"...Moments..." An evening with Bill W.

This short clip is only the beginning of this play. Please visit www.iconsanonymous.com for more information.

Most people have heard of Alcoholics Anonymous, but few know of Bill Wilson, a.k.a. Bill W., a co-founder of this remarkable fellowship, and author of their Twelve Step Program of Recovery.

In "...Moments..." the writer-actor, another Bill, brings Wilson to life, on stage, in a one-man, 90-minute dramatic presentation. Bill W. tells his story to a fictitious A.A. group (the audience) drawing them inside the mind of a man who figured he would die or go insane from alcohol until he had a remarkable vision in a lonely hospital bed and A.A. had its beginning.

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[LeanaHM76]

I'm with you on this! A.A. saved my father and it's saved me too (I, too, am a recovering alcoholic-binge drinker). I've met some really great people and have a few friends in it. I never had friends when I was drinking (people at bars and parties aren't and WILL NOT ever be your real friends).

It's a great club to join. The best...

[backwoodsmister]

Many "open-minded" people have vested interest in calling AA a cult to keep people from giving it a shot. If I never gave it a chance, I'd be dead.

Call it what you want, but it worked for me when treatment centers, jails & everything else did not. You cannot destroy my experience.

Plenty of AA's are full of shit because they are...HUMAN. But by applying the principles of "Trust God, Clean House, Help Others," I have found freedom from drugs & alcohol. If it works, who cares what you call it?

[Marylost12]

AA is NOT worthless and 'brainwashing' its a program for recovering alcoholics(who never fully recover, always chance of relapse in anyone!) Finding a place to meet with other drunks and to help eachother admitting there is no higher power than the lord(which is true) and to accept that your not the greatest thing to ever walk the earth. AA is a wonderful program that I thank god my parents keep coming back to those meetings! Without AA my parents couldn't of kept sober. God Bless.

[MrDaemonB]

@ndrthrdr1 I only decided for myself. Speaking from my own experience, I once thought that I had surrendered(by showing up at the meetings etc). I wasn't able to stay clean, and yeah it was because I wasn't doing it right and more importantly, because I hadn't done enough dope yet. So the success rate is no less than 100% for those who've done enough dope. Working the 12 steps helps to uncover and heal that which kept us using dope. True that most who show up there havent done enough dope yet.

[ndrthrdr1]

@petergagu The program says that if a person leaves AA he is almost certainly signing his own death warrant. Millions of us have left AA, have stayed sober, and are now members of mainstream society. Don't let AA convince you that we are lying or nonexistent. If you believe in faith healing, maybe AA is for you. Otherwise, shop around for an approach that suits you.

[ndrthrdr1]

@MrDaemonB How do you decide which people have "completely surrendered"? The ones who claim to have succeeded? That's blatant cherry-picking. It's dangerous to convince anyone that lack of success in NA must mean that they aren't doing it right.

[MrDaemonB]

some brainwashing is required for sure, I mean the guy lying behind the dumpster smoking crack all day and night, like he dosen't need a thorough brainwashing? I have seen these people actually recover and live successful lives clean and sober,families careers,etc, it is a fucking miracle, the program is designed for sick people who need it and want it, and it works, 100% this is a proven fact

[MrDaemonB]

@rexxed33 Narcotics Anonymous' success rate for those who have done enough is no less than 100%. AA is probably the same, if you sift past those who think that their problem is merely alcohol, and all the yahoos who are their to find a date. No addict who has completely surrendered to writing and living the 12 steps has ever failed to find recovery. A proven fact

[jojodangerfield]

the critics claim it's either a devious brainwashing cult or that it simply doesn't work -- both cannot be true. you're free to join or leave as you choose, it's a choice. That choice works for some forever, for some just a period of time, and for many not at all. no need to tear it down based on it's founder's faults, most american institutions have some dark parts in their past if you investigate. make up your own mind folks.

[Yoganao]

Belladonna Bill W. was just a egotistal senile cult leader who cult of AA has NEVER WORKED, it's just a cult religion based on the far right wing pro Hitler Oxford group.

[Yoganao]

AA suppresses research into other treatment through their front groups like ASAM and NDACC. AA has been proven to have a negative success rate by any valid scientific study ever done. There is no honesty in AA at all. 1st, no-one is powerless from the first step on you're RIGOROUSLY LIED TO!