The Carpenter said, Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgment.
That means that pretty soon we see ourselves in all men and all men in ourselves, and we look through the condition to the thing behind it. I haven't seen a drunk, now, for twenty years. It's been twenty years since I've seen a drunk. When I was in business my plant was at Fortieth and Alameda, every time I went downtown, if time permitted, I went to the head of Fifth Street and drove west. It drew me like a magnet. And every time I ever went in to Fifth Street the black paddy wagon was just ahead of me. And I knew that black paddy wagon inside and out; I'd ridden in her in chains. And all the boys on the street knew her, too. And here's a little wino, you know, with his bottle in his brown paper bag (So nobody'd know what he's got! There's nothing that looks so much like a bottle of wine in a brown paper bag as a bottle of wine in a brown paper bag!) He sees these rag pickers coming, you know, and he tries to hide and he goes flat on his ass (Strike that!) about four times, runnin' for the alley. But he doesn't break that bottle. He breaks his fanny, but he doesn't break that bottle. And he gets into the alley, and I say, "Thank God, thank God." Because that's me, that's me but for the Grace of God.
So I'm going down the street and here's this of boy in the doorway; it's July and he's got on two overcoats, a black one and a gray one. There he sits in the doorway. His bottle's right out in the open and it's half full (Red Eye). He's sittin' there laughin' and talkin' with his friends and havin' a helluva' time, but his friends aren't there! I can hardly drive by him, I want to leave that car of mine right in the middle of Fifth Street and go over and pick him up and set him on my lap, because that's me but for the Grace of God. You see, I used to wear my overcoat in July and I used to meet the people and talk to them. They'd talk to me and we'd have a helluva' time. But they weren't there. I think that one of the things that made the biggest.; impression on my family, of all the things I did drunk, was when we'd all be in the same living room, and I'd have company and they wouldn't have any! They couldn't understand it. So, we don't judge according to appearances. We look through the appearance and see God's kid, right under that crud, and we share with Him. We share our experience, strength and hope, one with another in love, and that's the reason our program works and nothing else does. Without the sharing, without the caring, there would be no recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Chuck C. from A New Pair of Glasses
Pala Mesa Retreat - 1975
