Those who have gone before

I read in some old AA literature that anytime a sober alcoholic considers the possibility of relapse, that he (or she) must take into consideration two things. Those who have gone before and those yet to come. For example, if I ever thought of relapsing (It hasn't occurred to me in at least 17 years, but suppose it did), I should consider all those people who helped me in the beginning. There were a lot of them. Members who took the time to explain things to me, my sponsor especially. A man I never met who lived thousands of miles away and spent weeks and weeks that turned into months that eventually became years of his time that was probably valuable to him, talking and explaining and giving direction to me. And what did he get in return. Well, as a sponsor I know what he got in return  I know what I get. I get to stay sober myself by doing for others what he did for me. So do I allow all that to be a waste of time so that I can enjoy a few hours of pleasure? That would certainly be selfish of me. 

And what about that second group of people, those yet to come. The alcoholics who don't know they are just like me. The ones I could have helped if I'd just stayed around another day or week or year. Imagine. I'd have to close the group that meets in my home. What interest would I have in that if I was drunk all the time. And never mind the outreach work I do. They'd kick me off the board quicker than I could say last house on the what. Again, I would have no interest in it. And Nancy? I'm sure she wouldn't give up on me right away, but I'd very quickly make our lives a living nightmare and it would only be a matter of time before she kicked me to the curb. Yeah, it only takes me about 30 seconds to figure out that taking a drink wouldn't solve any of my problems. It would create problems and not just for me. 

Just for the record, I wasn't thinking about it.