There used to be an old saying in AA: take the 5th and you won’t have to take a 5th. But today we were talking about the 4th step, except it led to a lot of people “taking” a lot of their 5th steps. In fact, it sounded like there were undercurrents of a therapy session going on. Maybe I’m being hypercritical, but over the years, many “step” meetings seem to devolve into “discussion” meetings.
Call me old fashioned or just out of date, but the steps are still the steps. They haven’t changed. Nor has the purpose of the meetings. There was a time, when things were more concrete and clear. I miss the clarity that was once there. The 5th Tradition spells out what the group’s purpose is supposed to be. Talk about keeping it simple. The subject is alcohol and the solution the sick and suffering alcoholic is in desperate need of; whether it’s the new man or woman or an old timer, who has lost his way.
I learned a long time ago that the group need not change the subject to accommodate their perception of what the suffering alcoholic needs. When we, meaning myself and others like me, came in brand new, if a particular step was being discussed, that’s what they talked about. In fact there was no mention of whether anyone was new or not. It was always assumed that there would be new people in the room. The new person was simply “absorbed” into the group and any twelfth step talk was before and after the meeting. Sooner or later the pupose of working any of the 12 steps would be discussed. They were there to help all the alcoholics in the room to stay away from a drink one day at a time.
On any given day at any given meeting, I and others like me, are there because we want to stay sober. Talking about an invidual’s particular failings, character defects, and how that made them feel, is not necessarily how the steps work. But how to do these steps and why we do them is.
The subject is alcohol (Traditions 1 through 12) and always is. So is the importance of our staying sober.
Anyway, just thinking.