The Immunity That Comes from Intensive Work With Others – Robbie W.

Thank you so much, Lovie. Good evening, Main Purpose Group and friends from throughout the world. Isn't Zoom amazing, huh? My name is Robbie, and I'm a recovered alcoholic. I want to especially say hi to the Sullivan Center out there in Ontario, Canada. Wave your hand, Sullivan Center. Let us know you're listening. And there you go. My buddy Jay said that you guys are going to be popping in, so great to see you. My permanent sobriety date is October 31st of 1983, right? And my home group is the Good Morning Avalon Group here at the Avalons Shores in New Jersey. So it's great to be here. I'm excited to be hier. We have made it to week eight, right everybody? So we've been through eight weeks on Thursday nights, right? We had a great time. Men, thanks for showing up from Australia and Bev and Louise. And there's some of my home group members. Hi, Laura. What's happening, kid? Good to see you. Daniel's here. It's just great to see her. Open Mick from Scotland. All right. All the locals, Colleen and Ricky and Bev from Australia and Denise K. Eden lets you back in from Georgia. Good to say you. you must have been on good behavior, young lady. So it's great to be here. Oh, there's Farielle from one of my good friends. Your book's on the way, Farielle. You're going to be excited. Gasper's here. Cynthia's here from Texas. All right, Cynthia. So glad to see you, honey. So anyway, I'm grateful to be hier. Anthony's here form The Review. Carol's here from South Carolina. I think she's been here every week as I have. So just want to say hi to everybody sure wish we were in a convention setting or a room setting where we could have just a little bit more connection but i love how this group says that we have active listening so so if i say something you like throw a heart up if i see something you don't like put a thumbs down whatever works for you you know what i mean just so i know you're listening right and uh and it'd be great to be here hey sullivan center tonight we are on step 12, right? So 12 step in our journey through the 12th step, it says having had a spiritual awakening, right. As a result of these steps, not a spiritual waking by going to church, not as spiritual awakening by going into the ocean, not spiritual awakening because we met somebody from the opposite sex or the same sex or whatever works for you. And it was amazing. Not that kind of spiritual awakening, right? We had a spiritual awakening as a result of these 12 steps. And because of it, we tried to carry the message to alcoholics, which I'm going to do my best to do tonight, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. So when we say all our affair, I mentioned to you my permanent sobriety date is October 31st of 1983. My job is not to be a speaker in Alcoholics Anonymous. My job is to be a father to my daughter. My job is to be a fiancé to Suzanne. My job is to be a son to my mother. And my job is to be a car dealer above board to do the right thing. And my job most importantly and if this bothers you just move around in your seat a little bit my job is to be a child of God. And he said that what it says in the third step. right and now listen just so you know i'm not no religious zealot i got accused of being a religious zealous once by a by a judge in a federal courtroom because i had robbed a few churches when i was on a little spree and i was drinking denise you know what i mean i wasn't sober i was high all right so just so he said boy you're a real religious zealand aren't you robert walker i just sat there didn't say nothing sometimes the judge tries to set you up jasper or gasper don't say nothing you know me i always had attorneys cynthia they said don't say nothing anything nothing just stand there yeah so i had nothing to say so isn't it awesome today in sobriety right that god gives me lips and god gives me a heart right and god gives me a mind to go through my big book of alcoholics and i'm just right to hang out with friends like cynthia and fariel and gasper and kathy b and carol c from south carolina and andrew huh and lovey right and there's even laurie i'm a day how you doing laurian ted from colorado what a great crowd man i am stoked now listen you probably already realize that i'm not a normal speaker right y'all get that i'm not your guy to just go and say well 1983 i i was drinking and i got locked up in a car and it wasn't mine no no that's not my that's not how i roll how i role man is to let you know what happened to me right sullivan center what happened is a direct result of my drinking and what it's like today as a direct result not of my knowledge huh not of uh me being a smart guy okay but as a direct result there from australia of taking these 12 steps is outlined in this book right putting him in my life and and going out there and living right going out There and live it I get to live life today hey Sullivan Center I'm a three-time convicted felon right three time I I took money from a federal depository without permission without the withdrawal slip i took a vehicle across state lines i stole a truck went on all a crime spree that and they caught me that's called grand theft auto and of course i had a string of burglaries of churches uh and that's who i am drinking and under the influence but guess what i'm under the influencer today sullivan center i'm onto the influence of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That's something that Bill Wilson conjured up when he talks about that in the 12 and 12, and I love that. And so today we're going to talk a little bit about how we carry this message to others. You know, and remember page 164 of our big book says, remember we cannot transmit something that we don't have, right? See to it that your relationship with him is right and great events will come to pass for you or others. And that is our experience. So guys and everybody in this group, man. Listen, listen. Colleen L., Ricky T., I got to be straight up and honest with you all. I look forward to this meeting all day. Right over there. All day, bro. All day. I look for it is sitting in front of my computer here and carrying the message with y'all and talking about sobriety and talking about God. Talking about the 12th step of alcoholics anonymous. So listen, you can say what you want. i get people like to get done listening to me jp and they're like oh that guy he just puts on a shit though yeah yeah yeah i'm crappy grouchy yeah yeah and uh and men they can say what they want bro but what they don't know perhaps is that when we take these 12 steps to a new freedom right right men and we take this process and we put them in our life and we continue to stay sober we get active in Alcoholics Anonymous, right? Things begin to happen. Intuitively, we know how to handle situations, right, Laura, that used to baffle us, man. Laura's in my own group. Man, she's doing great. She's chairing meetings and she's like a spiritual timer, right, right Laura? And look at her smile from Canada. Good job, kid. And when we do things like this, things just start to happen. And I can't hold this in. I can' t hold in my enthusiasm for sobriety. I ca n't hold in. My God, Colleen, you know, I can t worry about what other people think about me. You know, today, my job is to carry this message for free and for fun. Right? My job, it says on page 102, the big book Sullivan House is to go in the most sordid places of the face of this earth, right? And God will keep me unharmed if my motives are right, Bev. And today, man, listen, am I a saint? No, we are not saints. You know, the point is that we're willing to grow along spiritual lines, right, Fariel? That's all, man. You know we're going to make some mistakes along the way and that's why we have our 10-step disciplines when we make a mistake right fair we out we say listen man i i am so sorry for doing that the other day you know we we call our sponsor we go to god about it we try to make amends and then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help see we got a program of action here right everybody if you're in the sports raise your hand any double sports raise Your hand I want to see some hands anybody in this sport at all into sports raise your hand all right good because all those raised their hand you're going to like me because like i believe like like it's like a team effort here in alcoholics anonymous right open mic it's not like we got to get together as a team you know what i i can't do this alone you know this is not an individual sport here you know alcoholics anonymous is a team effort. And I came here to you guys, Colleen, when I had nothing. Well, you know what I had? I had convictions. Huh? I came hier at a prison. I had to go to alcohol examines. I was stipulated open, Mick. You know? And I cam here and here's my story, Mick, guess what I heard? I heard my story right away. Right, Mick? There were times, Mick where I felt that nobody understood what I'm going through right now can anybody relate to that when you're out in the streets and you and like nobody can understand the incomprehensible the pitiful incomprehensible demoralization anybody relateto that right and then we come here to alcoholics anonymous and we find a whole group of people just as crazy as we are open mick like i always say thank god me and open micked and drink together right we would have been a lot of trouble mate a lot of trouble but then we come here and people welcome us with open arms and what a treat it is to be here let's go to our big books let's turn to page 89 step 12 working with others by the way top of your book if you don't have it written down yet write step 12 because here is Step 12. Practical experience shows that nothing will so much ensure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It doesn't say nothing will sure immunity from making five meetings a day, making six meetings a day, getting a famous sponsor, belonging to the best home group in the world. Let me gag myself over here. All right? I haven't been to all the home... My original spiritual advisor, Pastor Ed Mutum, said he hasn't been to all of the home groups in the world to make that assessment yet. I love alcoholics. I love my own group. I'm active in it. But it's not the best. It's just not the best. That's just how I feel about it. I feel it's a great one, but I don't think we have to be in competition with others. I love it. I love all of AA, man. I really do. And so check this out. What does immunity mean? Immunity means protection from or freedom from punishment, right? So immunity means protection form or freedom form punishment. So nothing will so much ensure protection from punishment from drinking as intensive. Intensive means very thorough, in-depth, great energy and effort. So y'all never apologize for my great energy here or my efforts that I give. I just can't because this is what the big book says. This is the guidelines here, right? This is The Blueprint. This is our 12th suggestion or step. Carry this message to alcoholics! It doesn't read like this group. Carry this messaged to alcoholcs. Cut it out. If you get asked to read this paragraph and you're in an AA room, here's how you do it. carry this message to other alcoholics right exclamation point i went to catholic schools and the nun said if you see an exclamation mark exclaim it robert walker right so i exclaim it guys huh carry this messaged to other alcoholic we don't care about your opinions here okay we don go take your opinion somewhere else go go to the lunchroom at work tell everybody your opinions okay bring your experience here bring your message here okay you had a bad day call your sponsor and then you got a chance to go to an aa meeting right guys and you get a chance maybe there's some newcomers in the room and maybe they might not even go to another meeting ever again and you've got a change to either talk about your problems and how bad your day wasn't oh whoa it's me and oh whoa it's me and Oh it's all about me let me tell you about my issues or you get a chance to work this program of alcoholics anonymous right to call your sponsors hey sponsor had a rough day man so-and-so called me this and I did then I called him that and the bills are due and my daughter wants extra money for college I don't know where it's gonna come from today and then he gets with me we talk and we talk what are you doing tonight, Robbie? I'm going to a Sunday club meeting. He said, okay, man. How do you feel now? I said, I feel better. He says, good. Go carry the message. Okay? Go carry your message. Don't carry the mess. Go carry their message. You can help where no one else can. Isn't that good news? See, we can help where nobody else can, not those people with those initials after their name men. I mean, they got the degrees and they read the books, right, brother? But they ain't been where we've been, dude. huh they ain't been up here where we've been huh they've been locked up like we been you know those years we were getting locked up and living on the streets and doing all those crazy things they were going through university huh drinking drinking lattes you know what i mean with their with their pinkies out all right we come to alcohol tsunamis louise and we meet people that been exactly where we've been. See, we can help where others can't. We can secure their confidence where others fail. Remember, they're very ill. Next paragraph. These are the nine promises of step 12. Life will take on new meaning to watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish. Newcomers, you know that loneliness? Andrew, you Know that loneliness we talk about a lot, by the time we get to this 12th step and by the time we take this young man prop, I can call you young man because you're younger than me. You know it. And by the Time we take This 12th Step Young Man and we go through this thoroughly like you and I are doing, you know, that loneliness, it tells me here, we're going to watch it vanish. It's just not going to go away. It's going to vanish. To see a fellowship grow up about us, to have a host of friends. ladies and gentlemen of the main purpose group right kathy you notice i've been out to your home group kathy live in connecticut i go out i go to groups all over the world a couple different countries lovey i've Been to the winchester aa convention in winchester england huh amazing amazing that you know they curse a little bit out there that's okay it's a little different i gotta get used to that different different norms right but man what it what a neat thing to do, Ted, to be able to travel, to meet other people, to have a host of friends in Canada. Listen, guys, I love Canada. I'm going back to Canada. JJ has got me coming out there at Sullivan Center and I'm gonna stop by there and share with you guys. Now hopefully when I do that in November you won't be here. I don't know how long you stay but I'm coming back to Canada because I love it. Bev from Australia, I'll get out there eventually when it's God's time, You know what I mean? But I just love sobriety, man. Right. So we're going to have a host of friends. I don't know about y'all, but when I was in prison, Denise, nobody visited me. Hi, J.J., I see your head. Give me a thumbs up, guys. Good to see you, young man. Atta boy. You know, and when I Was in prison guys, nobody visiting me. If I if I got you know what, if I Got letters, you know What they were? They were detainers. They were like detain him. if he gets off his charges we want to see him in california one of those type we want to see them in michigan he's wanted you know once my fingerprints went through so today this is an experience you don't want to miss we know you will not want to miss it free in contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives isn't that good news wow so let's stay on this page it says it says here don't start out as an evangelist or a reformer because a lot of prejudice exists right and that will make you handicapped so this is now telling us how to carry the message it says ministers and doctors are competent and you can learn much from them if you wish but it happens that because of your own drinking experience now everybody listen to this because of your own drink and experience You can be uniquely useful to alcoholics. You can Be uniquely useful To other alcoholics So cooperate Never criticize To be helpful is our only aim So we can help others Where others can't Solve and center Everybody that's solving I have good news for you guys I have great news That once you guys Once you overcome this illness Once you become this ism, this incredible self and me as I, I self and me. Once you get out of yourself and you come here and you put yourself in the middle of AA, right? And you start doing these 12 steps, right JP? Right Ricky? Something happens and we get, hey Laura, we start thinking about others. Isn't that cool? Right Louise? We start thinking ABOUT OTHERS. So I'm going to read you something that I think absolutely fits right in here And I love reading this when I go to conventions. This three or four paragraphs is a talk. It was given by Judge John T. at the fourth anniversary of the AA Chicago group in 1943, and it's still applicable today. Thank you, Judge John. I know you're in the big meeting this guy. But if you mind, if you don't mind, I'm going to read your words that you gave at that big group anniversary at night. It says this. Now, listen, listen up newcomers. This is not up for debate. I'm gonna read you some truths here. God, in his wisdom, selected this group of men and women to be purveyors of his goodness. He's talking about Alcoholics Anonymous. In selecting them through whom to bring about this phenomenon, he went not to the proud, not to mighty, not to famous, or even the brilliant, Bev. He went instead to the humble, to the sick. Right, Andrew? To the unfortunate. He went to the drunkard, the so-called weakling of the world, Denise. well mighty have said the following words to us onto your weak and feeble hands gasper i have entrusted a power beyond estimate to you feriel has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows not to scientists not to statesmen cynthia not to wives or mothers not even the priests or ministers, have I given this gift of healing other alcoholics, which I entrust to you. Did you hear that? We have a chance, Andrew, to heal other alcoholists, right? It must be used unselfishly, he continues. It carries with it grave responsibility, Carol C. No day can be too long, Kathy. No demand upon your time can be Too Urgent. No case can be too pitiful, lovey. No task too hard. Lovey's here with like a broken ankle and she's still suiting up and show up. No effort could be too great, Ted. It must be used with tolerance. Do you hear that? It must been used for tolerance. Ladies and gentlemen of Alcoholics Anonymous, especially if you're listening to this, let's not get so high and mighty that our way of working the Alcoholics Anonymous program is the only way. Wonder how the program did before you got here. It must be used with tolerance for I've restricted its application to no race, no creed, no denomination. Personal criticism, you must expect lovey. Lack of appreciation? That'll be common, Ted. Right? People will ridicule you and your motives will be misjudged. Happens to me all the time. HappENS to me all the TIME. Right, Ferriel? When we're active in Alcoholics Anonymous it happens all the Time. You know people you know they want to see you do good but never better than them and sometimes people are just like yeah there it is thank you Cynthia I see you reading it along with me I love it. You must be prepared for adversity for what men call adversity is the ladder you must use to ascend the wrongs towards spiritual perfection. And remember, in the exercise of this power, I shall not exact from you beyond your capabilities. You'll always be okay if you stay in the middle of AA, in the midddle of the bed, and in the palm of God's hands. Whatever your God is, God is you, understand Him. Make your own God up. Thank you, Ferrio. Make Your Own God Up. you're not selected because of your exceptional talents and be careful always to success attend your efforts not to ascribe the personal superiority that to which you can lay claim only to virtue of my gift i'll take you back to 2005 and i was speaking at the international convention right in toronto feriel when you guys had it in your beautiful city and i always wanted to main speakers and and i showed up at the big arena about, I don't know, a little close to the time. I was nervous. And they weren't going to let me in. And I said, well, I mean, there's no more room, they said. They told that to a man 2,000 years ago. There's no room at the end. Huh? And I showed him my badge. I said my name's Robbie and I'm from New Jersey and I've got to go up there to the stage. and they a couple people said a couple days and they got two or three people listen to this gasper they surrounded me and they paraded me into this convention center and it was packed and then there was a buzz all around clancy was already up on stage the other speaker the main speaker and they can very well i felt like a prize fight and i'm in the middle and these guys are all walking me down and people are looking at me and i see my suit and i i remember feeling like i remember feeling like like i didn't feel ego at all gang i felt like i felt humbled and i felt like oh my is this what you're talking about god and i didn t feel any ego i just felt like an incredible sense loving that now i had a chance to speak to thousands and thousands of people you know regardless if most of them were there for clancy or not one of the best speakers of all time but they had me as the lead guy and when I got up to that stage and I looked out amongst there and I had like about 12 people there for me and thousands and thousands were there for Clancy I just prayed and I said God thank you may my words fall to the ground and may your words go out into their hearts so we never want We always want to stay humble, no matter if God gives us amazing things to do. He says, if I had wanted learned men to accomplish this mission, this power would have been entrusted to the physician and scientist. If I had won an eloquent man, there would have be many anxious for the assignment. If I wanted scholarly men, the world is filled with some better than you. You, alcoholics of Alcoholics Anonymous, You were selected because you've been the outcast of the world, you see, and your long experience as drunkards has made or should make you humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of alcoholics everywhere. In closing, he says, keep ever in mind the admission you made on the day of your entry into Alcoholics Anonymous, namely that you are powerless and it is only with your willingness to turn your life and your will onto my keeping that relief came to you. Now go out from this group and be a light onto the world. That was Judge John in 1943. And I think that represents the 12th step of Alcoholics Anonymous. Go to page 9. It says here, don't waste your time. Let's see what it says. When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anatomist, find out all you can about them. If he does not want to stop drinking, don' t waste your time to try to persuade him. You see that? So listen, when we meet people on Alcoholics Antonomist, before meetings, xanthamines and in recovery rooms right if they don't seem interested and they don t want to stop drinking don t waste your time there it is right there I love that all right I just actually love that let s go down a little bit further but if they are willing and the next paragraph two paragraphs down if they say yes I m willing then their attention should be drawn to you as a person who has recovered. Notice I said I was a recovered alcoholic when we started. You may not hear a lot of people in AA define themselves as that. I know a lot of people on this group does. Recovered means restored to usefulness. So if you have been restored to usefulness, I challenge you. Just try it. Just, hey, I'm Fairiel and I'm a recovered alcoholic. Just see how it feels next time you get a chance to say that. Hey, I'm Andrew f and i know you do it already i'm a recovered alcoholic right and that just means that you've been restored to usefulness that doesn't mean you're perfect that means the symptoms are gone okay now listen if you still got a lot of symptoms and you're still stealing and robbing and cheating and pouring and all that stuff and being inconsiderate then you by all means you You continue to call yourself a recovering alcoholic because you are. But one of these days, once you take these 12 steps of alcoholics and items, and by the way, you don't have to like what I just said. It's in the dictionary. Look it up. Recovering means still has a bad head. Now that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you're one of my sponsees, we're going to clean that head out. We're going start talking about some moral things. right, Andrew? And we're going to get that cleaned out. Huh? And we're gonna start putting good stuff in once it's cleaned out, right? You ever go to a meeting like four of you go to meet right? And after you leave, like three is all like, wow, what a great meeting, right? Whoa, that was a great meeting. Right? And then one of the guys says, ah, that means sucks. Well, what's the difference? All four went to the same meeting JP. What happened i i submit to you that three of us we listened like only dying could three of us like i listened to open mix message on sunday right open mic from my beach chair with my my lotion on that's all right had a good time i was out in the sun but when i listen to open mic i listen with an open mind right and i experienced that afternoon because the brother gave it gave all he had huh maybe that other person didn't have spiritual experience because something's going on in their life you see and they just couldn't open up there's vanessa from scotland good to see you there's our nikki from toronto a couple of my own group members good to seeing you ladies thanks for showing up so my job when i show up at an a meeting is to actively listen huh throw those hearts up and tell people i love them and you know and no matter what's going on right robert m from florida no matter what's going on brother i say god please use me right oh there's ms i haven't seen ms from seattle in a while good to see you sister glad you're here so tell him you're that you're recovered you should be described to him we're on page 90 of our big book as one of the fellowship who in who as part of their own recovery try to help others and who will be glad to talk to him if you care to see me now listen to this my favorite 12 step is when bill and bob right robert m when billandbob went to meet aa number three right bill dotson the attorney now bill dotsen would generally dress like i'm dressing tonight like an attorney right he would generally address like that right ms but this time he was in charlie town's hospital again and he was laid up his wife's name was henrietta and henrieta thought well this time just keep him just keep them right marta just keep um and he as he's sitting there bill and bob right marlena bill and bobs showed up and they asked about the the saying goes that uh it's so reported that bob went to the main nurse who he knew he was a proctologist he says uh hey nurse ratchet do you know anybody right that has had a problem here anybody doing well yeah we got a corker real corker upstairs he he blackened the eyes one of our nurses last night came in drunk and we got him sedated now but uh dr bob have you tried this on yourself yet you didn't know he was sober more later you know what i mean and he said yes i have nurse ratchet uh bill and i would like to talk to him would you allow us right chris from reno and she said okay go ahead up what if they go up to see bill dotson and like i said bill was a little bit medicated thank god and bill listened to these two guys uh bill dots bill was dressed like this and of course dr bob as well the pictures show show us how we should look you You know, when we do stuff like I'm doing right now, right? When we're representing Alcoholics Anonymous, that's what I said that. If I don't represent AlcoholicsAnonymous tonight, no one does. What do you mean, Rob? It's kind of a pretentious statement. There's people here tonight that came here for an AA meeting about Step 12. And now I'm sharing about it. I'm leading the meeting. By golly, tonight, I better give the best representation that I can of Alcoholics anonymous. Look at that. If your big book's not falling apart, you probably are. But anyway, so Bill listens to Bob and Bill during this 12-step call, right guys? And he's listening to him, right? There's another Robbie W in here. How you doing, buddy? Robbie with a Y. I'm Robbie with an IE. Good to see you. So anyway, he's listened to him and he has an experience. He says to them, are you guys going to come back? And they said, because they had to leave, that if they got kicked off like a lot of us do we you know we get kicked out of the uh the you know what are they called you know the drunk farms and all you know it detoxes because we can only stay so long right daniel and he says yeah i'll be we'll be back tomorrow buddy well well the next day his wife henrietta showed up first man right and and and she looked at him she's oh you you look different today bill he says honey two men came to see me one's a proctologist and one's a stockbroker right barbara from california and they stopped drinking honey and they said i can stop too ladies and gentlemen at that exact moment bill and bob showed up in the doorway of his room. And Bill Wyss said to us, honey, that's the man I was talking about. You see, his whole countenance changed. You see that's what we can do when we can carry the message to an alcoholic. And that's an alcoholic with no time. That's an alcohol with no sobriety. That's enough all with meds in his system. And yet when we carried a message of Alcoholics Anonymous, Tom Ivester from Southern Binds, California taught, from South Carolina taught me that when we carry the message, walls will come down. Don't you listen to alcoholics that say, oh careful what you say in that group careful what we say in that state, careful what we say in that country and Henrietta looked at Bill and Bob and exited the room and once again Bill and Rob shared with With Bill D, AA number three, Vanessa, the man on the bed that you see in a lot of rooms. And he was to get out and never have another drink again. Success. AA number 3. Right, Nikki? And that's what we get a chance to do here, ladies and gentlemen. We get a change. We get this chance in Alcoholics Anonymous. Like, we belong to this group, Faith, Hope, Love, and Unity group, right, ladies? There's a lot Of yous here tonight. Corey's here, and Vanessa's here. And Nikki's here and Laura is here. and it's just great to see you all. And we do this every day, maybe 10 times a week, right? Man, I love carrying the message, right ? Yeah, isn't that great ? Let's go to page 91. Here are some directions. Well, how do I carry the message ? I don't know what to do. Let's look what it says. The directions. See your man alone if possible. At first, engage in general conversation. after a while turn to talk to some phase of drinking tell them enough about your drinking habits symptoms and experiences to encourage him to speak of himself i'll hear listen i don't want to hear this crap ah we don't tell drunkologues in this group yeah that's a solution-based group yeah ladies and gentlemen we're sober today and alcoholics and i'm still alive because bill watson talked about is drinking with bob we are still going on 86 years later because when an alcohol shows up at our doorstep we can we can talk about our drinking let's not get so high and mighty let's knock it so high in mighty uh listen there's nobody in this group nobody not even you robert m that loves this big book as much as me me robert n but but and loves these 12 steps I love this program. Like, I mean, forget about it. But you know what, Barbara? When a man or a woman gets hammered and they're new, I'd love to have my hat on backwards when I'm not carrying the message like this and sit down with them, right, Robert, and say, dude, I can relate. The last time I stole a truck, I robbed this, I robbed that. And you know What? I'll start seeing you. Look closer to me. You'll be like, really, dude? I see you come here every night in your suit. I never thought you were like me. Yeah, let me tell you. Hey, want to go out for a coffee, buddy? I ain't got no money. Don't worry about it. Let's go to the restaurant. I'll treat you to a dinner. And you start seeing their face light up. That's what happened to me, Vanessa. When I was new, man, I didn't have two quarters to rub together, Vanessa, my own mom and dad didn't even want me around. You know my story. My little sister, the last time she saw me, she said, you know what she said to me, Laura, my little sister? To her big brother. She said, I wish she would just die. And that's who I am. You wonder why I wear a suit. i got my best suit pressed for this meeting because i want to give the best example of alcohol to the solvent center that i can give solvent center you have such an amazing life ahead of you this is so much more than not drinking and going to meetings this is even more than having families restored again this is about you solving house you getting a chance to love yourself again right Andrew getting the chance to get up in the morning right Fariel when you ladies put your makeup on and you fix your hair and to be women of dignity and grace and us men we get a chance open Mick to be providers again for our families right this is an experience that you don't want to miss it's a lot missing they get a chance to come here and for whatever reason the lower power wins the battle they don't do the work necessary hey listen if i'm on a football team and i don't work out in the off season open mick you with me and i dont hang out with my with the players and get in the right you know what the right timing and i do not work on my muscles and i don't work on my speed and i don't work on my proper eating habits i'm never going to get in the game and if i do i'm going to get slaughtered and and and the same thing if i go to alcoholics anonymous and i'll get my own big book because don't let anybody else read your big book you gotta steal one steal it ah i stole my first one there there's an amend put that in your pipe and smoke it i stole my first big book from the elano club in cameroon michigan i did go back there at 25 years and and carried a message and dude had a man with the whole milano club yeah but you know things change thank god we get sober karen s you know what i mean thank god vanessa i could imagine vanessa from scotland drinking oh my lord oh heaven forbidden all right so where we at so let's go to page oh that's good a page 93 93 gang 93 come on not come with me come on with me 93 yeah more directions but this is really good okay talk I can't read cuz I got so much stuff on my page I can hear reading mother of mercy let me fix it oh there it is it says tell them what to tell tell the newcomer what happened you stress the spiritual feature freely you hear that stress oh don't talk don't about spirituality he's new don't scare him not what my big book says stress the spiritual feature free if the man be agnostic or atheist make it emphatic that he don't have to believe or agree with you your conception of god he can choose any conception he likes provided it makes sense to him here's the squiggly lines as joe and charlie used to say the main thing is that he'd be willing to believe in a power greater than himself and that he lived by spiritual principles nicky what a big sentence huh the main things is that they're willing to live in a powerful greater than themselves and that they weren't They're willing to live by spiritual principles. Wow, that's big, man. I absolutely love that. Absolutely love that, all right? So let's go to the next page. A couple more things I wanna talk about before we get ready to close. Page 94, page 94 talks about our program of action, Chris B., top of page 94. Outline the program ofaction, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past and why you're now endeavoring to be helpful to them. It's important for them to realize that your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your own recovery, personal experience here. So I got help at Chris Blumen from Reno by a man named Don Cooper. I had absolutely no time, and I was at the club room, and I Was eating onions as my meals. I was drinking coffee, and i was sleeping behind the building. nobody wanted me around but i knew i had to be there right and one day this man took me home chris with him his name's don cooper comstock michigan he's still sober today chris he took me home with him and he introduced me to his wife named ron and his two kids brian and dallas i was a stray dog at best at best and um he looked at his wife ronda and she was in this beautiful program called alan on the alan on uh the worldwide family group of alan on where you got to know somebody to get right and he said ronda can robbie stay with us for a few days ladies and gentlemen i thought he was bringing me home right colleen i thought he was bring him home for a cup of coffee and some eggs i thought he was going to feed me which a lot of people didn't they ate they would bring home and get me some food maybe get me something get me somewhere then they dropped me back off the clubhouse that's all they couldn't have me at their home i'm a stray dog maybe i had bugs right now you're nice to street people every once in a while but you don't bring them in and this man brought me in and his wife looked at me at Meta and he said and she said Robbie we don't drink or do any drugs in this house I have two young boys here we got a place for you down in the basement Don has brought some strays in before none of them have made it some have stolen from us she said I'm a nurse i'm tough don't mess with me and i said okay okay and uh and guess what happened nicky l i did what they told me to do i stopped smoking cigarettes because they were christians they were baptist and they didn't smoke so i stopped smokin to please them i didn't want to lose my place to stay i stayed in the basement on a mattress they had a big furnace downstairs you like to put wood in like i don't i come from philadelphia in a city we turn the thermostat up and then and nikki he would come downstairs and put wood into furnace at night and ask me to help him and i'd be scared to death he's going to cut me up and put me in there that's how um my mind was warped right and he would notice that laura and he would take me upstairs and everybody would be sleeping at midnight and we'd have a fresh cup of coffee you know what he would do vanessa he would make me bacon and eggs and i'd sit there with no time with parents 750 miles away don't want to have nothing to do with me with the self-esteem about this big the self esteem of a net I hated myself so much. I was a suicide survivor. I tried to kill myself when I was living on the street by cutting my arms up and down. I ended up in insane asylums. So why did Don take me in? Why did he work this 12 step on me? He was later to tell me that his God told him that there's going to be a young boy coming into the Alarno Club and you help him. And I was 22 years old, so I guess I was young boy. And I looked younger. I'm 59 years old today. When I was 22, I looked about 12. Okay? By the way, that's not good when you're going to prison either with blue eyes. Just saying. Just throwing that out there. I'm not going to give you my prison story. So, Nick, he took me in for a year, bro. That's who I am. You know Robbie W. from speaking all over and leading meetings and talking about the steps. Solve and center. I know where you're all at, every one of you. I knew where you were at in your mind, I know what you're at in life, and I was there. and today i live in a beautiful sure house with a deck with a jack that overlooks the bay i got a woman that adores me i got her daughter that i that that i just made my last wow i just made a payment it's not my last payment but i just made a 3500 payment for her college and i was able to do that I don't know how many quid that is where you're from Nick but it's a lot of quid I think I don' t know oh my gosh where'd this come from but what I can tell y'all is that I just love AA so much and I'm willing to continue to give this I want to be I don''t know when I'm gonna die but I pray to God that I die as I'm carrying this message of AA Sandy Beach one of my one of my amazing heroes and I got a chance to spend a lot a lot a lot of spiritual time with before he passed at conventions on beaches Robert I noted he was in the first step meeting when he passed away in Florida and it said that his head just went down on the book I was so blessed to be with that man on the beach Robert I was only I was at the promises from paradise I think you've been there promises from Paradise and US Virgin Islands and st. Thomas and uh i was the friday night speaker and i didn't know who sandy beach was he was a saturday night speakerand when and when i got done speaking nikki right i was down on the beach with my shorts on and my sponsor was up in the room see my sponsor would go to all the cool conventions right and nikki i'm on the beat at saint thomas at 10 o'clock at night on friday night by myself thanking god from the bottom of my heart for everything he's given me right and sandy beach came and sat next to me he put his arm around me and sandy beat said dude he says do you realize that i'm not going to be living forever and it's young boy young men like you that are going to take my baton and continue to carry this message and i didn't know who he was i knew he looked old he looked like dr bob you know what i mean and it said sandy b we get to hang out with giants in alcoholics we get to meet people that all they listen i can tell you right now i don't care what you've heard about me or what you heard about peter marinelli what you hear about bob or what your heart about bob daryl or what ur heard about polly for or some of us to get a chance to go around and speak a little bit get to know us I will do anything for anybody at any time for any reason if I can write and that's what we get taught Nikki step 12 let's go to page 102 of our big books Wow I told you the step troubles gonna be fun I'm going to give it all I got and I'm not done. Step 12, follow the page. Here's your job description. Your job now is to be in a place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others. So never hesitate to go anywhere. If you could be helpful, you should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed. Isn't that awesome? I love that Marlena. I love that paragraph. Phil Wilson, what an amazing author. What a divinely inspired man. And there's people out there that want to say a bad thing or two about him. Shame on you. Shame on you this program is. This program is, listen, are we a bunch of ragtag? Absolutely. Ragtag misfits. You better believe we are. But by golly, so was Saul on the road to Damascus. Huh? And he became one of the leaders of the church. Listen, we're going to be used. Get ready. Get ready to go to hell. How you doing, brother? Get ready To Be Used. Let's get on our knees when And we get a chance and say, God, I don't know what your plans are for me. But if it has anything to do with helping your kids, I'm all in. I'm in whatever I can do. The end of my notes. Eddie Roosevelt has something to say. He's a past president of the United States back in the early 1900s. president theodore roosevelt gave this speech on april 23rd of 1910 april 22nd of 19 10 i already read something to you from 1943 here's something from 1910 that is ageless it's called the man in arena it's not too many words the man-in-the-arena it's the man who's the one who's not the critic who counts not the one Who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better the credit belongs to the man who is actually or the woman who was actually in the arena whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood who strives valiantly who errors and comes short again and again did you say you picked up a drink that's okay come back get your hand up right chris get your hands up and let us know the truth and we got you. We got you, it's okay. Nobody's perfect, huh? Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself on a worthy cause? Who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement? And who, if they fail, at least they fail while daring greatly. So that's our place. Never shall we be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. Take risks. Take chances. If somebody asks you to sponsor them, here's your answer. Absolutely. Yes. And then you call your sponsor. Hey, sponsor! I just got asked to be a sponsor. What in the world do I do? Just say yes. Because it might be the only chance that that man or that woman has of living. And we've been given the power to heal others. Robert, this is from my fiance and it's Buzz Lightyear right? I got little guy up here I forget what his name is, Dash he's Dash from the Incredibles and I got superheroes all over my home because I'm going to end with this I believe we all get a chance in Alcoholics Anonymous to be absolute bonafide superheroes that's not from an ego standpoint that means a real superhero saves others huh we get a chance to save others lies vanessa and nikki what you two women are doing in that faith hope and love group you got you ladies keep going you keep carrying that message you too uh laura keep carryingthat message and don't quit ricky and open mick solvent center raise your hand if you've heard my message tonight raise your hand keep that hand up if you're gonna do what I asked you to do and here's what I ask you to do love yourself man love yourself enough to stay sober and clean love your family enough to stay so green clean and that's how our God loves us once we love others remember seconds and inches you never know how we can help somebody's life. Leave your issues at home. Get a sponsor. Come to Alcoholics Anonymous and carry the great message. The great message that there's hope. Hope is right on my wall back there. Hope. Hang on. Pain ends. Throw them that life preserver. If you only got one, grab them and tell them to hang on to your life preserver. And you let them know, right? Periodically, you're not going to let them go. If they call you, if they want to do a step with you, you're nicht going to let them g. That you got them, just like your sponsor has done for you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been an honor to be here for the last eight weeks at the Main Purpose Group. I don't know if I've been able to help anybody. I don' t know if there's anything I've said that's helped you, but I can tell you this. My last eight weeks have been amazing. It's got me to do my work on different evenings i'm sitting here by myself with the lights on and my cat's looking at me like what are you doing tonight don't huh you're killing me i hope y'all stay sober and i hope you all continue to carry this message step 12 this program works it really does lovey that's all i got thanks for letting me share recording stopped There we go. Everybody, could we give a great big hand to Bobby? Absolutely amazing. Hi, everyone.