Alcoholic Destruction

"To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face."

I've always absolutely loved that line.  Bill could be a pompous preacher one minute, then kindly, beautifully understate a harsh fact the next.  It reminds me of the old joke about a member talking to a new attendee: "Here's your choice: you can keep drinking, blotting out the details of your miserable existence to the best of your ability, doomed to live a painful, solitary existence, wracked with mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual torment, until you die alone and bereft on the mean streets.  Or you can accept spiritual help for your disease."

The newcomer thinks for a minute:"Can I get back to you tomorrow on that?"

Nobody ever accused us of half-assing our drinking.  Everything else, sure, but not our disease.

"Lack of power, that was our dilemma.  Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.  In this respect alcohol was a great persuader.  It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness."

Alcoholic destruction beating me into a state of reasonableness.  Very little nuance there.

I needed a good beating.