FROM THIS POINT ON

On September 15, 1964, I was greeted at my first meeting by two gentlemen. One of them said, "Welcome. The dirtier you are, the better we like you." I next learned that alcoholism is an illness, that by universal definition an alcoholic "is a person, male or female, of any age, race, color, creed, background, or denomination, to whom alcohol has become a continuing and growing problem in any or all departments of their life: family, job, or social."