Guiseppe De L – Montebello CA

Guiseppe De L – Montebello CA

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This talk from Giuseppe De L. in Montebello, recorded on Gratitude Day 2006 in Fresno, is classic AA speaker-meeting gold: raw honesty, sharp humour, and a clear message about why meetings alone aren't enough.

Giuseppe sets the tone with a simple prayer and a laugh, then gets straight into the chaos that brought him to Alcoholics Anonymous: multiple drink-driving charges, a Cadillac "dying of alcoholism", and a life built on drugs, crime, and bravado. He jokes that when he arrived, he wasn't even sure he was an alcoholic, but very quickly the fog started to lift.

At the heart of this share is his shift from just showing up at meetings to actually working the Twelve Steps. He admits years of being "sponsorman"—sober on the surface, but full of lies, ego, and control. His turning point comes with a real surrender to Step Three and a deep Fourth and Fifth Step that reveal long-buried pain from childhood dyslexia, school humiliation, and feeling "less than".

You’ll hear how education, late-in-life literacy, and strong sponsorship change his relationship with himself, with others, and with God. Giuseppe also uses vivid stories—a judge and a lawyer he met in AA, a friend who cut ties to get sober, and a playful breakdown of The Wizard of Oz as a kind of recovery parable—to show that "the highest we get around here is sober" and that sobriety is built one day at a time.

This is especially useful for anyone stuck on "meeting-making" without step work, those nervous about writing a Fourth Step, or people who doubt they can stay sober through grief and real-life stress. If you’ve ever wondered whether the AA programme really works beyond the slogans, this talk might hit home.