Growing Old Is Natural — Growing Up Is a Son of a B*tch 😂 – Jim L.

About This Speaker Tape

Jim L., sober since December 1976 and 86 years old at the time of this talk, delivers a deeply personal reflection on what the fellowship of AA means to him after more than four decades of sobriety. Rather than dwelling on his drinking story, he turns the focus outward — telling the audience that without them, he is nothing. He reads a passage from AA Comes of Age about the conditions necessary for true fellowship: a common ideal, a common task, and deep comradeship. He describes himself as a prime example of what the fellowship did for a vulgar, self-centered drunk found in a psychiatric hospital, accepted unconditionally, and told simply, "Jim, we understand."

Born in Ireland in 1934, Jim moved to Scotland with his mother in 1939 and lived through the war. At thirteen he left school to work three jobs to help his family survive. His parents secretly saved half his earnings and bought him passage on a Greek cattle boat to America in July 1952 — a crossing where he met a father and son who had survived Auschwitz, an encounter that profoundly shaped his worldview. He joined the Air Force to become a citizen, intending four years but serving twenty-four as a combat survival specialist through Vietnam, hiding his terror behind alcohol.

Jim speaks frankly about the crisis facing AA — rising alcoholism rates, declining membership, difficulty attracting younger generations — and urges the fellowship to remain open and adaptable. He enthusiastically endorses Zoom meetings as a blessing that has connected him with AA groups in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, France, and beyond. He stresses that the fellowship's primary purpose remains unchanged: unconditional acceptance of the still-suffering alcoholic. He closes with a Native American prayer asking for strength to fight his greatest enemy — himself — and a humbling poem about a pail of water, reminding everyone that no one is indispensable.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Joanne introduces the Blue Chip Speakers meeting and welcomes Jim as tonight's speaker
• 2:30 Jim opens with his sobriety date (December 1976), age (86), and reflects on how AA requires no proof of identity
• 5:00 Three things Jim loves about AA: sense of belonging, participation, and recognition
• 8:00 Reads passage from AA Comes of Age on the three conditions necessary for true fellowship
• 11:00 Describes the crisis of rising alcoholism rates and challenges the fellowship to keep doors open
• 14:00 Born in Ireland 1934, military career, Vietnam — alcoholism was worse than all of it combined
• 18:00 Discusses humility, sponsorship, and his belief that intensive work with another alcoholic is the only immunity from drinking
• 22:00 Closes with the Native American Great Spirit prayer and the pail of water poem about indispensability
• 25:00 Q&A begins — Jim tells the story of coming to America on a cattle boat and meeting Holocaust survivors
• 35:00 Jim shares his enthusiastic endorsement of Zoom meetings and their global impact on the fellowship