Bill W & Dr. Bob told AA #3, Bill D, “We’re giving you a treatment for alcoholism.” That was in June 1935. He never drank again. He too has become a respected and useful member of his community. So, you see, there were three alcoholics in that town, who now felt they had to give to others what they had found, or be sunk. The three men met a fourth, and after a bit, #4 said, “The way you fellows put this spiritual stuff makes sense.
This all began as Dr. Silkworth points out when Bill W was hospitalized under his care December 10th 1934, “In the course of his (Bill W) third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part of his rehabilitation, he commenced presenting his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of these men and their families. This man and over one hundred others appear to have recovered.”
I try to practice what I was told early on, “Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against an accusation, whether false or true. Accept abuse as well as you accept praise. Only God can judge the real you.”
Anyone can be a smart aleck. Anyone can be angry and tell other people things that will hurt them. Anyone can be sarcastic, devaluating and belittling, but it takes real strength to be silent. Silence is powerful. Silence can be loving. Our value and worth today do not come from what others think of us… It only comes from the relationship I have with God.