M5 St Charles Church, Portland, OR

Meeting 5: St Charles Church, 5310 NE 42nd St., Portland
Wednesday, 9th June
Big Book Review: Fred's Story pp 39 - 43

It was good to attend a big book meeting. Fred was a successful, wealthy businessman, with a fine family and a beautiful home. Everything in his life was almost perfect. And yet as soon as he took one drink it triggered an uncontrollable bender. He tried to apply the willpower he applied to every other aspect of his life to his drinking problem, but inexplicably, despite a full knowledge of the inevitable consequences, as soon as he took the first drink he lost all control. He tells the classic story of a weeklong bender when he drunkenly chartered an aeroplane, and woke up in an entirely different state.

Though few of us have the wherewithal to charter a plane, we've all woken up in weird places, with absolutely no recollection of how we got there. I think many of us think that alcoholics are the homeless guys you see haunting the parks and park benches of the world. In fact, the disease can strike anyone, professional, blue collar, lay or secular.

Fred's story reminds me that it would be fatal to take even one sip. Alcohol triggeres my inner insanity. As I stroll around these American cities, my alcohol mind takes in every pub and bar I walk past. By a cruel irony, when I came here in 1984 American beer was notoriously awful. There's been a revolution, and every bar now boasts a range of fine beers brewed in small breweries run by beer lovers.

Thanks to meetings like tonight's, I remember just how disastrous it would be were I to sample any. I contentedly stick to Cranberry juice.