| | I don't want to spoil the fun, but I know a lot of recovering alcoholics, a lot of people who've been to rehab, I've had a pretty good look at AA culture, and this joke to me is just dumb. Most recovering alcoholics I've known never asked anyone to buy them drinks--the ones I've known were successful people, like doctors and dentists, and Stephen King (okay I don't know him, but he is a recovering alcoholic and he wrote about it in his book On Writing), who could afford their own drinks. The recovering alcoholics I've known and hung out with have never seemed to make a big point of telling people how much happier they are now; if anything they've usually been honest about the problems they still do have--they have usually conveyed a "one day at a time" attitude which openly admits that life and recovery are difficult processes. I have known some alcoholics well enough that some have on occasion told me how much happier they are now that they quit drinking, and frankly it's quite touching. Some recovering alcoholics I've known don't necessarily believe in God; the ones I've known who do believe in God, usually wouldn't say it was finding God that saved them, it was hitting rock bottom and deciding to quit drinking and go to AA that saved them; they probably believed in God for most of their lives and would admit that that alone hadn't been enough to keep them from drinking. AA isn't some place where everyone finds God and gets all happy; it's a place where alcoholics do the tough things they've gotta do to help themselves and each other quit drinking. And I've never known any recovering alcoholic who was dumb enough to think that "looking forward" to a drink is a sign of alcoholism. If drinking is really screwing up your life, and you're still doing it anyway, that's a sign of alcoholism.
It seems to me that the only way you could think this joke is funny is if you have no idea of what recovery culture and people in recovery are really like. I get the impression that a lot of people on this site have no idea about this subject and they think the whole thing is some contemptible joke. It's too bad, because I think that means a lot of people around here have no idea where James Kilbourne was coming from when he submitted that article.
I recommend checking out On Writing, the parts that deal with Stephen King's alcoholism, to get an honest account of what it's like to be an alcoholic. Stephen King says that when he was drinking, before he went to bed he used to have go to the kitchen and pour out whatever alcohol was remaining in the refrigerator, because he knew that if he didn't he would end up drinking it all before he fell asleep. Alcoholism is a real thing that destroys some people's lives. It would be an unbelievable understatement to say that for the alcoholics I've known, I've liked them much better once they were in recovery.
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Did you ever meet these rehab people? I liked them better when they were drunks! When they're drunk, they just ask you to buy them a drink. Now they've got to tell you how happy they are, how they found God ... then they've got to give you a test to see if you're an alcoholic: ... 'Do you ever find yourself looking forward to a drink? Hmmmmmm?' What kind of test is this? I look forward to eating. Does that make me a food addict? I look forward to sex. Does that make me a sex addict? I'll be honest with you: Sometimes I look forward to taking a big shit! Does that make me a shitaholic?
