[bad company]

Sorry, but in my book it shows a whole lot of character to be able to have self control. Don't sell yourself short!!!!!!!

It took a lot of stupid to drink myself into that condition in the first place. First it's about survival. At age 20 I was able to go through a fifth of whiskey in a night. If I didn't stop I was dead. It's also about personal responsibility. I was not only hurting myself, I was also hurting my family and society in general. Addiction is something like an allergy. Not taking the first drink is a doable proposition. Not taking the second drink is impossible. Like a rash, I gotta scratch that itch. Once you scratch it the more it itches.

It's not about self control. What it does take is courage. Going into recovery a person has to throw out so many of "moral shortcuts" they relied on to facilitate their habit (and then permeated the rest of their life), the person coming out the other side is sometimes unrecognizable. You also leave friends and even family behind.

I had to face myself or face death. I chose the easier opponent.

[Congressman Billybob]

Good for you.

I had two alcoholics in my family. One was my Uncle Charlie, who was sober for 45 years when he died of old age. He was active in AA and helped hundreds of others get through their addictions.

The other was my brother, who relapsed repeatedly, eventually killed a woman while driving, and ultimately died drunk and alone.

I honor you for being like my Uncle Charlie, whom I respected very much, and who had a strong influence on my life to this day.

John / Billybob