April 8
Company Without an Answer
A friend cannot fix what has happened. The loss is real, the waiting continues, or a decision remains beyond anyone's control. We may wonder what use there is in calling. We have already discussed the facts, and neither of us has discovered a solution. If conversation has to produce an answer to be worthwhile, there seems little reason to repeat what both of us know.
Company has a value that is easy to overlook when we are measuring usefulness by results. Someone can sit with us in uncertainty, remember what matters, or help the evening feel less empty. The situation may remain exactly as difficult. We may nevertheless be less alone in facing it. Allowing that kind of presence asks us to loosen the demand that care prove itself by fixing something. A relationship can support us through circumstances it has no power to change.
What kind of help might be available even when no answer is?
The evening need not be spent alone.
For the A.A. nerds: As Bill Sees It, No. 83, “We Cannot Live Alone.”