Experts

It just so happens that I am sponsoring three newcomers in ETA. They are a mixture of alcoholics and drug addicts. No matter what substance has been used, I start all pigeons out by reading the chapter, "The Doctor's Opinion" in the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous". One of my pigeons, Barbie, asks a lot of questions. I'm fairly certain she is an analyyyzer (pronounced anal-why?-why?-why?-zer). Anyway, she wanted to know why Dr. Silkworth was referred to as a well known doctor and what made him an expert on the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction.

Most of my readers know that I have little patience with "Why?" Who cares? Even if we know why, it doesn't change reality. This means discovering the answer is usually a waste of time. For example:

The floor is dirty. Do you know why the floor is dirty? Because people tracked mud in and/or spilled stuff on it. Now that we know why, is the floor clean? No. Figuring out why the floor is dirty was a complete waste of time; it didn't change reality. Go get a mop.

I seriously considered suggesting that Barbie do a comprehensive research paper on Dr. Silkworth's education and career experience that led to him being a well known expert on the treatment of alcoholic and drug addiction. (Those kinds of suggestions/assignments tend to cure anal-why?why?why?-zers in a hurry.) But then I thought about the immediate proof written right in the chapter: "You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves."

I thought of the ETA party where there was a small pond close by. Some of the guests were fishing while others watched them. One guy caught a huge catfish. While he was trying to bring the fish in alkies were shouting instructions across the pond, telling him how to bring the fish in and predicting he would lose the fish when the guy didn't follow their instructions. The guy landed the fish. Later, I asked the alkies that shouted if they fished very often. Most of them hadn't fished in years, if ever. Several of them said they hated fishing. They all had suggestions on the proper way to fish however, and it was obvious they were expert fishermen.

I also remembered when the Director (of 3 plus years) of a successful halfway house told me this story: The sponsor of one of the residents called the Director and spouted a list of all the things she thought were being done incorrectly at the house, as well as suggestions on how the Director could improve the facility. Had the sponsor ever been the director of a halfway house? No. Had the sponsor ever worked in a halfway house? No. Had the sponsor ever even lived in a halfway house? No. Despite the lack of any personal experience, the sponsor was an expert on the management of halfway houses.

"You may rely absolutely on anything they have to say about themselves." That's it. Not anything else. Only a well known expert in the treatment of alcoholic and drug addiction would understand the need to make such a clarification. Did Dr. Silkworth know us or what?

Have a good and sober day.