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In Tuesday's OBSERVER of July 14, Mr. Roland Kidder made a great point about human beings being "creatures of habit." Unfortunately, the field that my friends and myself were chosen for had much irrational thinking and negative behavior in it. The fact in the field of chemical dependency is that people who wanted to become CD counselors usually were not turned away. It's a hard field and, as Tom Hanks told Dottie in "A League of Their Own," when she wanted to quit because playing professional softball was "too hard," Coach Hanks said, "It's supposed to be hard, because if it was easy everyone would do it!"
When we would get our certification, that would permit us to work with sick people, due to their addiction to alcohol and other drugs, we were given a pamphlet with the title "Why We Were Chosen." I hope you enjoy it.
God in his wisdom selected this group of men and women to be the purveyors of His goodness. In selecting them through whom to bring about this phenomenon, he went not to the proud, the mighty, the famous or the brilliant. He went instead to the humble, to the sick, to the unfortunate. He went right to the drunkard, the so-called weakling of the world. He may have said something like this to us." Unto your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a power beyond estimate. To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows, not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers, not even to my priests or ministers have I given the gift of healing other alcoholics which I entrusted to you.
It might be used unselfishly, it carries with it grave responsibility. No day can be too long, no demands upon your time can be too urgent, no case can be too pitiful, no task too hard, no effort too great. It must be used with tolerance, for I have restricted its application to no race, no creed and no denomination. Personal criticism you must expect, lack of appreciation will be common, ridicule will be your lot, your motives will be misjudged. You must be prepared for adversity. For what men and women call adversity is the ladder you must use to ascend to the rungs toward spiritual perfection, and remember in the exercise of the power I shall not expect from you beyond your capabilities.
You are not selected because of exceptional talents, and always be careful. If success attends your efforts, do not ascribe it to personal superiority that to which you can lay claim only by virtue of my gift. If I had wanted learned men to accomplish this mission, the power would have been entrusted to the physician and scientist. If I had wanted eloquent men, there would have been many anxious for this assignment, for talk is the easiest use of all talents with which I have endowed mankind. If I had wanted scholarly men, the world is filled with better qualified men than you, who would be available. You were selected because you have been the outcasts of the world and your long experience as drunkards has made or should have made you humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of alcoholics and addicts everywhere.
Keep ever in mind the admission you made on the day of your profession to AA - namely that you are powerless over alcohol and other drugs and it was only with your willingness to turn your life and will unto my keeping that relief came to you.
This was what we were taught. Spirituality and abstinence have got me 43 years sober. Hitting my knees and asking God to take away the compulsion and obsession to drink had been removed. The only way I can take it back is to take a drink. People ask me when I'm out, "Do you think you'll ever drink again?"
"I simply say, "I didn't drink today, I don't project tomorrow."
The flow of anyone's life is never smooth. However, I believe that after all this article talks about has been true for me. I know in my heart this isn't the end but only a stopping point for God's greater glory. Everything stated about compassion for people that turn on you is simply stated as Christ rode into town on a donkey amid cheers and palms and then was crucified on Friday. As Tom Hanks said, "It's supposed to be hard." That's how you find out that this is God's world and you are simply another member in it.
If you are a young counselor and don't feel you're getting what you need, call me. I'm selfish, because I give anything that I've learned to anyone, to keep what I have. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll use Oprah's line, "Be happy with what you have because you'll have more." Figure it out!
Good luck,
Mike Tramuta, REBT
716 983-1592
P.S. Thought for the week: "Your self-worth is determined by you. You don't have to depend on someone else telling you who you are." - Beyonce Knowles