Leslie S reads page 65 and 66: “We went back through our lives. Nothing counted but thoroughness and honesty. When we were finished we considered it carefully. The first thing apparent was that this world and its people were often quite wrong. To conclude thatothers were wrong was as far as most of us ever got. The usual outcome was that people continued to wrong us and we stayed sore. Sometimes it was remorse and then we were sore at ourselves. But the more we fought and tried tohave our way, the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win.Our moments of triumph were short-lived.”

“It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futilityand unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squanderthe hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic whosehope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business ofresentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring suchfeelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity ofalcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.”

“If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstormwere not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.”