Bill Wilson

Bill Wilson ( http://www.orange-papers.org/)

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us." (Flora Edwards) Bill Wilson was a strong believer that helping others helped him too, that's why he co-founded the organization Alcoholics Anonymous. William Griffith Wilson was born November 26, 1895 in East Dorset, Vermont, as Gilman and Emily Griffith Wilson's son. His father Gilman was an alcoholic, and Wilson didn't take long to follow in his father's footsteps. While talking, Wilson and Dr. Robert H. Smith realized that while talking to and helping another alcoholic, you felt better yourself. This was June 10, 1935, and "the two would recognize that day as the birthdate of Alcoholics Anonymous." (Bill W) Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), has so far helped millions of people reach sobriety and remain sober. The reason AA had such great results was because it "established an entirely new way of treating alcoholism in the United States."(Bill W)  Most importantly, a hero must  feel the need and possess the ability to help others, because otherwise we wouldn't recognize them as a hero. A hero must also posses the strength to overcome challenges and the perseverance to never give up, so we know we can always rely on them. Bill Wilson is worthy of the title "hero" for three reasons: he felt the need to help others, had the strength to overcome obstacles in his life, and never gave up.

Alcoholics Anonymous Book (http://www.aararecollectibles.com/)

The goal of Bill Wilson's organization, Alcoholics Anonymous, was to help millions of people reach sobriety and maintain it. While talking with another alcoholic, Wilson stumbled upon a way to help with fighting alcoholism: "This six-hour meeting confirmed to Wilson the value of one alcoholic talking with another: Wilson helped Smith by talking with him; Wilson also helped Wilson." (A Man With Friends: Bill Wilson) Wilson felt better after for two reasons, because he was talking with somebody who understood what he was going through, and he knew he had helped Smith too. Wilson's need to help others is why he founded Alcoholics Anonymous, and helping more and more people each day made his alcoholism easier to handle. After realizing how much helping others helped him, Wilson never stopped trying to help people: "He had found his life's purpose: to help people get sober and stay that way." (Frost, Bob) After suffering with alcoholism for such a long time, it was a miracle he found something that helped him that much, so helping others is what he put all of his time into. Not only did Wilson help people become sober, but he helped them stay like that. Wilson put endless hours of work into AA because he knew maintaining sobriety was the hardest part for struggling alcoholics. Helping others was the reason Wilson was able to overcome alcoholism, one of his many obstacles in life.       

AA symbol (http://www hiphopwired.com/)

Wilson was such a great teacher because he overcame so many challenges in his life and he could share his experiences with others. Wilson's struggles started from a young age, when he was still a child: he "gave the impression of being a winner- he was bright, energetic, and committed to excellence. But deep down he felt like a loser- physically tense, often depressed, socially awkward..." (Bill W) It's amazing Wilson was able to still help people when he had all along been dealing with all those things inside. Even though Wilson made everything worse by trying to solve his problems with alcohol, he was still able to deal with alcoholism along with his many other problems, and still help people too. Wilson used his experiences with his many addictions and depression to help people going through the same things he did: "She added, his ongoing struggles 'with sex, with smoking, [and] with depression helped to make him a great teacher...'" (Wagner, Doug). Helping others proves that Wilson overcame these multiple things he suffered with. Not only did Wilson deal with his challenges, but he was also able to stay away from all the things he was so heavily addicted to even when he had to relive the experiences everyday while helping and teaching others. Wilson wouldn't have ever been able to overcome his challenges if he didn't have the perseverance to never give up.

Wilson was a fighter; he never gave up on working to help others through AA, trying to find alternative ways to help with alcoholism, and remaining sober. Helping millions of his AA followers was one of Wilson's top priorities: "Until his death in 1971, Wilson worked to strengthen the evolution of AA and never entirely abandoned his search for a better cure."  (My name is Bill: Bill Wilson: His life and the creation of Alcoholics Anonymous). On top of never giving up on staying sober, Wilson never stopped trying to better AA for the sake of others. Wilson could've stopped putting his time and help into AA once his alcoholism was under control, but he always kept working at it. Wilson never hesitated trying things that could possibly help him and other alcoholics: "Wilson continued to examine the distant, forgotten, essential corners of human existence, probing how to reach them without liquor. He saw a therapist, read voraciously, and took instruction in Roman Catholicism." (Frost, Bob). Even though Wilson knew what helped him with his alcoholism, he never stopped looking for alternatives, showing he wouldn't give in to his alcoholism and give up his sobriety, which he worked so hard for. Trying everything he thought may possible help him showed how much perseverance Wilson had. Even though he must've wanted to quit many times, Wilson always stayed strong which is an inspiration.      

Wilson's need to help others, many challenges he overcame, and his perseverance to never give up is why he is a hero. Wilson was the kind of person who needed to help others; he wouldn't feel satisfied if he didn't. He worked every day on bettering AA so he was able to help more people. To be able to help these people, Wilson had to overcome many obstacles in his life such as depression, addictions to smoking, and drinking. Wilson never gave up, whether it was helping others or trying to find new ways to overcome more challenges, and he never gave up on being the best person he could be. Wilson was an inspiration because he didn't procrastinate, waiting for someone to help him with his alcoholism, he started helping himself, which included helping others. Wilson also was never satisfied with what he'd done because he knew there were more people out there he could help, even though he had already been helping millions and numerous countries. "For the remainder of his life, Bill Wilson worked tirelessly to spread the message of AA to individuals suffering with alcoholism. As he grew older, he suffered from emphysema, and he died of pneumonia on January 24, 1971. Today, Alcoholics Anonymous operates nearly 85,000 local groups in 130 countries." (Ryan, James) Because AA is still operating over 40 years after his death shows Wilson created a strong organization that made a huge impacts on the society, even if he didn't give himself the credit he deserved. If more of us followed Bill Wilson's example and started helping ourselves instead of waiting for other, I'm sure we'd all have a lot less to deal with and we'd realize how much you truly do help yourself when you help others.