>>>He knows all of that, but it is GREAT that you posted it again. He needs to read it again and again until it sinks in and takes root. Also, his negative replies or derogatory comments here on the UT can usually be traced to days he is drinking.
>>>
>>>As you well know, I am a big believer in personal responsibility. I also used to weigh almost 200 pounds as a teenager and today I weigh 125. That is because I didn't want to be fat anymore, so I made a choice and did what I needed to do. I figure that if I can so it, so can anyone else.
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>>With all due respect, and without rancor, I don't think it's the same thing at all. I have tried willpower. A million times.
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>>I AM NOT GIVING UP. But I know better now than to believe in "just try harder."
>
>You haven't tried willpower Mike you think you have. I'm getting a bit of self pity here. You going on the piss involves several steps. You have to travel to buy booze, you have to pay for it, you have to take it home, you have to open it and you have to drink it. Nobody is making you take any of those steps.
>
>BTW I have a couple of good friends who met at AA here (a very chequered past) and they have both been sober for 20+ years and have raised 3 very nice children. When they come round to eat we don't even put sherry in the trifle.

I know it can happen. But seriously, you are trivializing it, and that's not making excuses. If you think it's just a matter of willpower you haven't lived with the disease.

The other day I mentioned an article I read about Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Steve has been sober for a while now after damned near killing himself. (TVZ did). He said there is one rule in his house now. If you bring alcohol into my house, which you are welcome to do, you have to take it with you when you leave.

Maybe due to the article I have had one Steve Earle song in my head all week -- "Copperhead Road." He entered the music scene as sort of a country act but his rock and roll side came out more and more. That song could make the Stones jealous.