Words of Wisdom from Bear

[Lynnie]

:h Very, very nice! when and how did Bear pass away?

Lynn

[lucky 2.0]

It seems like it was about 2 yrs ago when he died. He was hit by a drunk driver as he was leaving an AA mtg on his motorcycle. Very sad but I am so glad he overcame his alcohol abuse.

[puddytat]

Cinders posted this a few months back re: Bear:

We had a member here called Bear. It took him many, many tries to get sober but finally with the help of MWO and AA, he did.

He was the kindest, gentlest soul.

One night, on his motorcycle coming home from an AA meeting, a young mother with children in the car, driving drunk hit Bear. He was killed instantly. She went on down the road and ended up hitting someone else and finally was stopped.

Bear's family sometimes drops in to check on us and let us know how they are doing.

We miss our Bear.

The amazing thing is, his family kept reminding us that for the Grace of God, Bear could have done the same thing in his drunken days and not to hate this woman but have pity.

She took from this planet a truly beautiful soul. I cannot imagine the horror and guilt she lives with day to day in prison now.

Cindi

it's on this thread:
http://www.mywayout.org/community/f1...t-2-34493.html

[Chief]

Good stuff, Mags...

[hart]

Thanx for digging this up, Mags. A very wise man was Bear and much beloved.

[Mags]

Bear died on May 8, 2008. A day I do and will mark on my calendar and observe.

But this thread is not really about Bear, even though he deserves one.

It is all about what he had to say much more elegantly than I could ever say. Funny, this big, burley, hairy, tattooed biker was so poetic and sweet.

I think so often about that elevator he talked about. As a long term abber I have thought about that elevator so often. I love Bear for that elevator.

I got off that elevator many times for various amounts of time but somehow seemed to end up back on it for another floor or two. Remember, as Bear said. The elevator only goes down. Never up. And once you are on it, you are on. There is no stop button. Just the next floor if you are fast and smart.

If B is for Basement which is where the morgue is, then the last time I got off was on the first floor. Luckily I have been able to stay off the elevator for a while. And after wandering around on the first floor for a while, I found out there are stairs.

Stairs are a hell of a lot more work than the elevator. But stairs go up. This elevator only goes down. But if you stay off that damn elevator and look around hard enough you can find the stairs and if you expend the energy, you can actually walk up a floor. Maybe two or three floors with time.

You really can do that. Bear did that. He would have said that if he had lived a little longer.

Good luck, my friends.

[beagle]

I've just read through all this & the scare me straight thread & it has really got me thinking, looking deeper into my self - not much else to say really as you all know what I'm talking about here.
Thanks Mags for putting up this thread & RIP to Bear.

[cmhguy3]

Wow! I needed to read this today! Thanks for re-posting...

Guy
Day 2 again!

[YoungAtHeart]

Mare and I were just looking at the photo gallery last night and came across some pictures of Bear. It is so sad to think about his premature death. He helped us so much while he was here, and I imagine that he would think his death would not be in vain if it helped people get off that elevator faster.

Dang Mags, I'm getting tearful thinking about this. There but for the grace.....

[Heavenly]

Yep, I still think of Bear and how he reached out and always chatted if you needed him to ... this one is a particularly good analogy.