Putting the Plug in the Jug Pouring Out
Myths and Erroneous Stories
The Nonsense about Alleged Payments to
Clarence H. Snyder
Dick B.
© 2013 Anonymous. All rights reserved
I couldn’t believe
it when someone pointed out to me that a censored, moderated forum was loaded
with questions, answers, and intimations that Clarence Snyder had been paid for
his story in the Big Book. Almost uniformly, the myth was championed by people who
couldn’t possibly have a clue or know the truth. Many said so. But they
repeated the suggested myth again and again—several pages worth..
So, like Dragnet, I
just went out looking for “Just the facts please, ma’m.” I contacted three
long-time sponsees of Clarence H. Snyder who originally gathered all of
Clarence’s papers and began putting them in such publications as “Going Through
the Steps,” “My Higher Power the Light Bulb,” and “Our Faith Legacy.” Which are
now widely known and frequently used or quoted by AAs and others. I simply
asked these folks if the writers were in error, and/or were circulating
mythical questions and answers, and had misstated the facts.
Here are some facts—that
constitute evidence not unlike that which I myself had with Clarence Snyder’s
widow in the week-long interview I had with her in Florida.
Item One: Aloha to you, Steve, from Maui,
Hawaii! This my son Ken wrote to Steve
Thank you for
setting--and keeping--the record straight! Hope to see you and Sue and Jack
(and others from the "Came to Believe Retreats" family) at "The
First International Alcoholics Anonymous History Conference," September
6-7, 2013, in Portland, Maine. Perhaps you folks could even join us on our
research tour to St. Johnsbury, Vermont (about three hours from Portland) on
Sept. 8-10.
http://www.dickb.com/First-International-Alcoholics-Anonymous-History-Conference-2013.shtml
In GOD's love,
Dick B.'s son, Ken
Item Two: Steve’s Plain, Simple, and Factual
Answer to the Myth:
On Thu, May 16, 2013
at 9:56 AM, Steve Foreman wrote:
Dick and Ken:
Any thoughts or
rumors that Clarence Snyder received any money for being a part of the Big Book
or sales of any other AA material is pure “Baloney” (I cleaned that up).
Clarence was livid
with Bill for the money Bill made from each copy sold of the Big Book and “12
Steps and 12 Traditions” plus all of the Al-Anon material Lois wrote. He would
not even take fees for speaking at engagements throughout the US. He would ask
for his expenses to be paid, and that was it.
AA was a “Labor of
Love” as described by Clarence and, as he said, was “his avocation”, not a
money-making venture. These people are “making this stuff up” (misinformed, or
lying, in other words), and I can be quoted as so saying.
Love those B. . . .
Boys. Keep the pot stirred and all of us mushrooms informed with “Just the
facts”.
God Bless,
Steve Foreman
2211 Lee Road, Suite
100
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407)862-5900 - Fax
(407)869-7560
Item Three: The Actual, Confirming Truth as
Conveyed to us (Dick B. and Ken B.) at the home of Clarence Snyder’s widow—Grace
Moore Snyder—and her son Duke Moore and Duke’s wife and father-in-law at the
dinner table at Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
The group was seated
at the dinner table, discussing the book which I had come to write—That Amazing Grace: The Role of Clarence and
Grace S. in Alcoholics Anonymous (San Rafael, CA: Paradise Research
Publications, 1996).
Duke’s father in law
turned to Grace and asked her how much she was being paid by me for the
biography I was writing and going to publish. She looked the gentleman straight
in the eye. She said: “Not one cent.”
With that, Duke got
up from the table and left the dining room. Grace followed him. And Grace said
her son told her: “Mom, I’m proud of you for what you said about the being “paid”
remark. That’s exactly what Clarence said of himself so often. And that’s the
way he would have answered.”
As soon as I saw the
myths proposed in the censored and moderated “history” forum, I contacted
Clarence’s own sponsees in Florida and elsewhere. I asked for their comments on
the question whether Clarence had been paid for his story. My son and I
received the answer above, and it certainly shows how far people who dislike
others in A.A. may start a false question or false rumor or request for false
information. And then try to destroy the person mentioned.
Item Four: The Forty-Five Feathers: Ed Andy, a good friend of Clarence’s, and the
owner of the “First A.A. Museum” in Lorain, Ohio, put out a videotaped
interview about the “45 feathers.” A man had told a bald-faced lie about
another person and caused lots of harm. The man went to a priest to confess.
The priest told him to get 45 feathers and place one in the lawn at each home
where he had spread the damaging lie. This he did. And he returned to the
priest. The priest told him to return and bring the feathers back to the
church. The man went to all forty-five places; and there was not one feather to
be found. He returned to the priest and reported the missing forty-five
feathers. And the priest told him to remember the 45 feathers story. The priest
said to the man that the feathers had blown away to some other location, not
even known to either of them. He told the man: “That is what happens when you
tell a damaging lie or false rumor about someone and harm them. The lie—whether
one or forty-five—doesn’t stop with a listener. It gets spread and spread and
spread. You don’t know how far it will travel and harm and perhaps not ever
stop. The lie blows on to the next listener just like each feather blew away to
do many endless, unknown harms in your case.
So too the false
stories that circulate and circulate and circulate in the “rooms” and in such “history
forums.” They should never be told in the first place—whether by insinuation or
question or bald-faced lie. If these false legends, rumors, stories, and
insinuations are floated out today on the internet, who knows how many read,
talk, repeat, and alter the canard. Clarence is dead. His wife is dead. And the
truth could have died with them. And this one about Clarence deserved to be
investigated. And I trust this article will show the harm that has already been
done.
In fact, there is a
well-known saying: “A lie travels half way around the world before the truth
even gets its shirt on.” ‘Nuff said!”
dickb@dickb.com
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