Today is the 90^th anniversary of the June 10, 1935, meeting of two men with serious drinking problems. Alcoholic drinking for decades led Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith to despair; it was a physical, economic, and spiritual bottom that was destroying them and their families. From this meeting, Alcoholics Anonymous was born.  Today’s post celebrates this miracle and all its good that has changed the world over the past 90 years. 

As someone whose life was radically changed by discovering the Twelve Steps, I invite you to pay attention to this movement and its positive effect on families worldwide. 

Most families don’t like to talk about members with drinking problems or other addictions. Young people become adults not knowing their gene pool includes grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins whose lives were ruined by addiction. Sadly, people without addiction adapt to the addicted person and their troubled behavior. The non-addict becomes fearful, anxious, and tries to control others and their environment. The family passes on this unhealthy behavior to future generations. The miracle of recovery (begun by Bill and Dr. Bob) breaks the cycle. 

Gratefully, June 10, 1935, began a real “born again” story. Bill Wilson had been struck sober at Towns Hospital in New York City on December 11, 1934. It wasn’t until a business deal collapsed in Akron in June 1935 that he was finally able to reach a fellow sufferer. 

What changed and allowed Bill to successfully reach Dr. Bob?  No one knows for sure. What we do know about this miraculous beginning is this. First, Bill was scared of going back to drinking. Facing adversity without a drink was new to him. He knew he needed to ask for help by helping someone else.  Second, Bill’s doctor at Towns Hospital, Dr. William Silkworth, had told him to quit preaching about his own spiritual awakening.  He suggested that Bill emphasize the mental obsession and physical compulsion that is unique to the alcoholic drinker. Tell them, the doctor admonished, about the pain and devastation your drinking caused you and Lois. This process of hearing from a person who has faced the same illness was a key change for Bill. It made it possible for Dr. Bob to see that Bill knew what he was talking about.  

And then there is the role of the grace of God! Bill and Dr. Bob were both from Vermont. They grew up going to a church that they both found oppressive, and both vowed not to go back to it. Yet, their drinking problems forced them to realize they needed help, and needed to invite a power greater than they were into their lives. This mix of hitting bottom, talking to a fellow addict and learning to surrender to a Power greater than you, is the miracle that has helped millions over ninety years. 

Getting sober was not easy for Dr. Bob. He craved a drink for three years. Despite these incessant cravings, he stayed sober.  From the beginning, recovery required a community for success. Dr. Bob’s wife, Anne, and Bill’s wife, Lois, were deeply involved every day in praying with their husbands and helping men seeking sobriety.  Since most early members were men, Anne and Lois found themselves also helping alcoholics’ wives  

A drinking alcoholic cannot be trusted. Relationships and roles between spouses subsequently change. Sobriety is only the beginning of family recovery; the family doesn’t recover unless all commit to growing spiritually and changing behavior. As important as this June 10, 1935, meeting was to AA history, equally important was the decision of Lois Wilson and Anne Smith to work the same Twelve Steps. They worked with their spouses to rebuild their relationship and then to carry this message to other families under siege from alcoholism. 

These two couples and the others who followed them blazed the trail that makes it possible to break the cycle of addiction from being passed from one generation to another. The founding of Al-Anon in 1951 brought together 87 groups from around the country where spouses of AA members were coming together and deciding to practice the Twelve Steps. These same Twelve Steps were adapted and used by individuals with addictions to drugs, gambling, overeating, work, smoking, and sex, among others. Each new program recognized the impact on the family and sought to address the harm to that family.

We live in a time where our culture encourages more of everything. We easily become hooked on more. It’s hard for some people to admit their addiction and its destructive impact on their families.  This destruction will grow over generations without an intervention. Gratefully, there are many ways to recover today for individuals and families. Today we celebrate the beginning of the best-known and oldest way.  If your family has been impacted by addictions, is there a step you can take to pass on the hope of recovery? 

For more information about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, check out A Marriage that Changed the World: Lois and Bill Wilson and the Addiction Recovery Movement, written by Joy Jones and Tom Adams, available on Amazon andin bookstores everywhere.