Last week, November 26, was Bill Wilson’s birthday. He was born 129 years ago in 1895. He is the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Robert Smith of Akron. Like many people in recovery from addictions, I feel indebted to Bill and his wife Lois, and Dr. Bob and his wife Anne. The couples’ love for each other empowered Bill and Bob to survive a deadly addiction to alcohol. Together they created a “way out” of the despair and torture of an illness destructive to them, and their families.  

Bill Wilson, in his role as co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, advocated that members consider November as Gratitude Month annually. Last week I wrote about gratitude being a practice, not an annual celebration. This week, I’d like to express gratitude for Bill Wilson and his gift to the world. 

Bill Wilson was a complicated person. I decided some years ago to learn more about him and his wife Lois, and how they birthed the recovery movement. I am grateful for the curiosity that has generated a book I am co-authoring with Joy Jones entitled A Marriage that Changed the World: Lois and Bill Wilson and the Addiction Recovery Movement. (More about that in coming weeks as we get closer to our January 24 publication date!) 

Bill spoke often about his gratitude. He described it in many letters, and in his writing for Alcoholics Anonymous about his basic commitment to giving thanks. In one article he wrote: “One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine- both temporal and spiritual. … I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.” (1962) 

He was both a brilliant man and a practical, humble man. He learned that no sane person would drink or take drugs if they knew it would result in a compulsion and obsession, maybe even death. He began a campaign that realized that addictions are illnesses, not moral failings. 

He understood that underneath his addiction to alcohol was what he called a “soul sickness”. He had lost connection with himself, with others and with any sense of God or a Power beyond him. He successfully stopped drinking for short intervals and always returned to excessive drinking. He made clear that a person with an addiction can’t think their way to sobriety. It’s not a matter of willpower and discipline.

He and Lois, Dr. Bob and Anne Smith, and other pioneers came to believe that the way out of compulsive drinking required a surrender and a connection to a Higher Power. It also included serving others.  

I am grateful that I was introduced to these ideas when I was 32. Over four decades, I have wrestled with accepting different forms of powerlessness. I needed to develop my faith and connect with others. I learned again and again that thinking too much and trying to change through my own self-reliance sends me in circles and ultimately feeling worse. In contrast, when I say I need help (sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly), and turn to Great Spirit and to friends with similar issues, I feel and live better.

That is why I am committed to thanking Bill and Lois for their gift to the world. I want to share what I have learned about them. The way of life and practices that they pioneered have changed my life in ways I could never have imagined. Everything about my life continues to change for the better through these simple practices. 

Thank you, Bill, for persistence despite despair, depression, and unrelenting criticism. You trusted the spiritual awakening you had in 1934. Your courage, persistence, and humility offer hope and a better life to me, my family, and friends. Millions of individuals and families around the world celebrate you. Happy birthday and thanks!