Sandy B. once said the highest office an AA member can aspire to is that of servant. I was thinking about that today. The word is service.
At the meeting today we had a new man at his first meeting. The men and women in the meeting did what most members do when a new man or woman comes in. They told their stories and how AA had changed their lives for the better. Whether aware of it or not they were being of service. They had risen to the level of being a servant.
As I sit here thinking about this, it made me consider just what kind of way I can serve. I had the opportunity, years ago, of being able to go out on 12th Step calls. Like the old timers before me, I was called upon with others to pick up drunks in all kinds of conditions. Didn’t matter the time of day or night, or what state these people were in. I was there to be of service to the sick and suffering alcoholic. To carry the message that they too could get sober and save their lives and their sanity. I have many memories of those day.
My only wish would be that the alcoholics today could have opportunity to go out on these ventures and meet themselves through the alcoholic laying under the leaves in a stairwell or in some other awful place most of us have experienced back when we were out there. It is a gift to us, who are sober. To be of service.
However I realize, from talking to a lot of alcoholics, that such service is not for everyone. I knew a man once, who felt he couldn’t be of service the way some of us did. He served others through the mail. He wrote hundreds of letters to what were called “loners”. Sober men and women, who because of circumstances could not get to meetings and who had no support, other than these letters. He did this for years, while attending meetings here at home. I know others who have given of themselves by serving the groups they attend. They have taken on the roles of trusted servants. They have become coffee makers and clean up the the meeting places. Some pick up and drive others, who have no transportation, to meetings. There are many ways to serve as I have witnessed over time.
Yet for me, the biggest gift I can bring to others, is that there is a solution. Not just to the problem of drinking, but in all kinds of problems the alcoholic suffers from. As long as I remember what kind of service I have to offer. My sponsor told me that I’m not there to practice medicine or psychiatry. I’m not there to serve as a banker or an inn keeper. I’m not there to serve as a lonely hearts agent. I’m only to be of service to help another alcoholic stay sober. To carry the AA message. To demonstrate through my experience just how this program has worked for me and how it can work for them. Anything else, I have learned is a disservice.
Anyway, I know there are a variety of ways I can and hopefully do service work in this program. To be a servant is one way I can cut myself down to right size. Someone once said it is a very great thing to be very small. On the other hand, as Sandy B. pointed out, when we are able to be a servant it is a privilege. And like Bill told us in the BB, it is one way to insure that we can stay sober. The person I attempt to help may never get sober or stay sober, but, just by practicing being of service, I have.