Step 6 and the Room for Improvement – Kent C.

About This Speaker Tape

1972, Sandusky, Ohio. A red pickup truck pulls into the driveway, and a short man in a red baseball hat recruits Kent’s brother for Ohio State. For years, Kent lived in that shadow, a "walking encyclopedia of perfectly useless information" who quoted scripture at Brownlee’s Tavern while his life savings lay on the bar. He describes himself as a parrot, addicted to approval and living quadruple lives to hide a hollow interior.

After 41 arrests and seven DUIs, Kent found the simplicity of the fellowship. He recalls the "rapacious creditor" of fear and the humbling lesson of the coffee locker, where an old-timer taught him that the fellowship doesn't want an autograph, but service. He reflects on the paradox of being raised in a home of strict spiritual principles only to ignore them until he hit bottom. Now, he stays "shoulder deep" in the program, relying on a Higher Power to do for him what he could never do for himself.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening prayer and the importance of a relationship with a Higher Power.
• 5:15 Laughter: Discussion on the tendency of alcoholics to 'out-bottom' each other in meetings.
• 12:40 The 'coffee locker' story: Herb B. assigns Kent his first service commitment.
• 18:20 Kent breaks down how the 12 Steps were mirrored in the spiritual principles taught by his parents.
• 25:10 The 'quadruple life' and the addiction to approval.
• 32:45 The tragedy of his brother's death in 1972 and the subsequent shift in his identity.
• 42:10 The 'alcohol equals success' realization and the first experience of 'ease and comfort'.
• 51:20 The 'penitentiary or the cemetery' ultimatum from his mother.
• 58:15 The cardiac event at 26 and the failure of the 'I'll never drink again' promise.
• 1:05:30 The 'moment of clarity' and the decision to enter treatment in May 1992.
• 1:12:10 The danger of 'untreated alcoholism' despite attending hundreds of meetings.
• 1:20:45 Emotional account of making amends to his mother before her death.