The meeting today gave me a lot of hope and a lot of help. I always have to be reminded of what I forget and today the group talked about the Traditions. Particularly the 5th and the 10th.
Not that I forget that this is about sobriety and the fact that this program is about not drinking alcohol, but the how and the why this program works the way it does. These two talked about the group’s purpose to carry the message to the alcoholic, who still suffers and keeping outside issues off the menu.
One or two of the men today talked about the Washingtonian disaster back in the 1800s. The fact that there were so many alcoholics, who did recover back then in that program. Something very similar to AA. But then they got into politics and causes and came apart, leaving many alcoholics to their own devices. AA learned a lesson from that and came up with the 12 Traditions, which are guidelines on how this program works. One of them is to MYOB. Mind our own business and stay out of things where we don’t belong. To keep the AA message on course. Alcohol and the solution this program found to staying sober a day at a time.
The last couple of nights I have been reading articles by two men closely associated with this program near the very beginning. Both men praised the 12 Steps and the Traditions, which keep us on course. They not only talked about the spiritual effect on alcoholics like myself, but the importance of anonymity, especially as to how it can guide us into humility. The minister, Sam Shoemaker, which the publisher said was not one of us, but one with us, talked about he universal value of the 12 Steps. For alcoholics yes, but how valuable they could be for everyone.
I read these things, because they keep me on track. But, lo and behold, I wake up in the morning and find that I not only forget what I read the night before, but may not recall it at all the next day. That’s what going to meetings does for me. Or should, if the group can stay on the subject of alcohol and sobriety and what it is that works for alcoholics like me. I definitely need to be reminded, as I’m sure others do, also. That’s exactly why meetings began in the first place.
Anyway, I had a lot of gratitude today, when the group announced its decision to stay with the Steps and Traditions and to stay away from topics and discussions, which have nothing to do with staying sober. It’s why I started coming to meetings in the first place and still is today. If we stopped doing this and AA fell apart, where would I or any other alcoholic in recovery go to get the message of this wonderful program? Something to think about.