Those Beautiful Background Checks

As a teenager in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I was arrested a number of times for alcohol-related charges and general orneriness. At nineteen years old, I was indicted for several felonies, arrested, and eventually sentenced to county jail time. I went to a few AA meetings on the inside but resumed drinking upon my release. Two years later, I returned to AA and I've been sober since 1974. However, I've discovered that although I left my drinking behind, my criminal record has tended to pop up at certain turning points in my life. Alcoholics Anonymous taught me how to be open and honest about troublesome aspects of my past, because those secrets can be deadly. Thus, I handled those situations openly and honestly when they arose.