. https://www.aagrapevine.org ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzBTLJtmEK0

... The start of Alcoholics Anonymous, a brief history A seemingly unplanned meeting in Akron, Ohio in 1935 between two men, Dr Bob Smith and Bill Wilson, both of whom were termed "hopeless" alcoholics, began a program of recovery that has helped millions find sobriety and serenity. Bill Wilson was fighting his own battle against drinking, he had already learned from the Oxford Group that helping other alcoholics was the key to maintaining his own sobriety, the principle that would later become step twelve in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The effect the meeting had on Dr. Bob was immediate, as he tells it in his own words and soon he too put down the bottle, June 10, 1935. One alcoholic talking to another alcoholic, the bond formed between these two men would grow into a movement that would literally save the lives of millions. Starting in an upstairs room at Dr. Bob's home at in Akron, the two men began helping alcoholics one person at a time. Here's a quote from Dr Bob's story in the Big Book, "The Doctor's Nightmare" page 180 paragraph 2 The question which might naturally come into your mind would be: "what did the man do or say that was different from what others had done or said?" It must be remembered that I had read a great deal and talked to everyone who knew, or thought they knew, anything about the subject of alcoholism. This man was a man who had experienced many years of frightful drinking, who had had most all the drunkard's experience known to man, but who had been cured by the very means I had been trying to employ, that is to say, the spiritual approach. He gave me information about the subject of alcoholism which was undoubtedly helpful. Of far more importance was the fact that he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience. In other words, be talked my language. He knew all the answers, and certainly not because he had picked them up in his reading. It is a most wonderful blessing to be relieved of the terrible curse with which I was afflicted. My health is good and I have regained my self-respect and the respect of my colleagues. My home life is ideal and my business is as good as can be expected in these uncertain times. I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learned to others who want and need it badly. I do it for four reasons: 1. Sense of duty. 2. It is a pleasure 3. Because in so doing I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me. 4. Because every time I do it I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip ... ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqORUQ5ahIs