RumRadio 12N24 Step Two Got Hope

In the chapter entitled Step One in the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions it reads: “It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of providence could remove it from us.” Herein, we get a stark description of the next task at hand.  The traditional manner in which we view this message is simply that having now explained the problem, we will present the solution.  This is, of course, critical as the first step alone is, by no means, good news.  It is truly awful to accept that, as a product of your own choices, you’ve dug a hole so deep that nothing short of an act of God could save you.  But it is the end of that sentence where we find our first glimpse of hope.  We are being told that, while up until now we’ve had only the choice to carry forth in our illness desperately trying to stave off jails, institutions or death; we are now being provided a second option.  And that’s exactly what it is- an option.  I hear many alcoholics new to A.A. that they have no choice but to do this work.  But this is a falsity.  They absolutely have a choice.  This realization provides us a secondary way into which to view these first two steps.  Yes, they represent the problem and the solution.  But they also represent choice one and choice two.