An Alcoholic’s Parable

A few days ago, at work, we were having a discussion about drinking booze. A coworker asked, since I had been so long in recovery as an alcoholic, one drink wouldn’t hurt me. He asked, couldn’t I have just one beer? I hope my answer helps someone out as much as it has helped me over these past ten years of sobriety.

Somewhere around the 1^st of January, 1998, I was moved to an Air Force hospital in Washington D.C. for alcohol rehab. I don’t remember how many people were in the ward at the same time, but I do remember one man in particular. We got to the ward about the same time. He is a friend. I am sorry I do not remember his name. He told me his story. It is a parable every alcoholic should hear.

My friend was about 65 years old. He had been on a Senior Senator's Capitol Police detail for many years. His recovery started 6 years earlier than our meeting. He told me, for six years he was sober. Not once did he relapse. Not once in 5 ½ years did he take a drink. Then one day he was invited to have a drink with a friend at a bar. One drink, he thought. He’d just have one drink. And he did. He was able to limit himself to having just one drink. Six weeks he thought to himself, six weeks, one drink. There were no cravings. He could control his drinking. Again he had a drink. He knew his limit. As long as he only had one drink, he was still sober, he was still in recovery. After the second drink another month or so past and my friend was feeling pretty proud of himself. Then it was about six months after he had had that first drink. Six months and only two drinks. It was there about the end of 1997, within days of the New Year. His wife had a bridal shower, at the house, for their daughter. Not being invited, I cannot remember where he was. But because he was not home the guests drank beer and champagne. Since his recovery began, six years earlier, neither he nor his wife brought alcohol beverages into the house. But this was a special occasion, and he was not there to boot. That must have been a Saturday, because the following morning his wife and daughter went to Sunday Church Services. The booze was still in the house. My friend does not know what happened. What was told to him when he woke, in Detox: His wife and daughter came home from church service and found him passed out in the cab of his pickup truck. They called for an ambulance. From there he began his 1^st day of sobriety, his 1^st new day of recovery.

No, we alcoholics, with one week, ten years, or thirty years sobriety, can not have one drink. Not if we want to keep our sobriety. Do not listen to those who are not here with us. There is a reason your Alcoholics Anonymous Sponsor is a Recovering Alcoholic, just like you. That is the reason, they have been, and they are just like you. They are Alcoholics, too.