Loneliness

Thoughtfood for Saturday, October 31, 2009

Loneliness

When I fearfully crept into that old building that first day,
I was greeted with a gentle invitation:

 "Come on in.  Let's talk it over."
And everyone assured me I was not alone

and need never to be alone again.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1],  p. 36

From the Big Book:

"At present, our membership is pyramiding at the rate of about twenty percent a year.  So far, upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we have made only a scratch.  In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem in all its ramifications. Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly.  Yet is it our hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom."

c. 1955, AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreward To Second Edition, pp. xx-xxi. 

Prayer for the day:

"I pray that I may follow the leading of the inner voice.  I pray that I may not turn a deaf ear to the urging of my conscience."

c. 1975, Hazelden Foundation, Twenty-Four Hours A Day, Oct 31.

Quote for the day:

"What makes loneliness an anguish is not that I have no one to share my burden, but this:  I have only my own burden to bear."  __Dag Hammarskjold  (Swedish Statesman and UN official, 1905-1961)

My share:

That offer of a helping hand, a listening ear, a sincere hug or handshake -- suddenly I was no longer alone.  A miracle.  Be Good To You, Dave