Bill W Film #5...

There are many rumors about Bill W.'s life. I won't mention them to avoid repeating the gossip here. But, there are a number of sites on the internet that are trumpeting these rumors or running information about his life that is unflattering in an attempt to discredit him and the AA program. I don't know why these people are doing this except, perhaps, because they are in denial about their own problems and this is a way to fortify themselves against the truth. Or, perhaps it's just the propensity for malicious gossip all people are tempted by that is the attraction. Nevertheless, seeing people run down Bill W. or the AA program can be painful to watch.

This is why this film I have been presenting here on The Happy Hour is so important to watch. Bill presents himself here with all his character defects, and literally throws open his life of near-death and insanity coupled with the miracle of recovery so people can see and hear first hand what it was like and how he changed. Sure, he's a bit pompous here, and he uses flowery language, but the essential message is one of recovery and how that was accomplished in one man's life. One cannot escape the idea that here is a film where the founder of the most successful, formal program of recovery for alcoholics in history is presenting the story of how it started. That is every bit as important as if Caesar had been caught on film describing the conquest of the world, Jesus had been filmed during the sermon on the mount, or Buddha was interviewed on CNN as he traveled throughout Asia. Lest you think I am exaggerating, keep in mind that this is one of the most difficult of all diseases to understand and treat, and conservative estimates of the number of people world wide who have stopped drinking due to the influence of the AA program is in the tens of millions.

So, sit back and relax as Bill takes us further along the journey of his recovery and the beginning of the AA program. This segment begins with his description of pacing in a hotel lobby in Akron OH on that fateful day when he could have either turned to the telephone to call for help or turned to the bar and relapsed. It concludes with Dr. Bob and his wife walking through the door on their first meeting to sit and talk about a process that would change the world.

All the best, Roger W.