The Little Loophole

WHEN I was speaking at an AA meeting, in my early days of sobriety, I referred to myself whimsically as a "little alcoholic." Being something short of five feet two, I fondly hoped for a laugh--and didn't get it. I didn't know just why then--but I know now. Some of the seasoned AAs in that meeting must have suspected that I had fallen into the common error of assuming that there are degrees of alcoholism, and foreseen difficulties ahead. And I wouldn't have attempted that minor joke if I had known then how very common and fatal that error of thinking is.