on print! I'm aware of towns in the US called Sterling but can find nothing in the UK with that name - we have Stirling in Scotland but no Sterling .... anybody know anything about this and anybody know where Sterling is? - I'd love to get in touch with the local intergroup and/or archivist to find out some more - Help, anybody? IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6853. . . . . . . . . . . . AA''s birthday: Jim Burwell said June 15 for Dr. Bob''s last drink From: lanhamcookj . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/6/2010 4:32:00 PM
Jim-b-bbhistory1957, it's on the XA speakers website. There (15mins 40 secs) he clearly and unequivocally states that Dr. Bob's last drink was June the 15th 1935 - I've also heard (not sure where) somewhere that the only AMA convention being held at
Atlantic City in 1935 ended the week after June the 10th. I'm wondering why is AA's birthday always stated as June 10th? Any clues anybody? Yüklə 25,47 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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