Dorothy Hunt
When despair for the world grows in me
And I wake in the night at the least sound
In fear of what my life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water and I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting for their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry, Scottish poet
Big discusion in the meeting today about prescribed medications for people in A.A. who suffer from other illnesses or conditions unrelated to their alcoholism. There are a surprising number of people who still think that spirituality can cure all things. I ran into one of them while on my beach walks. He's an okay guy. I like him okay. We're never going to be close friends but he's been consistent in his recovery and celebrates three clean years tomorrow. Still . . . "OK, you break your leg - do you pray about it or do you go to the hospital?" He hemmed and hawed about that for a bit so I followed up with "You have cancer - do you take medication for that?" I won the argument but he did not concede. Fair enough. Also, to the people who won't sponsor someone who takes any medication whatsoever . . . Fair enough again. Our coins say "To Thy Own Self Be True." I do think there's a big difference between not sponsoring someone on medication and telling someone who takes prescribed medication not to take that medication. That's dangerous shit, that is.
"Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows really means."
12 & 12 P. 92
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