The Downside Of Celebrating Sober Time

One more way AA puts alcohol on a pedestal

Perhaps the most damaging assertion of Alcoholics Anonymous is the idea that “normal” people can drink alcohol with impunity. At the same time, the less fortunate “alcoholic” — abnormal, diseased, defective, and insane — is incapable.

The following is taken directly from the AA Big Book, Chapter 3: More About Alcoholism…

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday, he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control.