On my recent trip to Bill Wilson’s house in East Dorset, Vermont, I had the opportunity to share experiences with AA’s from around the country. Over the last ten years I have believed that the tendency in South Florida for some meetings to resemble group therapy more than meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, was due to the large number of treatment centers and newcomers in our area. It appears however, that this is a general phenomenon. I have always felt that we cannot blame treatment or the newcomers for this. It is the responsibility of those of us with time to educate the novices in our program. Unfortunately it seems that many old timers are getting angry and leaving the program or starting private meetings in their homes. These options do nothing to preserve the program as it was given to us. Drop-ping out or splitting off from AA deprive the newcomer of the basic message of AA. Also working our program consists of giving it away. This cannot be done if we leave or re-group in our homes and give the message to only those who we “invite” to join us.
Those who are left can chose to go along with the “anything goes” attitude or speak up at meetings and become accused of being an “AA Nazi” or a “Big Book Thumper” or even worse of hurting people’s feelings and running them out of AA. At what point does “Live and Let Live” become apathy? An apathy which allows the message that only God can relieve our alcoholism to become obscured by the self-centered attitude that one’s own personal problems du jour become more important than a discussion of the solution as expressed in The Big Book, the 12 and 12 and other AA literature.
I am not opposed in any way shape or form to good treatment and therapy. I myself am a product of good therapy and have worked in a variety of treatment modalities over the years. My ability to avail myself of good therapy was due to a large extent to my recovery in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. It always suprises me that with the unusually large selection of inpatient and out-patient treatment programs and excellent therapists in South Florida people insist on using Twelve Step meetings for this purpose.
Let us leave therapy to the therapists and keep our meetings focused on the language of the heart, the solution, recovery through finding God, cleaning house and helping others. Let us continue to teach the newcomers the basics of our program and gently lead them to the difference between meetings and group therapy. This can be accomplished in a kind way. Also we can continue to take the AA program to therapists and administrators in hospitals, detoxes and treatment centers. Not only as groups taking meetings in but as service people working within the Bridging The Gap, Insti-tution and Public Information service structure of our program.
Also in our own program and groups there are some steps that we can take without resorting to leaving the program or starting “invitation only” groups. First we can attend, start groups and support literature based meetings. By this we mean meetings that are specific in format and focus that use AA literature as a jumping off point for discussion. Secondly we can become active in service by joining, be-coming involved with, or starting meetings that take the AA message to jails, missions, mental hospitals, detoxes, treatment centers and halfway houses.
In South Florida I often hear that old fashioned twelve step work has been taken over by the treatment communities and that there is little opportunity to do basic “twelve step calls”. I think however, that this may be for some a convenient excuse not to work with newcomers. Every month I hear pleas for help from groups, meeting halls and Intergroup for people to work the phone, join the speakers list, and be available as temporary sponsors at nearby institutions. The work is there if we look for it. Remember our founders had to approach hospitals and institutions for prospects. In this day and age it is still possible to give our name and number to friends, co-workers, ministers and doctors to serve as a contact for people seeking help.
By doing this we can truly become part of the solution instead part of the problem. In our active addiction we made a career out of running away when things didn’t go our way. By digging in and sticking with our program, teaching new members our history, traditions and meeting formats we can insure that future sick and suffering alcoholics can find the spirit of love and service that we found when we arrived. Preserving our primary purpose to stay sober and help other alcoholics acheive sobriety can be accomplished harmoniously with old timers and newcomers sharing the benefits of this essential two way communication line.