Tom Tuesday: Toms Story

Tom Tuesday: Toms Story

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This AA speaker meeting centres on Tom I, a man who says he went from “junkyard dog” to respected prison official and family man, all while staying sober since February 1957. Recorded at Back to Basics in Huntsville in 2011, Tom talks straight, with humour, grit, and zero glamour.

You’ll hear how he first walked into AA from a maximum-security prison, convinced he didn’t belong among the “old, ugly crowd” and terrified AA was just another religious show. The opening serenity prayer had him thinking, “They’ll be in here with the snakes any minute,” yet he kept coming back because of one speaker’s sheer enthusiasm. Tom shares how doing the 12 Steps “crude as it might have looked” still brought what he calls an “absolute transformation”.

He talks about fully conceding to his innermost self that he was alcoholic, making amends for killing two people while drink-driving, and learning to live with dignity, integrity, and responsibility. A big part of his message is service. From setting up chairs in prison to sponsoring others and running big book groups, Tom shows how focusing on others loosens self‑centredness.

His story also touches on life after release: being welcomed into a tiny AA group, helping to build it up, and eventually being recruited to work – and later lead – within the very prison system he once belonged to as an inmate.

For anyone who thinks they’re “too far gone”, too young, too different, or too damaged, Tom’s story offers a sharp, funny, and very human reminder that long-term sobriety and a meaningful life might be closer than they think. What part of his journey do you recognise in your own?