The Disease That Progressed Even in Sobriety – Gene D.

About This Speaker Tape

Pacific Group - 1990

A lifelong struggle with the 'foreign language' of formal education leads Gene D. to find salvation in the practical gritty application of the steps. He recalls the wreckage of a 70-cent flophouse in Chicago—a room where he once barricaded the door and lived in terror—as the ultimate deterrent against a first drink. Between stories of enlistment with a fake certificate and a wild bender that ended in an Amish colony in Iowa Gene D. argues that recovery isn't a classroom exercise but a lived experience. He finds a new definition of 'gusto' through a beer commercial deciding that sobriety is the only way to actually grab all the living he can. The tape shifts into a series of birthday celebrations at the Pacific Group where members like Bill M. and Jen G. share their own histories of alienation and the relief of the fifth step.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Gene D. defines alcoholism based on the Big Book's third chapter.
• 5:15 Laughter: Gene D.'s stories about his failed Spanish classes and fake military enlistment.
• 10:40 Gene D. discusses the necessity of practical experience over formal education in the steps.
• 18:20 Gene D.'s realization of 'gusto' and the decision to live life clean and sober.
• 24:10 The horror of the Chicago flophouse and the role of Bob L. in saving him.
• 31:15 Story of the bender that ended in an Amish colony in Iowa.
• 38:40 The struggle with sponsorship and the demand for total submission for one year.
• 45:10 Discussion of the 'dilemma' and the nature of guilt on Skid Row.
• 52:30 Bill M. shares his experience with alienation and the relief of the fifth step.
• 61:10 Jen G. discusses the 'hideous burning' and the isolation of the housewife alcoholic.
• 72:00 Applause: A long sequence of sobriety birthday cakes and gratitude.