Wick-ed People

Wick-ed People

Anonymous, October 1955, from North Hollywood, CA

"Thank You For Sharing--Sixty Years of Letters to the AA Grapevine"

"Last week I almost had a little trouble . . . in fact I was so close to taking a drink it wasn't funny.

"But I didn't take that drink! Why? Maybe because I have quite a bit of AA under my belt.

"After I had calmed down and realized that I'd succeeded in getting through my ordeal, it occurred to me that we alcoholics are like firecrackers. Yes, when we first go into AA we are firecrackers with short wicks and when those short wicks get lighted with resentment or self-pity or any of the things that cause us to go off on a tangent, it doesn't take long before we explode.

"The longer we go to meetings, the longer the wick becomes. That may be why nothing happened when I almost had a little trouble. I had a long wick and I could see it burning and getting closer to me. I could see the explosion coming and was able to reach out and snip the burning wick--all because I had lots of AA meetings under my belt. Remember: the more meetings you go to, the longer the wick gets."