A derelict once staggered into a storefront drug rehab meeting because there wasn\’t another warm place on the street where he could get away from the cutting wind without going back into the bus station – the same bus station from which a cop with a short fuse had just ejected him. This drunk had been to meetings – many meetings – before, and this meeting looked no different. He shuffled quietly over to get a cup of hot coffee and resigned himself to the prospect of sitting through one of \”those\” meetings again.

This shell of a man was prepared one more time to sit and listen and argue about a Higher Power, which hadn\’t been particularly useful to him before, and there was not much indication that this \”Higher Power\” was going to do much for him today, either. As some old man sat in front and read the ritual literature, this drunk sipped coffee and looked interested. In front of him sat another two or three denizens like himself. One of them had draped his jacket across the back of his chair, and in the pocket of that jacket the newest attendee saw clearly a partly-consumed pint of whiskey. This drunk looked at that bottle as the old man in the front of the room droned on, \”…Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not give themselves to this simple drug rehab program…\”

He stared at that bottle and listened to the words. The idea formed in his halting thoughts that this is what he had been doing for years now – coming to meetings, listening to words, and carrying with him in his mind that open bottle waiting only for the words to stop, and once the words stop the bottle is open again. That was it. Sobriety was limited to the time during this meeting when the words were real and tangible, but no more than that. Somehow this seemed cleaner and clearer to him than his years-long battle with \”not drinking.\”

With that moment of clarity, the journey toward sobriety began to rumble forward. It may have been unstoppable, but the drunk didn\’t want to stop it so he didn\’t try to stop it. It took him to one more geographic cure, one more binge, and the help of people whom he had met in the meetings who were convinced that he really was trying to sober up. These people took him to one more drug rehab center. He started one more program, and one more time his defiance and his pride reared up. These people told him that his experience shows that he can\’t sober up. These people told him that he had to learn to do what sober people told him to do if he was to have any hope of living. And that was enough.

He began to do what he was told to do by these men and women. He didn\’t drink. He disliked the things he was told, but did them anyway. He didn\’t drink. He got to a place where he was furious with them all and was given the choice to do what he was told or leave them, so he stayed and did what he was told. He didn\’t drink. One day after another, with tears and then with quiet reflection and then laughter, he gave up trying to figure it out. He finally understood only one truth – that \”this simple drug rehab program\” for himself was doing what sober people told him to do.

Today, this sober drunk waits for another derelict – another walking dead man – to come to the store front door, the clubhouse door, the hospital door and see if there\’s a pot of hot coffee. There is only one message here, and it is the message of experience. The message is simple – there is hope. If there is any evidence that the \”Higher Power\” is here or that it will extend the miracle of recovery to this walking dead man, that evidence is the fellow or the gal who\’s pouring the coffee – and the thousands of thousands of now-sober friends – men and women and even children – who all made the long, long journey in their hearts and minds to that front door seeking that cup of coffee. The evidence is the presence of all these lost folks who now extend to one more lost seeker the hope of recovery. They live today with the assured confidence of those who know recovery is possible, because they have lived the miracle. Today – just today – the evidence proves that even I can live a miracle.

Learn more at www.valleyhope.org/drug-rehab-alcohol-rehab-aboutus.aspx or
www.valleyhope.org.

Learn more at http://www.valleyhope.org/drug-rehab-alcohol-rehab-aboutus.aspx or
http://www.valleyhope.org.

Author Bio: Learn more at www.valleyhope.org/drug-rehab-alcohol-rehab-aboutus.aspx or
www.valleyhope.org.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: drug rehab, drug and alcohol treatment centers, alcohol rehab, experience, sobriety, AA, NA,