Life Leg Secluded Group on the Air

By Will P.

Hi, y’all.

You can tell I’m from the South -- South Jersey. This email message is too long. If you delete this, it will have no effect on Tuesday, March 13, 2002. Or skip to the end if you just want the fudge.

This morning from 8 to 9, I plugged our LSR meeting in Sea Isle City on WCMC, 1230 AM in Wildwood. I know you did not hear it in Ocean City, Maryland, Shirley, because I can barely hear it in Vineland 30 miles away. The station is an "adult nostalgia" station that is filtered so that only people 55 and up can listen. (Shirley, you don’t qualify.) While I was there, I heard ads for Metamucil, Depends, and Viagra. Last year there was an article in the Wildwood Reporter about a twenty-three-year-old adult who got hold of a converter box. He listened to WCMC for an hour and very quickly aged to 72. Regrettable.

From 6 to 8, Jim, the disk jockey, plays vinyl records, reads local news spots and announces when the United Methodist Ladies Auxiliary is having their Bake and Rummage Sale. (Last week was The Ham and Oyster Dinner. I am told it was "not bad".) He also gave away a box of fudge to the first person that called in with the correct name of this song.

From 8 to 9 he may have a guest in between the music. Today Kath, volunteered me to be guest. I introduced myself to Jim as "Dr. Parsons" and asked him to call me "Will". He kept referring to me as "Dr. Parsons" anyway and perhaps that added some credibility to the message. (I hope the real Dr. Parsons was not listening.)

The general outline in my head was to first explain the name. Jim messed up the name a little. He introduced me as from "Life Leg Secluded Group." Later he got the name correct. Off the air, he asked me what "secular" means. I have been thinking about the name a lot. How about "Organization for Secular Sobriety", the OSS. "Secular" is still in the middle and the advantage is we would attract skinheads, a group that is now very under represented. I gave the "bus example" of secular and mentioned a couple of times that this is a non-religious program, but that the people in the program may be religious. One time Jim corrected me and said "non-spiritual." I replied "no, non-religious."

After going over the three "S’s". I told a little about a typical day when I was drinking. I told about how the "Sober-self" the rational part of my brain was always in charge in the morning, but as the day progressed, the "Sober-self" became weaker and the "Beast" became stronger; so that by 5:00 in the afternoon, I was drinking. I avoided "Li'l Bastard".

Later I talked about the LifeRing program. About alcoholics/addicts coming to LifeRing alienated from society, experiencing solitude, shame and hopelessness. I explained that our program is honest speaking and active listening. We maintain eye contact and show compassion. Compassion is a message from Mother Theresa, Buddha, Jesus, and all religions. Compassion can save a life. We give them hope and serve as role models. I just added a little that I meant to say.

I mentioned several times unhooked.com and our LSR Sea Isle Meeting -- day, time, location. I also gave my home telephone number and Kathleen’s. The time when by too fast. I did not mention the workbook. I was prepared to talk about the message in "Train Spotting", "Requiem for a Dream", and "Traffic". I also could have gone on for some time about how society realizes that the drug/alcohol problem is not getting better and that we need different approaches.

I was positive and did not mention AA or that I have been to thousands of AA meetings. Technically that would violate one of AA’s traditions, not that I really care. Toward the end, a caller was upset because I did not talk about AA. So I said we have the same goal as AA and some of our members go to both meetings. By the way, I think it was Ben who asked to use his full name. Will P. looks like I am ashamed of who I am. I don’t have to worry about my job and I feel acceptance is important for staying clean and sober. This is who I am, an ex-drunk and an ex-nicotine addict. If someone thinks less of me for that, they have a problem.

This note is far too long for an email message. So if you have made it this far, congratulations. Send me your name and address and I will send you a box of Wildwood’s best fudge.

-- Love, Will

(Reprinted from the LSRcon list by permission) 3/15/01