One-Sentence Third Step — If You Take This Drinking Problem I May Do a Little More Business with You – Jerry J.

About This Speaker Tape

Jerry Jones, a West Texas lawyer sober since January 1, 1973, speaks at the 6th Great Plains Roundup in Omaha. He opens with self-deprecating humor about lawyers and Al-Anon, then traces his journey from a homesteader's son who learned he had to be a man, a winner, and whatever others needed him to be. Alcohol became his relief from that accumulated pressure, and he rode a long slow descent while keeping his law practice, marriage, and outward respectability intact.

The middle of the tape is dominated by two extended parables. His childhood bulldog Patches kept grabbing hold of a neighbor's boar hog and getting his throat cut; tied to the water hydrant and counseled, Patches would heal and go right back for the hog. Jerry uses this to illustrate both the physical allergy and the mental obsession — the two-part nature of alcoholism. The second parable is his wife Billy going to Al-Anon against his furious objections, his terror that a client or partner would see her there, and his eighteen-month self-administered controlled drinking test that he never once passed.

On New Year's Eve 1972 he passed out at 5 p.m. and woke sick of himself. Hurling the 24-Hour book across the table, he prayed a one-sentence bargain: if you take this drinking problem, I may do more business with you. A man named David walked into his home group with six months sober and hooked him into real AA — meetings, steps, sponsorship, working with newcomers.

Jerry closes with the fishbowl story (the dip net, the three claps of thunder, flushing the offending fish), a Baptist couples retreat where a 32-year-old woman dying of cancer talked about gratitude while he rehearsed his own testimonial, and his mother teaching him to ride a bicycle in one hour by getting on it herself. What man has done, man can do — you are the message, and if you don't show gratitude by passing it on, you haven't practiced it.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Jerry Jones introduces himself, sober since January 1, 1973, thanks the Great Plains area
• 2:30 Al-Anon goes to hell joke — 'it's not hot and I'm not here'
• 5:30 Baptist minister, the tricycle, and 'praise Higher Power' — the power has to apply to me
• 9:00 1935 miracle, Dr. Silkworth's 2% recovery rate, thanking Higher Power they wrote the book
• 13:00 West Texas childhood — had to be a man, a winner, whatever others needed
• 17:00 Found relief in chemically altering reality — loved the irresponsibility of Friday nights
• 24:00 Patches the bulldog and the boar hog — physical allergy plus mental obsession
• 33:00 Billy joins Al-Anon, Jerry threatens her, and the controlled-drinking test begins
• 45:00 New Year's Eve 1972 passes out at 5 p.m., hurls 24-Hour book, first honest prayer
• 58:00 Fishbowl, dip net, and the three claps of thunder — recognizing self-centeredness
• 65:00 Baptist retreat, dying 32-year-old woman talking gratitude — 'ain't you got it tough, cowboy'
• 70:00 Mother on the bicycle — what man has done, man can do, you are the message