Not an original story line by any means. Our friend Bill Little uses it in a positive sense even though it is the twist-line in a series of jokes that are frequently a bit on the sick side. It makes a point, either way.
Good news? There is a constant and heartening flow of it coming to my attention every day of every week that I spend at Donwood. It takes all forms.
Like the call I got not long ago from a man who started off the conversation by saying :"I just wanted to thank you for a favour you did me one year ago today." I had no idea what he was talking about. He went on to say "one year ago I called you asking if you could recommend an ex-patient to fill a job I had at the plant - you sent me this fellow and he is the best employee I have."
Then there are the more typical kinds of calls from someone, perhaps forgoten, who gets in touch to say that he has not maintained contact in the last couple of years but got to thinking how good life can be and he thought he would like to let Donwood know because that's where it all started.
Along this same line I got a call in the recent past from a man who had been faced with a particularly tense situation that had lasted over several days. Depsite the worry and frustration that he had to contend with, there had been no thought of the return to alcohol. When the crisis had passed me mentioned to his wife that if it had not been for the help he had from Donwood he would not have been able to get through it without a "crash". She suggested that if he felt that way he should let us know. He called and did just that.
Last Thursday evening I was at a meeting of the Ottawa group. There was just over thirty people there. Three people made a point of speaking to me to say how much they were enjoying life.
Year end questionnaires keep coming across my desk. There is a space at the bottom where we ask for comments from the patient's spouse. How gratifying it is to read one that says "since John (or Elsie or Sam or Sadie) has stopped drinking our life as a family has improved so much. He has regained his self-esteem and we are all proud of his effort."
There are simple, unstated but so obvious successes that I encounter at evening meetings at Donwood. It is enough just to see the alive and vital look on a person's face and the happiness that is reflected in the face of husband or wife.
None of these "good news" situations just happened. It is not very often that they came about through some outside influence or "break". They were made to happen because the individual concerned had made the effert to make changes in herself or himself and as the saying goes "The harder they worked, the luckier they got."
Bad News? It's easy to find - just read the front page of uyour daily newspaper!
MIKE WILSON
DON SAYS: Mike was on staff at the Donwood Institute at the time this article was written - November, 1975. Again a well written article. Good work!
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