The Story of the Three Alcoholic Rabbits – Cecil C.

Thank you very much, Bob. My name is Cease Coggle and I'm an alcoholic. And I want to thank you for inviting me back. because I can remember the time in my life where I wasn't invited the first time. It's a little difficult to be invited back if you're never invited the 1st time. I was certainly never invited to speak the 1 st or the 2nd time. But to be invited back to speak is a real privilege and I'm glad to be back to Sessions by the Sea and I appreciate it very much. I'm very grateful to be here because Bob met me at the airport. And I mean, any man that has lived this many years in this area and I had to tell him which road to take you can understand why I'm grateful to be here. A very good friend of mine by the name of Jack Sennon is speaking at Dana, Saskatchewan, Canada tonight. Now you don't know Jack Sennen and you probably don't even know where Dana, Sasquatch and Canada is. That really doesn't matter but he promised me if I'd mention his name down here he'd mention mine up there. And I should say there's one little gal in the audience by the name of Linda who just came up to speak to me and her dad George who has now gone to the Greater Roundup he was one of the first AAs in our province moved down here and Linda is sober seven years and she was up here to talk to me so she knows what I'm talking about when Bob met me we were discussing sessions by the sea and he was telling me that you had to turn some people away and that's, you know, kind of sad but it just shows that you've got something good that's really going good. So keep it going that way. And I mentioned to Bob that the only thing that could destroy this thing is ignorance and apathy. You know, ignorance of what we belong to. This great thing called Alkalics Anonymous. And Rod talked last night about complacency. Well, I don't even mean complacency. I mean something worse than that, apathy. And I asked Bob what he thought about that. And he said he didn't know and he didn' t care. And our trip went downhill from there. Carl was up here talking about golf. I love to golf and I've been watching the committee you know get along really well and I'm sure you've had a few fights but you've hidden them well and it's very very very important that we get along real well with our fellow man, it tells us that in our traditions and that reminded me of a story it didn't really I intended to tell it all along but A story of a golfer that had had a lousy day. And he was out there and he was sitting in the clubhouse all by himself. And he said, oh God. And a voice came down. He said, yeah, what's trouble? And he says, well, I just can't putt. And God said, well when you're out tomorrow just relax a little bit more. Keep your head down. Swing the old putter. Maybe move your right hand around a little but. and swing the old putter like the pendulum of a clock, and I'm sure everything will be all right. So while he had him on the line, he thought he better carry on a little more of a conversation. So he said, tell me, God, do they have a golf course up in heaven? And he said just, God said, just a second, I'll check. And he went away, and he came back. And he says, I've got good news, and I've go bad news. First of all, for the good news is they have the most beautiful golf course that I've ever seen. And the golfer said, well, what can be the bad news? And he said, your tee-off time is 10 after 8 tomorrow morning. So it's kind of important that we be on good terms with each other because we never know when our tee-offs time is going to be. and I was speaking in last night's speaker's home state of Texas a few years ago I was in Amarillo, Texas and that's the top of Texas conference it's a big conference naturally it's in Texas, it's an amazing place it's just a big convention there was a fellow there and he was going to chair the Saturday night meeting. And he was very, very nervous about it. He'd never chaired a big meeting before. And I tell this story because I see that there's a lot of ladies on the committee. And did you ever notice, fellas, when they're on the community, they're always projecting things? What is going to happen if somebody doesn't show up? What is gonna happen if this goes haywire or something? And they just keep projecting things. And this sweet wife of this fellow's this morning, at six o'clock in the morning, fellas, just imagine this. Six o' clock in the mornin', she says, Honey, if somethin' should happen to me, would you get married again? That's at six in the mornin'. How'd he answer that? And he said, well, and he goes on doin' what he's doin', gettin' ready to emcee the deal at night. And he says, well I'm a young man, probably would. So she said, would ya move her into our house? And he say, well the house is paid for, She's got to live somewhere. She might as well live in this house. She said, what about the bedroom? He said, well, you know it's a good bed and everything's all paid for and everything is all right. She might As well sleep there. It's okay with me. And he goes on doing what he's doing. She said what about my jewelry? And he said, Well, if you don't will it to somebody else, she might As Well wear it. It's Okay with me, and he goes On doing what He's doing She said What about my car? He said Well, it's A small car. It's All paid for and after all she'll need, you know, transportation. She might as well drive it. So she says, what about my golf clubs? And he said, oh no, no, not your golf clubs. She said, you would marry her, move her into my house, let her sleep in my bed, let her wear my jewelry, let her drive my car. What's wrong with my golf club? And he says, she's left-handed. So sometimes, you see, it doesn't pay to project these things, ladies Last night after listening to a beautiful talk And going back to my hotel And I went for a walk in the boardwalk A beautiful boardwalk Enjoyed the whole thing I went to bed and I started thinking about tonight Rod had done such a tremendous job And although there's no competition here You don't want it to fall flat the next night And I was concerned about it, and I was having a tough time to sleep. And finally I fell asleep, and I started to dream. And I dreamt that I died and went to heaven. And St. Peter was showing me around, and all of a sudden I noticed there's dear old Norman there. And you should have seen what was on his arm. Just a horrible-looking, pygmy-type girl. just a horrible looking thing face on her like a torn boot just horrible and I said what is the idea Norm was a great guy he was a guy sort of the founder of the Sessions by the Sea and I told him everything Norm had done in Alkalics and he said I'm sorry Norm almost didn't make it that's the penance he's going to have to pay for 5,000 years and then I saw your speaker last night and if you think Norm had something bad on his arm. You should have seen what he had in his arm Oh, just horrible Face on it like a festered fig Oh, yes, terrible And I said, look I know that fella, he's a great guy He's a famous pilot He's the pilot for an airline I can't break the anonymity of the airlines But He He's just a famous you know, pilot, why would you do this to him? And he said, well, he said old Rod almost didn't make it cease and he said that's the penance he's going to have to pay and then I saw Ted Smith the speaker of Thursday night and on his arm is Joan Collins and I said you know why would yo do this? Here's a guy not a bad guy but you know I mean these other guys got these horrible things on his arms why would this guy have Joan Collins? And he says Well, Joan Collins almost didn't make it either. As I said, my name is C.S. Coughlin. I'm an alcoholic. I guess I better get on with what I came here to do. I'm not going to tell you a whole lot about my drinking. I'm going to telling you this, that I did drink. I'm not here by mistake. But I got at it early and I quit early. I didn't have the stick-to-itiveness that some of you people have. I never did have a drink until I was 16 years of age. And I got into this big book when I got here and I found out, you know, in the doctor's opinion, it says men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differ and reach the truth or the false. To them their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. And then it says, as Rod said last night, they are restless, irritable, and discontented. I had never had a drink. And all of a sudden I became restless, irritable and discondent. I didn't like the discipline in my home. I didn't like a diss in my church, didn't like a dis in my school I was 16 years of age I wanted to be an athlete, I was a good athlete I didn' drink, I didn's smoke but I became restless, irritable and discontented and I didn'd like this discipline and so I ran away from discipline to show you I was much smarter than the teenagers of today I ran into the army to get away from discipline that's really not the smartest move I've ever made, I'll tell you And I got into that army. I lied about my age and I got in there and I got all dressed up in that big uniform the first night. I went downtown with the rest of the men and I went to the beer pot and I had my first beer and great things happened to me. All of a sudden, I was a great conversationalist. I could just talk about anything. Somebody said something I didn't like and all of a sudden I had extra muscles. Told them where to head in. Then we went dancing and man, oh man you should have seen me I was Canada's own Fred Astaire. For the benefit of you young fellas he was a great dancer. Then I took a gal home and my God I was Charles Boyer and Clark Gable they were the great lovers of that time but the next morning I woke up in that armories and I was the same little scared boy that had come to join the army the day before and I was scared but every night we went downtown and I could be what I wanted to be because I had that flint into me I did very well in the army, I became an instructor and I'd love to stand here and tell you that I just had a great army career but I got kicked out when I was 17 I went back home and I Got a job in an aircraft factory And I got some responsibility And once again I became restless, irritable And discontented And I ran away from that responsibility I didn't know that's what I was doing But I know today I ran back into the army Told them I'd never been in before And this time I was a genius They recommended me for my commission And I'd love to stand here and tell you that I was an officer in the Canadian Army. But I got kicked out when I was 18. And I went back home. I worked for a newspaper in the advertising department. Did very well. But once again, I got too much responsibility. And once again I was drinking all of the time. I got restless, irritable and discontented. And I ran once again. This time I ran into the Navy. And there I settled down to a bit of serious drinking. I got recommended for my commission immediately. I went away and took officer's training. And I'd love to stand here and tell you that I was an officer in the Canadian Navy. But I got kicked out of officer's train. I didn't get kicked out from the Navy, just got kicked off of officer training. It seemed that an officer didn't appreciate me telling him what to do with a ship. And I see some of those big ships go by today, and really it's a physical impossibility for him to deal with that ship when I told him to deal it. And I became a gunner on a merchant ship. And I sailed all over the world, and I drank all over the world. Didn't think there was anything wrong with it. I got married to a beautiful little gal while I was in the Navy I'd love to stand here and tell you that I was a good father and that I wasn't I was an alcoholic father and an alcoholic husband but I didn't know it the real sad thing was I didn' t know that I didn''t know and that's really sad and on Thursday night when I went back home back to my room I called my dear little wife and I still have that same wife that I married in 1943 I call her my current wife just to keep her in shape and when I called her on Thursday night she'd been to the doctor and she had a little cancer scare and she asked to go to hospital on Tuesday and I certainly hope with you people in your prayers tonight. You just pray for a little gal back in Saskatchewan, Canada that is a little scared of things right now and I know that with all of our prayers everything will be fine. I came back from the service and I started to get jobs and started to lose jobs and I didn't think there was anything too much wrong with it. I celebrated the beginning of the Korean War and I celebrated the end of the Korea War And I was just drinking all of the time The last two years that I drank, I became a fighter I had 17 fights, I think, and 17 knockouts And I lost them all And I didn't fight in any rings or anything I fought in bars Because by this time, I was very arrogant And I did like myself And when you don't like yourself, it's difficult like other people And I had a big mouth And I got in a lot of trouble And I mention that because that's how I got to Alcoholics Anonymous One of the reasons I also did a lot gambling And that got me in a Lot of Trouble And I mentioned that because That's what got me to Alcoholic Anonymous too When I was 27 years of age I was in a big poker game And I did an unforgivable thing I got caught cheating It's okay to cheat But don't get caught Not by the guy that I got Caught by anyway He was an ex-commando In the Canadian army He weighed 275 pounds I thought he weighed about 118 I was drunk And he and I had a fight Or I should say He had a flight he hit me and I hit the cement floor and I got up and he hit my and I had to cement floor we just did that a whole bunch of times and finally I just stayed down not because I didn't want to get up but because I couldn't get up and I landed up in hospital and I want you to know I wasn't there for drinking I was there because I get a pension from when I was in the service and when I went to the hospital I went in there under my pensionable disability so that I'd get 100% pension while I was in the hospital. And my wife didn't care if I stayed in the hospital the rest of my life because the pension went straight home. At least she had money. But I was there for five days in that hospital. Not one person came to visit me. I guess they just didn't know I was there. But my family didn't come. Just nobody. and the day before I got out of hospital a little doctor that I had and I'll be ever grateful to him he sat down beside my bed and he said Cease I can't do I've done everything I can do for you I've built you up physically and the rest is going to be up to you and I said what do you mean he said well Cease I was in the service with you And he said, I think that you were an alcoholic then and I think things are worse now. And I said, well what should I do? And he says, I would suggest that you join Alcoholics Anonymous. And I thank God that he told me the truth about myself. I wasn't about to join Alcoholic Anonymous, but at least he told me what was wrong with me. that night I had two visitors I didn't ask them to come they came because my little doctor friend sent them to see me I knew both of them one was the sloppiest drunk in all of Canada, I'm sure but this night he looked good and he was cleaned up and he had a beautiful brown suit on he was clean and his hair looked good And I knew that something had happened to Bill He didn't have to talk, but he did talk Talked loud And I thought the whole hospital was listening to him I tried to change the subject And Bill wouldn't change the topic He was telling me about Alcoholics Anonymous And what had happened and he was enthusiastic about it The other fellow was a guy by the name of Earl And Earl and I had been in a service together And Earl Had done something wrong When he came back from overseas and he ended up in our penitentiary. We have a big penitentiary in our town and he found Alcoholics Anonymous in that penitention and a lot of people wonder why I am so interested in institutional work. Well, that is the reason that I am because of what Earl brought to me. Bill died sober. Earl went back to drinking and fell in the river and drowned. That's not important but the big thing is that they carried that message to me. I know today why I became an alcoholic. I became an alcoholic because I'm a Protestant. Don't laugh, you Catholics. I'm coming to you next. I was one of the only Protestants that lived in a Catholic community. I knew all about resentments before I read it in the book. They treated me bad. They called the bingos in Latin so that I couldn't understand them. And here I am in a Catholic hospital, and I went in there with a bad check for a private ward. We have Medicare in Canada now, but this was before Medicare and I was having a difficult time the next day to get out of that hospital because that little Catholic nun wasn't about to let me out until I paid that check and I phoned the only person in the world that my credit was any good with and that was my bootlegger and he came and got me out of hospital promised probably had he known what I was going to do he would have left me there but he was a taxi driver and he drove me down to where I was supposed to meet these people that Bill and Earl had told me about it was ten o'clock in the morning and I went down to this little restaurant and they had an emergency meeting because in those days if you got a live one you all came everybody and they came all 15 of them I live in a town of about 35,000 it was probably about 25 then but all of them showed up and I knew every one of them I just hadn't seen them for a while I guess we weren't going to the same places and I just fell in love with those people right off the bat I just thought it was really really great and then they wanted to take me home after they had this emergency meeting and I said oh no, no, I can get home by myself you see my little wife was a little narrow when I was away for 3 or 4 days and she would say bad things and if some friends happened to come home with me she'd run them off and so I said well I'd get home and they insisted on taking me home and I can remember walking in that door it was a cold morning and I was thinking oh my God I hope she behaves herself and she opened that door and she kissed me and she said I think everything is going to be okay hon you see some of the ladies that was before Al-Anon and some of them some of those ladies had been up to see her that had gone to the mixed meetings and they told her what I was going to try to do and it was just beautiful if nothing else I stayed in Alcoholics Anonymous that day just for that reason if it could do that much for her well maybe it could be something for me too and that night we went to our first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous that was January the 16th 1952 because of you beautiful people because of a program called Alkalics Anonymous and because of a power greater than myself who I prefer to call God I have never had to have a drink since that day and I went to that meeting and I was 27 years of age and you should have seen those people in there I had met them all that morning but this time I was at a meeting and they were just seemed so old some of them were 40 years old some of the older than that 45 and 50 and I thought oh my god and then they didn't have the meeting first they had a social and they played games and I remember them playing pin the tail on the donkey and this really wasn't my idea of a Saturday night and I can still remember that meeting so well after the social they had a meeting and I could remember this donkey standing up and saying that he was sober for a year and I sat in the back and I thought a liar couldn't be much of a drunk if you can stay sober for a year then I looked around and everybody was having a good time including my wife except me and then they took me into another room a couple of the old timers that were sober about 18 months they took us they took we into another room and they said cease you heard us tonight and some of us talked and we said something about in those days they used to say there's no musts in Alcoholics Anonymous but they said tomorrow morning there's a meeting here at 8 o'clock and you must be here and I'm glad they talked to me that way because I have never stopped going and I still go to my meetings twice a week do something like this almost every weekend and I just love Alcoholics Anonymous. And I didn't even want to come to Alcoholics Anonymous, I was in hospital, a couple of guys came to see me, I didn' t invite them they just came to se me. And you know sometimes they say when somebody phones a wife or a husband or something will phone us and say would you come and see my wife or my husband or my son and you know you hear people say well do they want to see us? I didn't want to see those guys. Dr. Bob didn't wanna see Bill. Bill asked to tell his story Bob said he'll give him 15 minutes of his time. You never wonder what would happen if people didn't make those calls totally uninvited. There may not be any Alcoholics Anonymous. And I'm so grateful that those two people came to see me uninvite. So I said, I didn't even want to come here. Why would a man 27 years old in 1952 want to do want to have come to AlcoholicsAnonymous? I was something like the three alcoholic rabbits. I don't know whether you have alcoholic rabbits down here or not. we have them back home I don't mean ordinary Saturday night drunk rabbits I mean real genuine alcoholic rabbits they sit out by the fence with their ears drooping down real genuine alcoholic rabbits and there were three of them and they were called foot and foot foot and foot food and foot used to phone him foot foot foot and he'd say let's pick a bowl of food and we'll go down to the bar so foot foot and foot wood foot pick a bowl of food they'd go down to the bar one night foot foot foot was sitting talking to foot foot and foot foot said to foot foot he says where's foot foot where's foot gone and so foot foot sent to foot foot foot he said well he was here just a minute ago but he went outside so footfoot and footfoot foot they went outside found poor old foot foot was dead so foot food said to foot foot foot what do you think we should do with foot and foot food foot said the foot food he said well I think we should take him the funeral home after the funeral home after the funeral foot foot said foot foot foot he said what do you think old foot died from and foot foot said to foot foot foot he said well I think he was alcoholic and foot foot foot said to foot foot. He said, do you think that we're alcoholic? And foot-foot said to foot- foot- foot, he said, well, we're drinking quite a bit. So foot- foot said to food-foot-foot, he said, Do you think we should join Alcoholics Anonymous? And foot- foot- foot said the foot- foot, He said might as well, we got one foot in the grave anyway. Joke's finished. You did a fine job there, honey. when I was drinking I used to use five rabbits but that's the way I thought about Alcoholics Anonymous I thought you had to have one foot in the grave and when I looked at all those old people I was sure of it but you know I came into AlcoholicsAnonymous and I stayed sober just by pats on the back. They were just treated me great. They'd pat me on the neck and they'd say, doing a fine job, kid. God, I love that. Nobody called me boy. We know better than to do that in Canada. And we don't say you all. We say proper grammar, all of you. and they all treated me real good and i just enjoyed alcoholics anonymous i went to deals oh not as great big as this but the deals in other towns they would pat me on the back they said we heard about you you're doing a fine job and i was just having a great time everybody loved me everybody patted me on the back, and it was beautiful. And then a horrible thing happened. Some younger members came in, and they walked right by me. I went to talk to the older members. The older members walked right behind me and talked to the newer members. And all of a sudden, I became a middle member. And I don't care if you're an Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous or Alateen, one day you're going to become a middle member. And it's a bad thing. It's just like being a hole in a donut. You're nothing. You stand out there, nobody talks to you. And I thought about going out and maybe practicing a little bit and coming back and getting the same treatment again. Thank God I didn't have to do that. We had a fellow in our group by the name of Ernie Seeger, and we asked Ernie to chair the meetings for three months. And we have discussion meetings in our city. And Ernie said, well, I'll chair them providing we do one thing. We said, what's that? And he said, I want the whole group, the entire group, we just had one group at that time, he said I want us to go through the steps and I want is to do the steps. And we're not just going to talk about it, discuss it. We're going to do them. And we thought we'd humor old Ernie along, so we said we'd do that. Next week we came to the meeting and Ernie told us, take our big book, go home, and read the first 57 pages. And we all did that faithfully and we phoned each other and talked about it. Next week, we came back and Eranie said, we're going to discuss step one. Word with me admitted we're powerless over alcohol and our lives have become unmanageable. I didn't even know at that time That there was a second part to step one I just had admitted I was powerless over alcohol See, at that point At that time not too many people Knew much about Alcoholics Anonymous And I'm beginning to find out As I go around the country That the same thing exists today Some people don't know a heck of a lot About AlcoholicsAnonymous But we learned About AlcoholicAnonymous from Ernie And from this big book and I found out I had an unmanageable life I came to Alcoholics Anonymous owing $6,200 I know that's ridiculous even to talk about it down here but back home that's a lot of money in 1952 if you put that into inflationary terms it's probably about $30,000 and I didn't owe it for anything I just owed it you see because I came here by way of a poker game and I'd been in a lot of poker games and I owed it to some strange people and I had a good job my boss got sick and tired of me getting phone calls him getting phone cards and so he took me to the bank and he endorsed my note for $6,200 I didn't send the checks he and the banker sent the checks out to the people I owed money to and made Babe and I sign a piece of paper that we would never charge anything, that we'd pay cash for everything. Three years later, he bailed me out for $7,500 because I had an unmanageable life as far as money was concerned. And you see, I didn't stop playing poker because I came to Alcoholics Anonymous. Wasn't going to quit that, too. I just thought it'd be a better poker game, poker player. And I want you to know something. You can lose money sober. those ponies don't run any differently whether you're drunk or sober and I had trouble with poker but then I found out that financial problems had nothing to do with money and I know I'm not even making sense to you people because none of you even know what financial problems are but supposing one day you sponsor somebody and they say, golly, I'm having some financial problems. You'll say, by God, I heard a speaker from Canada and he was that way too, you know. And get a hold of my tape and tell them what I did. Because financial problems can cause you a lot of trouble, sober. Whether you're an Al-Anon, Al-Ateen or Al-Khaliqs Anonymous. Al-Al-Anons also have those problems sometimes. And I can remember going home one day now this is sober and I was a good staunch member of Alcoholics Anonymous the youngest member in the group the youngest number in the whole province of Saskatchewan and boy, I was great and by this time I had become an eye specialist you know, I know this, I can do that I run the group I was an eye specialist I get home and bythis time my wife had found that Al-Anon and that was bad news when she found out and I got home and we're sitting having lunch with our two little daughters and she said I thought you said you paid so-and-so and I said well if I said I paid him I paid them you know she said well why would they phone me today and say you haven't paid them you know what the great member and this is sober The great member of Alcoholics Anonymous did. First I threw my food, plate and all into the sink. Got up, ripped the phone off the wall and said they'll not be phoning you anymore. And I went in the front room and pouted, you know. Isn't that awful? And that's what can happen to you. and that's what happens to some people in Canada when they have financial problems but to show you I've changed just a little bit several years ago I owed a company $10,000 that's not a lot of money in my business because I'm in the fur coat business I have a retail store where I sell fur coats but it's a lot of money in the middle of July when it's about 96 above and this manufacturer was phoning me, writing me letters saying bad things to me, and finally I thought I'd better correspond with him, communicate with him. And I wrote him a letter, and I thanked him for his merchandise, told him it was wonderful, told him I'd sold some on the layaway plan, told them I'd like to have fall dating. And then I threw a little philosophy at him. I said if I had ten miles to walk down a railroad track, it would take a long time. But if I took it a telephone pole at a time, it'd take still longer, but I'd finally get there. And I signed it, yours truly, Cecil E. Corgo, manager of Cecil Corgo Furs and Fashions. P.S. I'm enclosing a certified check for $100 and send it off about four weeks later, four days later I got a letter back that's when the post office was operating properly and this fellow congratulated me on my letter writing ability he suggested I get out of the Furbiz and go write letters for somebody And he signed it, yours truly, Moe Amsel Amsel in Amsel, Montreal P.S. Would you mind sending me another telephone pole? And I've sent him a lot of telephone poles And I'm sorry And I have sent a lot people a lot Of telephone poles You see, before that I had too much pride To tell somebody that I could only pay so much I wanted to walk in and throw it all down say here's the lousy money, how are you? because I was suffered from big shot ism and I know you don't know what I'm talking about I just had big shot ism and I had an ego that was just a little out of line too but in this step one and doing certain things like that I learned a little bit and I got myself straightened around a whole lot and we went on the next week to that beautiful step two where it says came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity and I went to some of those old timers and I said if I'm going to be restored to sanity that must mean I'm insane I'd never been in a mental hospital and I asked them how can I come back from somewhere I haven't been and they said that's not what it means Cecil it means you're insane thinking and you're negative thinking and I don't know whether you people have ever had this happen down here back in Canada it happens where people sit around a table sometimes in Al-Anon sometimes in AA trying to help somebody that's not there and they say like things like this have you heard did you know oh God I think it's awful this happens back in Canada and I hope the disease doesn't spread down here and this is the kind of person I was I was always have you heard, did you know and I talked about people and things I was something like the negative barber a guy slid into a barber chair one day and he says I'd like a haircut to last me three weeks the barber said why three weeks He said, I'm going on vacation. The barber said, where are you going? He said... First of all, he said, I'm gonna go to London, England. He said you're not going to London England. He said I am. He said You're not. He said. I am He said wouldn't go there if I were you. And now I've never been there but I heard. Lousy place to go. Too many people. Too many cars. The guy said look it. I don't care. If I don' like it there I'm goin' on over to Paris. Barber says you're NOT goin' to Paris He said I am He said You're NOT He said I am He said I wouldn't go there if I was you Now, I've never been there, but I heard they really fleece the tourists over there. He said, look at that. Just cut my hair. If I don't like it there, I'm going to Rome. The barber says, you're not going to roam. He said. I am. He said you're nuts. And he said, I wouldn't go there if I were you. Too many Catholics over there, he said. Guy said, Look, I don' care if I'm Catholic. Yeah, but he said I heard different kind of a Catholic over there Three weeks later, the guy came back slid into the barber's chair. The barber said, How was your trip? He said It was good. He said it wasn't. He said was. He said You didn't go to England. He said I did. Didn't go London English. He says, I did. He says he didn't. He says it did. He said he'd love to stay there long but wanted to get on to Paris. He says you didn't go to Paris He says I did He says she didn't He says her dead He says they'd love the state their line but want to get onto Rome He says You didn't Go to Rome And he says I didn't He says did He says a did And he's just a great thing happened He said I got an audience with the Pope and he says you dead And he said I did It's just dead And he sees you'll never believe what happened He says I knelt down bent down to kiss the Pope's ring and you'll Never believe what the Pope said And the barber says what he says for the heck Did you get that lousy haircut? And I was something like the barber. I didn't know, but I'd heard, you know? And I know none of you people even know what I'm talking about. But I was that way, and I'm sharing my experience with you people. But I decided, they said I was supposed to pray in the morning, and I was forced to pray at night, and I said, who to? And they said, doesn't matter. And I said okay, and they said I found out I had an unmanageable life step two I found a manager and I kept it that simple we went on to step three and it's always you know when step three comes along as Rod said last night it's right after the ABCs it says we're now at step three and at step tree where it says made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him not as we understand him as many people say but God as we understood him there's a difference between understand and understood I'm not going to tell you what it is I'm going to let you figure it out for yourselves but that's what the steps is God as We Understood Him and all they're asking us to do is to make a decision but about this point everybody starts looking for God don't worry about that God's not lost you don't have to worry about them just make a decission that you're going to do something and I know we hate making decisions We hate making decision because we're afraid of making the wrong decision I still hate making decisions. Before coming up here tonight, I was trying to decide whether I should go to the bathroom or not. And right now, I don't know whether I've made the right decision or not I don't know whether you people know what poachers are down here back in Canada we have poachings they fish out of season, they hunt out of season and there was this old poacher and this they tried to catch him for years and finally a new game warden came to town, dressed up in old clothes, went down, made friends with this old Poacher 2 o'clock in the afternoon the old poacher said well I'm going fishing what a talk he made a decision but we're afraid to make a decision because we're afraid of making the wrong one I have a friend of mine who was over in Ireland and he's walking down the street and the guy stuck a gun in his back and he said what are you and he thought real fast he thought well if I say I'm Catholic and he is Protestant he is going to shoot me if I say I'm Protestant, he's Catholic he's going to shoot me so he said, I'm Jewish the guy with the gun says I'm the luckiest Arab in the whole wide world so you see sometimes we make the wrong decision but all it asks is to make this decision and if we read step 3 on page 63 and on to page 64. You'll find out what your will is. And if you read that will, you'll want to get rid of it because it tells us exactly how we are and we will want to turn it over. And I did it as simple as this. I went downstairs and I said to God, look at God, I've done a bad job managing my life. How about you take in charge? And I kept it that simple. And I have to keep things simple because if I louse him up and, you know, get him a little complicated, my life could fall apart. And I keep it simple. I have a friend of mine back home that has a ranch. Another friend said, how'd you get the name of your ranch? And he says, well, I wanted to call it the Bar Q. My wife wanted to called it the Susie Q. My son wanted to be called the Bar Susie Kew and my daughter wanted to been called the Susy Bar Q so we called it The Bar Q Susie Cue Susie Bar Q Bar Susy Q. And the guy said, well, that's a great name, but where are the cattle? And he said, none of them ever survived the branding. And you see, that can happen to us. It's just that way. And they told me that I was going to have to change. And each and every week that I would have to do that. I was gonna change, and by golly, I started to change, and none of us like change, you know. We want to stay the way we were. Just not drink. A lot of us be contented we don't want to change. Nobody wants change. Today the computer age is here. Do you ever see somebody when they're going to move some computers in? Holy malarkey, place goes crazy because we don' t want change. I heard a story once about a little gal and she was going to cook a ham. And she said to her mother, she said, why do we cut the end off the ham? And her mother said, I don't know, but my mother did it. And she's here and I'll ask her. And she says, Mom, why do we cut the end off the ham? And she said, well, I Don't know. But the great grandmother is here. I'll Ask her. And she Says, Grandma, why did we cut The end off The ham? And the great Grandmother said, I Don' t know why you people do it, But I did it because I had a small roaster. You Know. and we'd like to kind of stay that way with a small roaster but I started to change and I'll tell you it was something else and when it came to step four Earl Ernie was really a smart boy he brought pencils and papers for all of us because he had heard somebody say that they couldn't find a pencil and a paper and so they hadn't done their step four. So he brought his pencils and paper and he gave us this big book once again. He talked to us and we all looked at our big books and he showed us on page 65 exactly how to do a step four and I did a step for I went home and did it. That was our job or exercise for that week and by this time people are talking about this group from other cities. they are saying that there's a fellow up there chairing these meetings and he's given the people homework isn't that awful boy, that homework saved my life I'll tell you I'm glad that old Ernie gave me homework and if anybody ever tells you to go home and read the first 57 pages do it if they tell you that it's about time you took a step forward well, do it and I tell you I don't know when you're supposed to take a step forth but in this big book We took it after step three. And if you think this is some stupid propaganda I'm bringing down from Canada, I want you to know that my book came from the United States. And I want to thank you for sharing it with us. You're great people. and we did that step four and we went back and I was so proud of it I wanted to show it to all Ernie and Ernie said no, no,no that's your business so then he said he told us all about step five from this book Alcoholics Don't Amuse he told me he told his all about step 5 and I know down here you take step 5 with your sponsor we don't trust our sponsors back home they may get drunk and most sponsors when they get drunk they babble everything we take sponsors with dear people like the father even if he is Catholic we even trust them and Ernie had a list of people from men of the cloth for us to go and take our step five with and I talked to two beautiful little gals this morning and I was telling them about this. And, you know, the reason that we take them with people who are men of the cloth is because they are experienced counselors. Now, you may think, well, how do they get that way? Well, back home we have fifth step classes for priests and preachers. And we get them studying the big book and we give them homework too and to show them what they're supposed to do with us when we come to them. and it really works. And I went to this little preacher, and Ernie told us, just like Rod mentioned last night, he said a lot of people says I went through another human being. That's not what the step says. The step said admit it to God, to ourselves, and to another human thing. and I went into the bathroom this one night and I got down on my knees beside the bathtub and I admitted to God I got up and went to the mirror to admit to myself and do you know I changed stories from down there to up here I had to do it a couple of times to get the story the same thing and then I went to another human being and this little Reverend Casler he was a Protestant mind you and I went to him and he and I discussed about me and he told me a lot of things and he taught me a whole lot and he said a lot of things and when I didn't get everything out he got it out of me and I'll be ever grateful to him and he says now do you know what you're supposed to do and I said yes I'm supposed to read steps six and seven and he knew that and he says go and find a quiet place cease and do that where we're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character and we humbly ask him to remove our shortcomings and there was never a moment in my life since or before or after than that night where I was more ready to have god remove all my defects of character and you see a lot of people think we do a big thing if we do a step four and five we really haven't done anything we've admitted we're powerless over alcohol and that's we've hit bottom so that's an easy deal we have an unmanageable life we ask for help from a power greater than ourselves then we turn this over to this power greater than ourselves we find out about ourselves in step four then we talk to God to ourselves and go and talk to another human being but we still have all those defects of character and those shortcomings now the big thing is are we ready to get rid of them and I think a dear little priest told me this he said the trouble with most AA members is the way I see it and I was starting to believe priests by this time and I know what it means when it says keep an open mind and live and let live and he said is we're afraid of becoming too good too fast don't worry about that I'm privileged to do this almost every weekend somewhere and I haven't met any saints as yet in our fellowship not even in Al-Anon I haven'T met any so we don't have to worry about that and you see I told you I hadn't stopped gambling and I was still looking and making up poker games and I came to six and seven and I asked God to remove that obsession to gamble and I don't have to gamble anymore. I'm free of that. I used to swear a whole lot and I was told by a few people in poker games that they walked out of poker games because I was there because of my profanity I used to sit down and talk to AA members and I find myself cussing and so I ask God to clean up my act and you see I try not to use profanities and I'll tell you one reason I really try we had a fellow back home who was a very successful businessman but he was alcoholic his wife was going to Al-Anon I heard he went to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. And his wife was in my store, and I said, I hear there's some good news at your place. And she said, well, I don't know. Didn't he go to a meet-up? He went to the meeting, and she said... Yeah, he went through a meeting, but... I don' t know whether... What's going to happen. I said... Well, how do you enjoy the meeting? And she says... He came home, and i asked him, and he said it was a strange meeting. And she say... I said why? And she said... Well, they prayed a little bit. then they swore a whole lot and then they prayed a little bit more and we had a cup of coffee and came home I tell you what I never ever want to be responsible for somebody coming to an AA meeting and my profanity scares them away Now, don't say that that Canadian come down here and said we can't swear. That's not what I'm saying. I am saying that I don't feel that I have the right to do that. Step seven talked a whole lot about humility. And I was having a difficult time to do as I did when I was in Sunday school and I had a very, very spiritual upbringing. and I was having a difficult time because I'd lost faith and I would have a difficult time to get back down on my knees and I was in New York and a fellow by the name of Shy Walker was speaking and Shy told how he came out of prison and how he so much wanted to stay sober and how he couldn't get down on his knees to pray and how much he wanted to and Shy told about how he came home one night and he was wearing high top boots working on construction and he kicked his boots underneath the bed and the next morning he got down on his knees to get his boots from underneath the bad and he thought by golly seeing I'm down here I'm going to say a few words every night I used to boot his boots under the bed so at the next moment the next day he'd get down to get these boots and he'd say a Few words I don't know whether it works with high top boots because I didn't have any at that time but I know it works with ordinary shoes because I tried it and I believe if there's any definition for humility to me it would be the willingness to stand the ability to stand rather and the willingness to kneel the ability to stand up for what we believe in and the willingness to get on our knees and thank God for what's been given to us and today I can do that and I'm very grateful for it step eight told me that I had to make another list of all the people I'd harmed and we were doing this as a group and I was watching a group of fellas change. We didn't have any ladies in AA at that time in our city, but I was watchin' these fellas change and they were watchin'' me change. And it was just great. And we did this, and we did our step eight. And I said to Ernie, I said, Look, I made this list in step four. And he said, See, knowing you, you probably hurt somebody from step four to step eight than I had. And so I wrote it down. And I got that willingness that they talked about. That's all it asked us to do, to be willing. And in step nine, where it said, May direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others. I went about and I made those amends. And each and every step whittled a little bit more of that self-centeredness off me. And it whittles me down to size by doing those steps in sequence. I have a sponsor and I have had the same sponsor since I came to Alcoholics Anonymous over 37 years ago I don't know if anybody else in Alcoholics Anonymous who've had the same sponsor for 37 years I have and dear old Elmer he's 10 days sober longer than me but he's just a great guy and Elmer and I have discussed this book and we've read the book and we've traveled together and we been and Elmer goes all over the world he's still working at 75 years of age and he's working in a prison and he is an alcoholism counselor but really and truly what he is doing is teaching the AA program to the inmates and do one great job and he has asked to go all over the world to show them about his program and I just love Elmer and I love having the same sponsor and I have and I love having a sponsor and today I see people who haven't got a sponsor and that is sad because without Elmer I may not be here today and I'm grateful to Elmer because Elmer went through the steps in sequence and Elmer always says that every person in Alcoholics Anonymous should have the opportunity at least once to go through the step steps in sequence and Elmar said that I've heard him say it a thousand times and I believe it to be true and every meeting Ernie used to lead read what we were entitled to and those were the promises I know you know what they are but I love to read them because they're just great and it says if we are painstaking about this phase of our development we'll be amazed before we're halfway through we are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness we will not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. we will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Ernie told us that we were entitled to those promises. Don't jip yourselves, he says, get those promises and I can assure you that by going through those steps in sequence that I have experienced every one of those promises and I'm very grateful for it and that's what everybody's entitled to in Alcoholics Anonymous are those 12 promises So if you haven't done the steps, and I don't mean discuss the steps. If you haven'T done them, don't jip yourselves. Get what's coming to you because it's a fabulous experience. I went on to step 10 where it says continue to take personal inventory and when we're wrong, promptly admit it. And I call step 10, 11, and 12, I call them my growth steps. Some people call them maintenance steps. I don't want to just maintain the way I am I want to grow in Alcoholics Anonymous and so I call them my growth steps I don' t want to share something which happened to me when I was 10 years sober I forgot who I was and what I was and where I came from and I became Mr. A.A. and I became a big shot in Alcoholics Anonymous I became a big shot in my job and I became a big shot in my community and I almost fell on my face never stopped going to Alcoholics Anonymous but I would walk in with an attitude something like this you lucky people here I am I went to the penitentiary for 12 years every Tuesday night to put the boys through the steps. And as I drove out there, I would drive out with an attitude something like this. These boys sure are lucky to have the great one coming out to see them every Tuesday. I had the best job that a person could have. I was managing the largest ladies wear store in the province of Saskatchewan. I was looking after the fur department for five stores. a big car, a big expense account and I was big I was working for the wealthiest man in our city and I decided he should be the second wealthiest man and I got some of those material things but in my great struggle to get those great material things I started to lose spiritual things and I share that with you because just maybe when you get around that 10 year stage this may happen and you know as big as the crowd is this weekend 45% of you people won't be here next year now maybe I'm not saying you'll be drinking but you just won'tbe here and I sure hope that you think that just think about that and try to prove me wrong anyway this wealthy man that I was working for he called me into the office one day in his big store and it seemed that the store wasn't quite big enough for the two of us and it seems that he wasn't about to leave because he owned it and he fired the great cease corgal and I walked out of that store with an attitude something like this they won't last long now the great one's gone I want you to know there's still errors still doing okay still millionaires heaven's alright I was going to a little roundup about 300 miles 250 miles from where I live there was a dear old man who has now gone to that great roundup and I hope Dave is looking down tonight. And he picked me up to go to this roundup and I went down and I've always loved good clothes and I got myself some new threads and I had a little cousin that had come from the west coast of Canada to visit me and I was in the middle of the night and I came down to see Fern and Fern's also now up at that great roundup in the sky and I stood up in front of her in my big egotistical way that night and I said well kid how do I look and Fern said these few simple words and I'll share them with you she said you look really good on the outside how are you really on the inside and I drove off to Flin Flon Manitoba with dear old Dave Dave didn't talk to me because he thought maybe what Fern said would bring me back I'd never gone away I was going to meetings never missed a meeting but my attitude had gone haywire I went into Winnipeg, Manitoba and I spent a couple of days just talking to God in the hotel room with this big book of Alcoholics Anonymous I went back to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and I went in the business for myself it's no big deal I had to do something but the big deal is I went to the hotel I went by alcoholics anonymous and I'd never been away doesn't make sense does it but I went back with the proper attitude and the proper motive just because that little gal said you look really good in the outside seas but how are you really on the inside today I take a step ten every day tonight when I go to bed I will take a step ten when I'm wrong I promptly admit it because I just don't like been in trouble with other people. Step 11 said, sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as we understood him. Praying only for the knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out. No matter where I am, I take this book and I read page 86, 87, and 88 which is step 11. Tells me exactly how to run my day. I read the prayer on page 63 and I read your prayer on page 76 76 the third step prayer in a seven-step prayer I read two promises and I'm going to read and I'll read the last part of a vision for you of how we clear away the wreckage of past and we trudge down the road to a happy destiny I read some other books I may read Vincent Peale and I may read Emmett Fox sometimes I may reading the Bible. I know it's not conference-approved literature, but I'll take a chance on it. And the reason I do that is because I just want to live comfortably each and every day. For you see, you never know who's out there to get you. There's people out there that will aggravate our illness if we let them. But I get ready for them. And you know, I'm talking about how I grew up hating Catholics. Well, our two daughters, they grew up and Faye, we gave Faye everything just, you know love and education, material things and you'll never believe what she did she married a Catholic an Italian one or the worst kind and she was blessed with a beautiful little baby girl and when I used to be coming from these deals they were living in eastern Canada They're probably straight north of here. And I used to go and see them, and my little Anna, her name was Anna Maria. Really not an Anglo-Saxon name. And she was all ready to come home with Grandpa. And so she came home in the airplane with me, about 2,000 miles. And the first morning she was home, I was in this little room doing my reading, and little Anna knocked on the door. and babe said honey you can't do it go in there, Gramps is doing his reading and she says well I have something to tell him and I said well let her come in and she came in, I took her up on my knee and told her what I was trying to do and I asked her what did you want to tell me and she said I wanted to tell you that I love you and I told her I wanted you to know that I also love you may not mean a thing to anybody out there but here's this old hard rock that couldn't give love couldn't accept love and here a little Catholic girl is telling me that she loves me and I'm returning it and tell her that I love her too she's 19 years old she's going to university we never meet each other or never say goodbye to each other unless we tell each other that we love each other she was at the international conference in Montreal with us and she really enjoyed meeting new people. She has a little sister. Not a little Sister anymore. She's 16 years old. Her name is Chela Louisa. Oh, I don't know where they found those names. And she just thinks that there is nobody in the world if Grandpa says it's right it's correct. isn't that fantastic she just loves me whether I'm Protestant or whether she's Catholic or what they went to French Catholic schools that's not bad but I had to drive them sometimes but a fellow learns live and let live and keep an open mind my youngest daughter Donna Has a little fella Not a little fellow anymore He's 16 years of age He's Jason and he's a Protestant He comes a lot of places with me Not because he's Protestant You must mind But just because he is a good guy He was in The International Conference in New Orleans He was at the International Conference In Montreal He's wondering how he can get time off From Sea Cadets to go to Seattle and he just loves Alcoholics Anonymous and he doesn't even drink tremendous athlete, tremendous member of the Sea Cadet Corps in Canada just a good guy and I can remember when he was just a little fella he was sitting there one day and he and I were up having a car washed and he noticed Kentucky Fried Chicken next door and he said Grandpa let's buy some chicken and take it home to Grandma and I said okay and we went to buy the chicken And he said, well, while we're at it, let's get enough for ourselves. And we did that. And we're sitting down and we had, at that time, had these little chairs and table. We still have them. And he asked me to sit there in that little chair and table with him. And he says, you know what I want to be when I grow up, Grandpa? And I said, what do you want to become? want to be Jason? And he said, I want to be a grandpa. And he said, I want to have a store and I want to be the boss and I want to be like you. Isn't that a fantastic thing? And I could have lost all of that, even in Alcoholics Anonymous, I could have lost it. Jason's mother got divorced from her Protestant husband and she too married a Catholic. another Italian and they have a little guy now he's five years old and his name is Giovanni Anthony Flaminio is his last name I don't know how to spell it I've just learned how to pronounce it you know and he's my buddy and I'll tell you he looks at pictures in magazines and he looks at cigarettes and he says Bapa sees in Gio no way and he looked at whiskey he calls it and he said Bapa see in GIO no way we don't drink or we don' t smoke and he went to a wedding down east with all those Catholic Italians and when he come back his daddy said ask tell your grandpa what you did down east what you drank and he changed the subject and his mother said go ahead, tell Bob to see what you drank and so finally he told me he had just a little bit of wine that's the only slip he's had he's not having any more of that no way and he just loves when I phoned home last night he was at the house and he talked to me and asked me how people were and he asked me if I was going to tell a foot-foot story and he's five years old and he can tell it half Italian and half English but it's good different but good so I'm a pretty lucky guy because of these grandchildren and because of a lot of other people and when I talked about you know poachers and I heard a story about another poacher and when i talked about not knowing who's out there to get you I heard this story there was a game warden and his name was Ralph and he was trying to catch this old poacher and he couldn't catch him and finally he went down one night and he bedded down outside this old Poacher's house shack and the next morning he thought he was living in this hay and he thought I'll catch him when he comes out next morning four o'clock he hears this door squeaking open and he said I'm going to get him the old poacher poked his head out the door and he said you want some breakfast Ralph old Ralph got up out of the hay and he went in and he's having breakfast and he says how did you know I was out there and the old Poacher said it didn't but every morning for the past five years I've opened that door and said you know do you want som breakfast Ralph you see we gotta be ready and that's what our 11th step teaches us and then we went on to that beautiful 12th step where it says having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs a spiritual awakening to me is just as it explains it it's a personality change I was telling Bob that Thursday morning when I went into the bathroom to come down here had I gone in there and said holy malarkey I have to drive a hundred miles to catch an airplane catch another airplane to Minneapolis catch another plane to Washington D.C. and catch a shuttle over there and then ride with Bob who doesn't know where he's going you know I would have been played out before I got out of the bathroom you know what I said man oh man I've been invited back to sessions by the sea isn't it fantastic just a change in attitude and it's much different and then it says tried to carry this message to the alcoholic it still suffers the first night I went to Alcoholics Anonymous there was a little guy there by the name of Bobby Motherwell Bobby put his arm around me and said Cease we want you and we need you and we love you and I didn't think anybody wanted me I didn' t think anybody needed me my wife had assured me that nobody loved me and here's a little guy telling me this and he was a fine little fellow and tonight I am positive you know we run around trying to get people into Alkalics Anonymous who don't want to even come in I don't think we're having a problem anymore getting them in just look at that crowd out there but I think we're going to I think we're having a problems keeping them when we're getting them here so if you see somebody standing there tonight looking a little bit down in the dumps, go over and tell them that you want them and you need them and your love make them feel comfortable in this beautiful thing that we got whether you're an Al-Anon or Alateen or Alcoholics Anonymous I guarantee there's several people out there with a football in their stomach try to help them get that football out of their stomach I usually do it practically every place I go, I watch for people who look a little bit sad. I went to a Christmas party once and I saw a guy standing there and I just knew that he'd just come through the door and he was anemic looking and he would stand in there and oh, he looked sad. And I went over and I told him about this beautiful thing, Alcoholics Anonymous, and I gave it to him. I really toted the message to him and it come time for the banquet. It was a Christmas Party come time from the banquet and they called the minister up to ask the blessing. guess who I'd been talking to he never drank before guarantee he hasn't drank since so sometimes we make a mistake but it's okay just keep trying treat the people the way you want to be treated and you know my grandmother taught me a beautiful prayer and that little prayer is please God treat me tomorrow as I've treated everybody today be careful when you say it and I like to tell you that I can say it every night because I have a program of Alkalics Anonymous that I'm privileged to practice one day at a time and I try to carry this message to Alkalic Anonymous no matter where I go and I tried by smiling and I'd try by looking good and I've tried by being kind to other people regardless of whether they're an alcoholic synonymous Al-Anon or Alateen or ordinary earth people it's kind of nice to be nice to them too and people are watching us so let's get them telling other people about us that we're nice people I heard a little gal tell me last night down on the waterfront there that she couldn't believe what has happened with the people that are here this week they are so nice she told me much different from the people that were here in the summer she said they nattered about the prices and they natted about everything and she said the people here just come in and buy the ice cream and stuff and everything's okay isn't that nice to have people say that so let's keep them saying and let's keep attracting people to this beautiful fellowship and let's keep people wanting to stay when they come that's what it means when they say we carried the message to the alcoholic that still suffers and then it says practice these principles in all our affairs what principles are they talking about I believe in step one we're talking about honesty step two we're thinking about hope step three faith step four courage step five integrity Step six, willingness. Step seven, humility. Step eight, brotherly love. Step nine, justice. Step ten, perseverance. Step eleven, spirituality. And step twelve, service to our fellow man. That is the opportunity that we have. Not what we have to do, but the opportunity that we are given. That's what we need to do to our fellow man, regardless of who they are. these principles in all our affairs. I want to thank the committee for giving me this very, very pleasurable privilege of being with you for the second time. I wantto thank you, the audience, for being such a tremendous audience because you listened and you made things so easy for me. Last but not least, I wanto thank God for givingme one more beautiful day to allow me to do something good for Alcoholics Anonymous because I never know when my tea off time is going to be and I want to be in shape when it comes and I wanna close this talk tonight with this simple thing and I hope it helps you as much as it helped me every one of you look real good on the outside how are you really on the inside thank you and God bless Thank you.