Stir Freyed or Stir Crazy – After All These Years

How many AAs are there, who haven’t yet gone through the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” – The Big Book, but raved and extolled on “A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey?” Even if they do not anymore, since the best-selling drunklogue has been refuted. Is that at odd, or what?

It is positively embarrassing. I think I would be embarrassed.

The Big Book is not really very good reading as far as books go. Not that it is badly written, or not succinct. I find it to be a carefully written, rather conscientious, methodical, and direct manual – but it was not meant to be a suspenseful page-turner, like say a John Grisham novel. It is a carefully written text-book containing the

“clear-cut directions showing how we (the co-authors) recovered.” (29:1)

Textbooks designed to instruct are not designed to be a literary work of art. I do not remember ever staying awake nights with a Samualson textbook, not being able to wait to find out how guns and butter affected the price of labor in a capitalist society – as interesting as I found the whole subject of Economics. (Can you say “Black Beautie?”)

Once having studied it, a textbook is handy to keep around for reviewing, as a reference sources and if we wish (or must) – to use as a guide in teaching others along with their own copy.

Like the dust cover of my third edition says: “This is the Third Edition of the Big Book, the BASIC TEXT for Alcoholics Anonymous.”

I know people, good people – AAs – who absolutely detest this statement on the dust jacket – yet there it still is and there it will remain, long after those folks are dead and buried.

I do no know if they just do not like it because it reminds them that they have decided to reclassify the Big Book for their own preferences, or think it was written in error, or what. There are some pretty hefty fools in the Fellowship – running around quoting Big Book passages who “off the wall” still – despite their preaching, so maybe that has turned them off – the way hypocrites in churches do. I don’t have that answer and I really do not see any great advantage to finding one.

Like following a cooking recipe, when I followed the directions I got the desired result: a spiritual awakening resulting in the compulsive, obsessive desire to drink being completely removed. I would not be able to drink alcohol today even if I wanted to. I am safe and I am protected and there are literally MILLIONS of people for whom this holds true.

There are people in AA who do not believe it can happen, or even that it is even necessary. Perhaps for them, it is not. (Is that contempt –prior to investigation?) These are not newcomers! These are folks with ten-twenty years of dry time – who are looked up to and whose words carry weight in meetings!

Gray hair, a car that runs and twenty years to lose your “sharing jitters” is not a guarantee that you know ANYTHING about alcoholism.

One must wonder then – what the hell are they doing in AA if they do not need a spiritual awakening through the teaching and practice of AAs Twelve Steps? – since according its co-founders, this is the sole purpose of an AA group.

Peace,

Danny S

A Million Little Pieces Of……………

A few months ago, I gave a piece of “Strangely Insane” to my sister, to read. She gave it back to me and said, “Maybe your book will be as big a deal as A Million Little Pieces”

I had not heard of it and she explained to me what the book was about and about Oprah’s Book Club, the whole deal. I thought WOW. But it brought mixed feelings.

First, having the egotistical streak I still do, I felt a slight tinge of disappointment. Gee, somebody else is doing this? You mean I am not the only one. The other was, Well, with the wild success of that book, perhaps the groundwork has been laid in the genre that surely has more room for the subject.

I began to read the book out of curiosity. (And because so many people had asked me if I had read it once they became aware that I was writing a book about alcoholism)

I could not get through much of it – for reasons I will touch on in another article. (For now let us just say it had a bad ring to it.

Now, apparently James Frey’s story is probably largely fictitious. Once again, I have mixed feelings. I almost feel badly for the guy, but I am far from surprised. I work with un-recovered alcoholics everyday, so there is no way I can be surprised. (SEE FAQ here please)

The only method of true recovery of which I am aware that really works is one, one eschewed by Frey, requires RIGOROUS HONESTY.

There is an old axiom amongst recovered alcoholics that asks the question: “What do you get when you remove the alcohol from alcoholic”

The answer: “IC”.
I do not want to belabor the point. But lets. Shall we?

My wife and I were talking about it this morning on our way into Hyannis. (She has been supporting us, working in a floor tile store while I pursue my writing career.) We are both grateful that I have never had to resort to embellishing any part of my recovery story. The story I tell is one that is the same one I tell from podiums when I speak publicly. It is rigorously honest – an honesty that has been necessary for me to adopt as a way of life necessary to recover from alcoholism. this is not because I am such a saint, but because if I resort to my old behaviors I am sunk.

There is no need to fabricate any part of a true story of recovery, because they will, by default, focus on the SOLUTION, not the PROBLEM. Whereas the typical “drunkalogue “will focus solely on the gritty PROBLEMS because in it there is no SOLUTION.

What it boils down to is this: Dishonesty, drinking, drugging, lying, stealing, criminal behaviors; these are all SYMPTOMS of an underlying problem. Take away the booze from a drunken horse thief, and all we have left is a sober horse thief.

It is for the best that Frey’s trash is raked through the coals. I believe that “A Million Little Pieces” (At least the little pieces through which I managed to suffer) proposes to harm real alcoholics – perhaps fatally for some.

While entertaining the unknowing and inexperienced readers (Like Oprah herself) with drama and what we in recovery circles call “drunkologue“, it also has the potential of proffering false hope to Real McCoys who desperately WANT to believe that they still have power – power over a malady for which there really is no human aid.

Such notions must be SHATTERED in order to recover from alcoholism, not bolstered.

The press has no tolerance for liars. Frey is now discovering this. God almighty! After having devoted my life to writing about recovery, I sure as hell would not want to be called “The Man Who Conned Oprah”. OPRAH? Are you kidding me? I would rather get an icepick in the forehead than screw with Oprah!

IF Frey indeed is a REAL ALCOHOLIC, then untreated alcoholism is his problem. If he had recovered, there would be something to tell. His story would have weight and depth on its own – without any invention whatsoever.

Perhaps now James Frey will see just how powerless he really is, make amends, and cut the Bullshale. He will have a chance at real recovery if he does.

I wish James would get a hold of me.

Now that he has given up the harmful substances, he has a chance to get well too – get down to the root causes that screwed him up to begin with. I can help him recover. MANY atheists like him recover.

MORE on Frey

Peace,

Danny S