We meet these
conditions every day (association with people who drink or places where alcohol is served sic). An alcoholic who cannot meet them still has an alcoholic
mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance
for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland
icecap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of Scotch and ruin
everything!
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS pp. 100-101
*****
 | |||||||
| Next thing I knew ... |
Ironically, the term “Eskimo” in AA has come
to be interpreted as “anyone helping us get to AA”. It has almost completely
lost the meaning expressed in the Big Book. I can stretch the second meaning to
say that an Eskimo helps us slip and a slip can get us serious about our
spiritual development. It doesn’t matter all that much what tag people use. The
point to me is that I don’t have to resent, avoid, or otherwise skirt alcohol
if my sobriety isn’t dependent on abstinence alone. In the beginning it is wise
to change playgrounds and playmates but I found it to be no big deal to be
around others who are using, I even let one girl use my bathroom to shoot up. I
was giving her safe haven to do what she was going to do anyway and that was my
sole purpose. I wasn’t trying to get in her pants so much as this. My sobriety
wasn’t threatened in the least because I was led by the spirit of compassion
before any sense of moral propriety.
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