The Breeding Ground of Humility is the Back Seat of a Squad Car – Jack S.

About This Speaker Tape

37th Annual IN State Convention - 1990

Jack S. maps out a life spent in defiance from a youth spent trading gasoline coupons for whiskey at a filling station in Louisville to the 'cardboard jungle' of skid row. He describes the 'chilling vapors of loneliness' and the experience of living in freezer boxes to keep out the cold. The turning point arrives on August 21 1962 when his father brings a distinguished man named Jack to a saloon backroom to offer a hand. Jack S. dismantles the illusion of the 'social drinker' and the lie of the 'undisremembered,' arguing that sanity is only attained to the degree that one is honest. He frames his recovery not as a sudden miracle but as a result of a healthy fear of returning to the alley and emphasizes that the program is a family illness requiring a family-centered solution.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Jack S. opens with jokes about prostitutes and 'substituters'.
• 4:15 Discussion of the 'measuring stick' for old-timers and the age gap in early 60s AA.
• 8:30 Memories of the filling station at 4th and Central in Louisville and trading gas coupons for liquor.
• 12:45 The 'breeding ground of humility': the back seat of a squad car.
• 18:20 Laughter: The story of the wife in the devil suit.
• 24:10 Description of the 'cardboard jungle' and sleeping in freezer boxes.
• 31:00 The turning point: August 21, 1962, and the meeting with the first Jack.
• 36:40 First AA meeting experience and the encounter with Margaret B.
• 42:15 Discussion of Step 2 and the nature of defiance.
• 48:50 The relationship between honesty and sanity.
• 54:10 The 'snake' metaphor for the nature of alcohol.
• 58:00 Closing prayer: The Lord's Prayer.