“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable”

The ring promised power to the wearer. Some sought the power to do good, to right injustice, others for their own evil ends. Others did not seek to use the power that the ring conferred, but were still twisted to the ring’s own ends. This ring, the “one ring that binds them all”, was the major character in the recent film, “The Lord of The Rings”, based on Tolkien’s trilogy. As I sat in the darkened theater, watching Wizards, Dwarves, Elves, and Men’s adventures to rid Middle Earth of this evil, I was reminded again and again of my alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a disease of lies, and the lie we face in Step One is the same lie the ring held out – the promise of choice and power. Alcohol promised me power over my own internal landscape. I would be able to feel different, be different. With its help I would be able to vanquish my fears, overcome my depression, conquer my sense of inadequacy, defeat the feeling of not belonging in the world. But alcohol, which promised to be my servant, just as the ring held out the promise to serve it’s wearer, became my master. The promise of the first drink was always shown to be a lie, as that first drink insisted on a second drink, and a third … Seduced by the power of the ring, men would turn against friends, family, against their own better judgment, doing things they would later bitterly regret. So it was when I drank.

Step One is the facing of this stark reality. It is the casting off of the first, fundamental lie of alcoholism – that no matter what a drink may promise, once taken, I will do what the drink demands.