He Accepted the Disease Concept as an Excuse – Tom F.

About This Speaker Tape

MD Young People - 1991

Born into a dock-working neighborhood in Baltimore Tom F. spent years chasing money and prestige to erase the humiliation of childhood shoes with holes in them. He describes his drinking as a series of 'celestial trips' that eventually led to a dead end where he was fired divorced and certified 'nuts' by a psychiatrist. After a stint in a hospital ward he describes as a 'mixed nut' bag Tom found a home group where he felt like just another pea in a pot. He credits his recovery to a sponsor named Wally W. who 'tricked' him into the steps by equating the postponement of the steps with the postponement of his own life. Tom views his divorce not as a failure but as 'spiritual surgery' and maintains his sobriety through a daily practice of prayer and service including taking meetings into institutions.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Tom F. opens with his background in the Baltimore docks and childhood poverty.
• 3:15 Laughter: The 'celestial' stages of drinking and the 'man for all seasons'.
• 7:40 Tom describes the 'fear of the unknown' and the hopelessness of his final days of drinking.
• 10:20 The 'nut house' experience and the realization that he was not an observer but a patient.
• 14:10 Finding the 'Magothy 12 and 12' home group and feeling like a 'pea in the middle of the pot'.
• 18:30 Tom's first experience taking a meeting into an institution and seeing the 'John Wayne bracelets'.
• 21:45 Sponsorship: How Wally W. 'tricked' him into working the 12 Steps.
• 25:10 The lesson on the 'three-foot-high' Higher Power vs. 'six-foot-high' guilt.
• 28:40 Step 9: Describing the 'spiritual surgery' of his divorce and the process of making amends.
• 32:15 The 'Pink Cloud' and the metaphor of waiting for the bus with Hal H.
• 35:00 Experience with the Serenity Prayer while spending a week in Baltimore City Jail.
• 38:20 Closing thoughts on the purpose of prayer and the quote from Al G.