THE FALSE COMFORT OF SELF-PITY
Self-pity is one of the most unhappy
and consuming defects that we know.
It is a bar to all spiritual progress
and can cut off all effective communication
with our fellows because of its
inordinate demands for attention and sympathy.
It is a maudlin form of martyrdom,
which we can ill afford.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 238
The false comfort of self-pity
screens me from reality only momentarily
and then demands, like a drug,
that I take an ever-bigger dose.
If I succumb to this
it could lead to a relapse into drinking.
What can I do?
One certain antidote is to turn my attention,
however slightly at first, toward others
who are genuinely less fortunate than I,
preferably other alcoholics.
In the same degree that I actively
demonstrate my empathy with them,
I will lessen my own exaggerated suffering.
******************************
IN GOD'S ECONOMY
"In God's economy, nothing is wasted.
Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility
which is probably needed, painful though it is."
We did not always come closer to wisdom
by reason of our virtues;
our better understanding is often rooted
in the pains of our former follies.
Because this has been
the essence of our individual experience,
it is also the essence of our experience as a fellowship.
1. LETTER, 1942
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