I'll leave you, gentle reader, to answer that question after you've read the following.

Robert C., who now makes his living as a recycler, is also a messianic minister in his spare time. "We believe in the Messiah. Those are the first Christians, Jewish believers in the Messiah. Read the book of Hebrews. I have an on-line ministry, at <Hi5.com> and <Myspace.com>. I was fully ordained three months ago."

Robert is not a sidewalk preacher. He says he works entirely through the Internet, and now has 65 members on Hi5. Myspace is "a little slower," but has attracted members from as far away as Israel. "that's a real privilege," Robert said, "bringing the whole message to the Holy Land itself. And besides, they're teaching me Hebrew."

His other major avocation is the creation of hydrogen fuel cells to power cars. He's working with people he met online through <Waterpoweredcars.com> and a fellow hydrogen cell fan he met through his home base, Serenity Hall. A check of that web page produced extensive, glowing articles, including one by Gloria Steinem, about the potential of hydrogen to run the world's cars. The web page says cars could easily be converted to hydrogen power "for a few thousand dollars," but Robert says he can make the necessary devices for $20. That way,everyone can afford the conversion.

"I'm building a workshop to convert my trucks," Robert said. "I have seen this system work. It makes your engine run hotter and cleaner, and fuel efficiency goes up 25 to 50 per cent."

How does it work? Well, read the web page, but simply put by Robert, you start with tap water. Electricity separates the hydrogen from the oxygen (H2O, remember?). The hydrogen is then fed into the engine's fuel system. All this without any change of the existing engine. NOTE - REVISE TO HERE

In prior incarnations, Robert was a teenage drunk in his native San Diego, the offspring of alcoholic, abusive parents. Like many of us, he used his mother as a reverse role model, determined not to grow up to be like her. But through two failed marriages and six children, he turned out to be like her, to the point where neither ex-wife and half his children want anything to do with him.

Robert and his brother were teenage terrorists. "I left school when I was 16. Well, I was kicked out. We put explosives down the toilet and stink bombs in the ventilation system. But the capper was when we electrocuted our shop teacher. My brother and I got hold of some condensers, charged 'em up and hooked 'em to the teacher's chair. We didn't know he had a heart condition.

"When the jolt hit him, he had a heart attack. He survived, thank God, but we were expelled. I was arrested and charged with attempted murder. I took the rap for my brother. Ultimately, the charge was reduced to misdemeanor mayhem."

That wasn't his first arrest. He was 12 when that happened. "I'd been on drugs for hyperactivity since I was eight, but they didn't help much. I was on them 'til l was 20."

He and his buddies used an abandoned house as their home base for selling methamphetamines, barbiturates and marijuana. His specialty, at the wild and wooly parties in the house, was to spike the wine with drugs. "That was a big thing down there."

As time went on, the drugging and drinking got more and more out of hand. "I got to the point where most of my drinking was when I was coming off meth. I'd get a little tranky coming down, and adding that to my anger toward women got me into a series of relationships that were mutually abusive.

"If I drank enough, all she had to do was look at me the wrong way and I'd hit her. But I was pretty good at making her think it was her fault."

In the '60s, Robert moved on to revolutionary politics, a history which still has him looking over his shoulder. "I was with a group planning the assassination of President Nixon. When the feds broke up the plot, I was arrested. I claimed mental incapacity because of excessive use of drugs and alcohol, but I still did two years at the Atascadero (California) maximum security prison for the criminally insane."

How far down the road did he and his colleagues get with their plot?

"Too close, but I don't wanta talk about it. It can still bite me in the ass." Robert says when he was paroled, he repeatedly violated his parole without being thrown back in the joint. "The cops were waiting for me to kill somebody."

Life was a heavy, ongoing, drinking-drugging party as he became involved in the trendy radical issues of the time-the George Jackson Brigade, the People's Park in Berkeley, "and a lot of other stuff. I don't want to detail it. I became disenchanted with the left. I don't believe in either side now."

Why retire?

"I lost my wife and three kids. She wanted safety for her and our three children. And I had become disgusted with the whole underground scene. We didn't get the support we'd expected. Our goal was to drive the government into more and more oppression until the middle class would rise up and join us. It didn't happen. I'm out of politics now."

He continued his wild downward course 'til, in 1999, he had a "God shot. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. I was so sick of what I'd become that I wanted to die. I called out to God, 'This has got to stop. Whatever it takes.' I had no hope of sobriety. All I knew was the abuses were speeding faster and faster.

"Exactly 48 hours later, I was booked into King County Jail for domestic violence and attempted suicide. That was God that did this, to change my life. I was rescued. While I was doing six months in there, I got to attend a few A.A. meetings led by a woman minister who'd been a cocaine and booze addict. She told me the 12 Steps, through the Bible, were her salvation.

"When I got out, I went to live in a transition house and stayed sober on my own for a year. I noticed one of our house members went out every night, and eventually he got me to with him to Fremont Hall. That was in 2000. I got a sponsor, but he wasn't tough enough on me to overcome my arrogance. I met a gal in the program who invited me to a housewarming. When I got there, it was just us. She invited me to be her sex tool for the night. I accepted, and accepted a shot of speed she threw at me.

"It was the worst thing that could have happened. I failed the program and I failed God. I tried to kill myself with a really big shot. Four hours later, when I came to, I called my sponsor. He told me to get to a meeting, to sit there, to shut up and to listen.

"I did most of that, going to meetings at Fremont every day. But I was still motor mouth. After listening to that and making everyone miserable for several weeks, Iron Mike told me to stop pissing and moaning. Stop sniveling or I'd be right back to drugs and booze.

"That struck a nerve. If I kept reminding myself of all the bad stuff, I'd never get well. I was using the misery to medicate the misery.

"So at last, I was in a state of willingness. I got a new sponsor that I called every single day and met with three or four times a week. I went through the Big Book in six months flat. Today, I've restarted my recycling business. Small businesses love me 'cause I'm cheaper than the city. I have my own house.

"I count my sobriety from Sept. 13, 2001, the day I got my second sponsor and gave up diarrhea of the mouth.

"Serenity Hall is my home base. I started the 12 by 12 study group on Mondays. I've was GSR for 2 ½ years; I'm alternate GSR now. Next year, I'm getting back into Clean and Sober softball. First base or center-right, and designated hitter. I love the game."

Another of his many interests is Sobriety Pow Wows. He's part Lakota Sioux. Sobriety Pow Wows promote sobriety among Indian people. Robert says he sees more sobriety there every year. "A very, very spiritual event."

And finally, Robert, what does A.A. mean to you?

"A.A. means hope and freedom, and it means spiritual awakening. I could not have the relationship I have with God were it not for this program. I don't think there's any other program out there that's open enough to help you listen to God, talk to God and live for God.

"It's a program for everybody. We're in a society that's multi-addicted. Booze and drugs go hand in hand, and the 12 Steps works for all addictions. The halls have become a safe haven for the multi-addicted."

Interviewed and written by Dick S.