“Though you may be able to stop for a considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic. We think few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year. Some will be drunk the day after making their resolutions; most of them within a few weeks.” (Chapter Three, Big Book)
“But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.” (Chapter Three, Big Book)
Imagine having
‘serious’ alcoholism. Physically addicted. DTs. No job. Oesophageal varices.
Now imagine having
‘mild’ alcoholism. Still working. Still married. Horrendous hangovers. Each
month a lost phone, a few days of impaired performance at work, some
embarrassing episodes, some scrapes, some narrow misses. But still fun,
sometimes.
Now imagine two
railway carriages. One is first class. Another is a cattle wagon. Except both
are on the same train and the train is heading for an abyss, over which the
railway bridge has collapsed.
Which one is mild, and which one is serious? The answer won’t make any difference.