Rearview Mirror

Recently, i chaired a meeting for newcomers. We read the italicized paragraph from page twenty-four of the Big Book, the one that begins: "The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink." The topic turned to our egos and how, when things are going well in sobriety, our egos get inflated and soon we go from the "We" program to the "Me" program. One woman, sober a little over a year, was talking about how good things were--her cancer scare proved to be benign, and people were always saying nice things about her. Yet, her desire to drink had been increasing--not a heavy craving, just the subtle "wouldn't a whatever taste nice" variety of desire. Then, she started talking about her troubles backing her car out of her driveway. She said, "Maybe I need to use the rearview mirror," which struck me as one of the most profound things I have heard in a meeting lately.