Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 29
EXACTLY ALIKE
Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is
the bright spot of our lives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers,
stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and
forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called
the group's secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I
was glad he was there—once again I saw what I had been
like. But I also saw what I still am, and what I still could
be. I don't have to be drunk to want to be the exception and
the center of attention. I have often felt abused and
responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a
garden variety human being. The more the man tried to
insist he was different, the more I realized that he and I
were exactly alike.