Helping on Tuesday

Happy Tuesday everyone. I wanna start this off by saying that i believe that addiction and alcoholism is a disease that cannot be cured. I am a daughter of a recovering alcoholic and addict. I am a sister of an active alcoholic and addict. I have been around addicts and alcoholics for well lets just say most of my life. In recovery and not in recovery. I believe in the 12 steps and i also believe in the Higher power. I Believe that if you want sobriety, and you work the program as directed then anyone can get sober. Is it hard? Hell yes. Is it Easy?  no it's not. But what i believe that if you have a great support group and you go to meetings and you do what you are suppose to  do you have a great start at being sober. It's not a guarantee though. There is no CURE. It's not like the flu. You can't take a pill for it.
  Why you ask am i writing about this, well I'm gonna tell ya. I was watching my In session this morning and what comes on, a commercial for Malibu Passages. I Hate that commercial. Pax what ever the hell his name is drives me crazy. I think that he is a phony and that he is getting rich off of people's misery and sickness.
   Alcoholism is not a pretty disease as neither is addiction. If it was pretty they would make a reality TV show. The Real drunks of Beverly Hills. I'm not talking about Dr. Drew's celebrity Rehab either. That show shows a bit of the hard work and the ugly side of detox. It's not glamorized. It's hard. It's not pretty, it's ugly. It can be down right disgusting.You can end up in Jail, Or sad to say Dead. I know to many people that just couldn't do it and they ended up in jail, some died from it. It's a disease. It can happen to anyone. no one is immune. It doesn't just hit a certain race or a certain sex, or this group or that group. It's what i call an all people disease.  
    Anyway, so this commercial comes on and i just feel so angry. I feel like it's slapping those who have worked so hard to get 2 days clean and sober to 30 years clean and sober right in the face. It's not a day at the spa. Come on now, don't you think if getting sober was easy and  enjoyable that more people would be getting clean. Don't get me wrong, it is great and enjoyable when you get clean and sober. You see things with a clear mind, with a new set of eyes you can say. I truly am a firm believer that if you use the 12 steps and accept a higher power that anything can happen. You can't do it alone though. You can't write your own program. You can't make up your own rules. You need the support of others. You need to go to meetings. There is nothing wrong with being clean and sober. There should not be shame in getting clean and sober. There is no perfection. There is only progress, there is only today.  I read the "passages web site" and i just got angrier and i felt sick to my stomach. Now remember this is only my opinion and my views. But it seems to me that you need to hit rock bottom , not go to some luxurious estate where you can play tennis and have a day at the spa, to get clean. Granted everyone's bottom is different. Hey more power to you if you can get clean in an estate and not feel the humility like others.
   Bill W.  the co-founder of AA  ( alcoholics anonymous) along with Dr. Bob, was an alcoholic himself. He went through his trials and tribulations and found out the hard way. He was hospitalized for the last time when he had his "spiritual Awakening". He never drank after that. When he thought he was going to drink or wanted to drink he found another drunk to help. What made him great is that he went through it all with the help of his  higher power and other drunks.  I'm sure he was afraid. I'm sure he was fearful. Who isn't those things on a daily basis though. Regardless if your a drinker or not. His life was not picture perfect. His Parents both abandoned him and left his grandparents to raise him. He was fighting depression, and he felt like he was just not good enough. But when he got together with other drunks he felt like he fit in somewhere. There were others just like him. 
  Today AA has  " over two million members belonging to 100,800 groups of alcoholics helping other alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety.^[1]  " 
 My point is this.... If you are needing help..... then get help. Call someone. If you don't know who to call then go to a church and ask for help and guidance. Call information, Look on the web, look somewhere. You never know , You just may run into one of those 2 million people.It's easier said than done, but it just may save your life.
  http://www.aa.org/?Media=PlayFlash