A TRUE story that makes you stop and think is this one, and it may give you new courage. It’s a story of courage and kindness. It’s about two A.A.s who live in Fort Payne, Ala.
One member of that group is physically handicapped. Without help he could never attend an A.A. meeting. But some of the boys always stop by, and get him to the meetings.
One night recently, there walked into the Fort Payne meeting a young man. He wore overalls, but he was neat and had a clean-cut appearance. He listened intently during the meeting. Afterward he said:
“I like what I have heard. I believe A.A. can help me. But I wish I could read that Big Book you told me about.”
At once, a member offered him the loan of the Big Book, only to be told: “I never learned to read. I was an orphan and never got much raising.”
Perhaps you have guessed the end of this story. Fort Payne Group has a man who is physically handicapped; it has a member who never learned to read. And now, the man who cannot walk is reading aloud to the young man who “never got much raising” the story of A.A. as told in the Big Book.