Don’t Tell Me What You Know: Why I Belong to an Action-Based Group – Robbie W.

About This Speaker Tape

Robbie W. from Wildwood, New Jersey opens with infectious energy at the Lovelady Spiritual Jam, celebrating nearly 30 years of sobriety since October 31, 1983. He describes himself as a front-row, all-in member of AA who chairs a Friday night Big Book meeting and stays deeply active in service. He grew up in a healthy, loving Catholic family in Philadelphia with no dysfunction or abuse — he simply fell in love with alcohol the first time he drank at a Yes concert in eighth grade, and the relationship never stopped escalating.

His drinking progressed rapidly through senior week, a bank job where he embezzled to fund his drinking, and ultimately a year in prison at age 18 where he endured horrific abuse. Upon release, he drank immediately. He cycled through jails, rehabs, and mental hospitals before finally surrendering on October 31, 1983. Early sobriety was brutal — he was kicked out of a clubhouse at three months sober and sat on the porch ready to drink or die, until a pig farmer named Don C. took him home and showed him unconditional love.

The emotional center of the talk is Robbie's 2008 separation from his wife after years of abuse in the marriage. Despite 25 years of sobriety, he dropped from 225 to 150 pounds and didn't want to live anymore. His sponsor Johnny H. told him to keep speaking and keep walking. His friend Benny orchestrated a four-week intervention where a group of men surrounded him and said they were losing him. That circle of love saved his life. He closes with the parable of a dusty violin at auction — worthless until the master picks it up, cleans it, tightens the strings, and plays — drawing the parallel to what Higher Power and AA do with broken people.

Robbie's message is that the program works in fair weather and foul, that action beats knowledge, and that the relationships built through genuine AA membership become the lifeline when everything falls apart. He celebrates 25 years at his car dealership, where a three-time felon was hired on faith and never left.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction by Scott Flynn at the Lovelady Spiritual Jam; Robbie W. welcomed to podium
• 3:30 Robbie shares his sobriety date of October 31, 1983 and talks about his upcoming 30th anniversary cruise to Cozumel
• 8:00 Discusses being an applicable alcoholic — taking the program to the car dealership, to his daughter and her friends
• 12:00 Emotional account of 2008 separation from his wife after years of abuse in the marriage, dropping to 150 pounds
• 17:00 Sponsor Johnny H. tells him to keep speaking and walking through the pain at 25 years sober
• 20:00 Friend Benny orchestrates a four-week secret intervention — men surround him and say they are losing him
• 26:00 Drinking story begins: eighth grade Yes concert, projectile vomiting, Southern Comfort from the cap
• 33:00 Embezzling from the bank, FBI arrest, prison at 18 — shares that horrific things happened to him inside
• 42:00 Early sobriety: kicked out of clubhouse at 3 months, Don C. the pig farmer takes him home
• 53:00 Hired at car dealership 25 years ago as a three-time felon; closes with the parable of the master's violin