"The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us; first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and they by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process."
Tyrant: A ruler who governs unjustly, cruelly, or harshly.
Obsession: A compulsive or irrational preoccupation.
Allergy: A disorder causing adverse reactions to substances not harmful to most.
Whew. Those are some good words. I could have tossed in "insane" and "destroy" as well. I could have written a whole entry just giving out definitions. I try to avoid getting too extraterrestrial but I really, really believe that the words in our literature were divinely inspired and heavily vetted by our Founders. They're in the literature deliberately and for good reasons.
The section quoted above is from The Doctor's Opinion out of the Big Book. My sponsor always suggested that I steer newcomers to this introductory part of our literature; he said that it could be helpful for people struggling to understand what the problem was. I've always found it instructive to think of my disease of alcoholism in this manner. I react to alcohol in a way that a non-alcoholic doesn't and can scarcely understand (allergy) and then - once the alcohol is in my body - I can think of little else (obsession). Less kindly and more bluntly put: I'm nuts and I'm physically compromised.
"We alcoholics have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no alcoholic ever recovers control."
Never: (Ed. Note: No + Ever = Never) At no time; on no occasion; in no circumstance.
Don't believe us? Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. You'll discover the truth quite quickly.
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