Episode Details

Jack K. shares the kind of AA story that starts long before the first drink: lonely, separate, different, angry, and afraid, then drinking like it was the answer until it nearly took everything. What lands hardest is his description of AA’s power: people who can answer the question you haven’t even asked because they’ve been there too.

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Jack K. from Los Angeles shares a powerful Alcoholics Anonymous story about growing up lonely, separate, different, angry, and afraid, finding alcohol at 16, and quickly discovering blackout drinking, rage, drugs, jail, and the desperate search for something that would fix him. He talks about Dr. Silkworth’s description of alcoholism, the simple truth that when he took a drink he wanted another one, and the way AA reached him when his wife called for help and another alcoholic named Bud picked up the phone. Jack’s story moves from hopelessness and self-destruction into identification, sponsorship, family healing, and the quiet miracle of sober members who had “been there” before him. The ending is especially beautiful as he reflects on the huge gentle eyes and loving hands that helped him begin to heal in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Jack K. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at the NCC Summer Conference in San Jose, CA - June 11th 1982

Music: Deep by KaizanBlu