He Sold Himself Short p258-267

Hello everyone,

This Wednesday night we'll be going over He Sold Himself Short p258-267 in the Big Book.
That phrase, selling yourself short, always reminds me of a little anecdote I heard in an AA room some years ago. Not sure if it's really pertinent to the story.... but hell I can't get it out of my mind now so here goes:

The tale is of a fella who had been saving up for his first cruise boat. He didn't make much money so it took the guy quite some time to save up for this. Every day he'd put away whatever he'd have left in his pocket until finally he had just enough to buy the ticket. So he bought the ticket and got some vacation time off from work. Being that he didn't have much money and he didn't want to suckered into any big expenses, he decided to fill his bag with crackers & cheese thinking that would be a good way to save money.

Once he was on the cruise, he'd watch people crowd into one of the luxury dining rooms everyday -- there were 6 on the vessel -- and come meal time he'd just pull out his crackers & cheese and dream about what it must be like to eat in one of those big fancy rooms. It took him so much effort just to get on the boat that surely a luxury such as that was out of his reach, he'd think to himself.

Finally, a kindly older man saw our fella sitting outside, eating his crackers & cheese all alone, and asked if he wouldn't prefer to come inside? "They've got salmon, shrimp, lobster, steak, ten different kinds of pizza, and it's all you can eat!!" said the elder man. Our man inquired about the cost, he didn't have any money left after buying the ticket. After looking at him for a moment the old man said to him "It won't cost you anything, It's already included in the price of your ticket!"

The morale of the story is that we had been selling ourselves short, just like this fella eating crackers & cheese, by doing things the hard way -- our way. We'd been saving up for our ticket by accumulating the pain necessary to ask for help. With enough pain we found surrender and that was our ticket into sobriety. Yet merely staying dry is only a half-step better than crackers & cheese. There is an all you can eat buffet of sorts available to you with your sobriety, one with a spiritual dimension to it. As a child of a loving and caring higher power, you are entitled to all the happiness & joy there is in the world, so don't ever sell yourself short. After all, It's already included in the price of your ticket!

Best regards,

David t.

2015 Meeting Dates

11/26/14 Speaker Meeting <Roy M>

-->Reading: Being Sober and Becoming Happy

01/28/15 Speaker Meeting <Steve W.>

02/25/15 Speaker Meeting <Gerard P>

03/25/15 Speaker Meeting <Mark D.>

--> Reading: A New Pair of Glasses by Chuck C. 

04/29/15 Speaker Meeting <Russ W.>

05/27/15 Speaker Meeting <Omar P.>
06/24/15 Speaker Meeting <Ricardo A.>

--> Reading: Personal Stories back of Big Book of AA <--

07/29/15 Speaker Meeting <Adam S.>
08/26/15 Speaker Meeting <Kevin M.>

09/30/15 Speaker Meeting <Fred D>

10/07/15 He Sold Himself Short p258-267

10/14/15 The Keys of the Kingdom p268-280

10/21/15 The Missing Link p281-288

10/28/15 Speaker Meeting

11/04/15 Fear of Fear p289-294

11/11/15 The Housewife Who Drank at Home p295-300

11/18/15 Physician, Heal Thyself! p301-308

11/25/15 Speaker Meeting

12/02/15 My Chance to Live p309-318

12/09/15 Student of Life p319-327

12/16/15 Crossing the River of Denial p328-337

12/23/15 Because I'm an Alcoholic p338-348

12/30/15 Speaker Meeting