They Had a Dream! –

April 11, 2019 – Drinking to oblivion has no place in those four behavioral characteristics, so it became a lifestyle that helped Thacher stayed sober, even though the group’s purpose was not designed with alcoholism in mind. One day, in November 1934, shortly after Thacher found a God could help him stay sober, his longtime drinking buddy Bill Wilson was on an epic bender that would eventually land him back to a hospital or sanatorium and Thacher was, uncharacteristically, on the wagon and in good health and spirits. At the end of any bender, health and outlook are at their low points.

Wilson, after the initial upset about his drinking partner not joining in his misery, was intrigued as to why Thacher was so happy without a drink in him. And more importantly, how? Thacher told him about the Oxford Group and the four principles that would become the bedrock of Alcoholics Anonymous. In the Akron, Ohio hospital, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, himself a chronic alcoholic, began formulating the structure of a peer mentoring group with the sole purpose of helping other alcoholics stay sober. At that time, according to the AA General Services Office in New York City, there were two members.

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