Why the Big Book Says ‘It Works’ – Lew F.

About This Speaker Tape

November 15, 1963: thrown out of the Rainier Hotel on the skid row of Vancouver, bloodied and broken. Lew F. recalls a life lived in the gutters of the East Coast and the West, a trail of wreckage defined by a chip on his shoulder and a mind like "firmly set cement." He speaks of the paradox of the skids—the only place where creditors and wives don't bog you down—and the visceral memory of hitting his mother before fleeing to Halifax at seventeen.

From the Salvation Army missions where he sang for glazed donuts to the "marketing department" of hell, Lew describes the shift from a man with a black shoe and a brown shoe to a man who manages jewelry stores and travels to South Africa. He warns against the "disease of perception" and the trap of the serenity prayer without action. For Lew, the Big Book isn't for reading, but for studying, proving that a "tramp from Vancouver" can find a Higher Power and a life that finally fits.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening remarks on the nature of trusted servants and the Everly Brothers.
• 4:30 Story about the teenager's long hair and the requirement to walk.
• 11:20 Recounting being abandoned as a seven-month-old in New Brunswick.
• 15:40 The turning point: hitting his mother and fleeing to Halifax at age 16.
• 22:10 The story of meeting his wife, Winnie, and the ten years that followed.
• 31:00 The bottom: being thrown out of the Rainier Hotel in 1963.
• 36:40 First 12-step call and the 'dumb' advice given by the sponsors.
• 45:10 Discussion on the Big Book and the importance of studying versus reading.
• 52:30 The story of his son's accident with Drano and the subsequent hospital stay.
• 1:02:10 The discovery of his biological mother and the reconciliation process.
• 1:12:00 Detailed breakdown of the 12 Steps: 'fess up, look up, clean up, pay up, keep it up'.
• 1:25:00 Closing thoughts on forgiveness and the story of the two soldiers clapping.