Author: webservant

Throughout our world service structure, a traditional “right of appeal” ought to prevail, thus assuring us that minority opinion will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal grievances will be carefully considered.

This Concept establishes not only the right for minority opinion to be heard and grievances addressed, but imposes upon the minority a responsibility to express their point of view, and upon the majority the responsibility of really listening with an open mind.

It can be extremely difficult to stand up and express a minority opinion, particularly when the minority appears to be very small. From childhood most of us have been told that in a democracy “the majority rules”. Many of us have a fear of ridicule, or being judged, or looking foolish among our peers. In A.A., however, each of us has an obligation to share our thoughts.

All of us who have been in service for some time have seen situations where the minority opinion expressed has brought to the attention of the group a facet of the question that had been overlooked, and has thus changed the outcome of a vote.

Concept Five recognizes that minorities can frequently be right, and that even when they are partly or wholly in error they still perform a valuable service when they bring about a thorough discussion of important issues. Bill Wilson tells us that the well-heard minority is our chief protection against an uninformed, misinformed, hasty or angry majority.

Strictly speaking, a democracy operates on the will of the majority, no matter how slim that majority may be. We have found in Alcoholics Anonymous, however, that our Third Legacy method of electing delegates, in which a two thirds majority is required, or the top candidates names are placed in the hat and the trusted servant is the person whose name is drawn, has strengthened the spirit of democracy among us.

Another example is the way the General Service Conference operates, refusing to take important decisions on anything less than a two thirds vote, and even when a two thirds vote has been obtained allowing for the minority opinion to be heard once more.

 

One additional note: while several people may vote in the minority, not all of their objections may be the same. It is always a good idea to allow for more than one person to be heard if they have something new to add to the discussion.

One of the best ways I know to come to agreement is thorough and open discussion of all the points of view represented in any group. This can and does often take a substantial amount of time, spread over more than one meeting. In this time of instant electronic communication the process may seem to be painfully slow. But taking this time, and allowing always for the minority opinion to be heard, can ensure that our Higher Power, as expressed in our group conscience, will be heard.

Thus, this Concept protects Alcoholics Anonymous from the tyranny of either the majority or the minority, so long as we serve in the spirit of the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, and the Conference Charter.

Yours in service,

Mickey H.
Past Delegate, Panel 49, Utah Area 69

 

I don’t remember ever hearing a term like “The gates of insanity” before.  It sure did describe me when I got here.  In fact, I think I had one foot inside the gate.  I knew I was crazy and there was no hope for me.

The program of AA has promised me that if I am rigorously honest with myself and if I am willing to turn my life over to a power greater than myself, I will be able to stay sober.

“We are as sick as our secrets”.  How many times have I heard that in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous?  I had thought of, said and done things that were far worse than any of you.  I knew that some of those things were not just unforgettable but they were unforgivable by you and by God.

Just thinking about doing the 4^th and 5^th steps scared me so much that I couldn’t take the 2^nd and 3^rd steps.

Who could I possibly tell my sick secrets to?  And anyway, who had the right to know all of that stuff.  Some of it I had actually gotten away with for years.  Why give myself up now.  Our literature talks about fear as an evil and corroding thread and that the fabric of our existence was shot through with it.  My fabric was rotten.

One day, I was sitting at my Sponsors for tea and a chat.  She knew how fearful I was.  I just couldn’t get started working and living the steps.  I wanted to.  I just couldn’t.  She caught me off guard when she stuck her head around the corner from the kitchen and asked me “So, what is it you are so afraid to tell me?”  I blurted out the answer.  It happened too quickly for fear to get in the way.  She simply said “Oh, okay” and went on fixing tea.

It was like removing a plug from a drain.  I was able to start from the beginning.  That big, deep, dark secret was out in the sunlight.  Now I could work on it. One of the things she told me that day was that I should never try to forget my secret but to use it in the future to help others.  She said it would eventually turn into a gift.  She was right.

That was just the beginning.  Now I needed to go back to Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4.  Then I could move on to Step 5.  When that day came, it was time to share with God and another human being all of my resentments and my part in them.  I chose to take this important step with my Sponsor.

We started with a prayer – asking for both of our minds and our hearts to be open to my higher power.  I prayed that I would be able to be totally honest with her and with God.  She prayed that God would help her to help me.

Resentments will not go away without work on my part.  I used to have a sign in my office that said, “Problems that go away by themselves – will come back by themselves.”  So will my resentments – just like a boomerang.  I needed to move on to 6 and 7 right away.

There are some things that I know about myself today.  Self-knowledge will not keep me sober.  I am still an alcoholic even though I haven’t had a drink in over 26 years.  Fear of the consequences will not keep me from a drink

A few years ago, my husband Mike and I were sitting in a deli in New York.  They had huge bowls of pickles on the tables.  As it often does, our conversation had gone to recovery.  What a great example we had in front of us.  The pickles!  Once a cucumber has been changed into a pickle, it stays a pickle no matter what you do to it.  There is no way I can ever be a non-alcoholic!

Our book says, “Spiritual principles will solve all my problems.”  I must rely on my higher power to keep me sane, sober and out of the pickle barrel.

~ Greater Kearns Group
4290 West 5415 South
Mondays 8:00pm

 

 

The 1^st Annual Central Office/Intergroup Gathering was held Saturday, March 17, 2012, from 12-5 at the Salt Lake Central Office. The Gathering was the result of a few people wanting to provide and promote communication between the Utah Central Offices and Intergroups, and with Utah Area 69, similar to the Annual Central Office/Intergroup AAWS/AA Grapevine Seminar, which is attended by Central Offices and Intergroups from the U.S and Canada and the General Service Office.

An invitation went out from the Salt Lake Central Office to the Ogden Central Office, Cache Valley Intergroup, Utah Valley Central Office, Dixie Central Office and the Utah Area 69 Delegate to attend the five hour gathering, with a request for topics of discussion. The response was overwhelmingly positive with acceptance from all invitees.

The topics requested were: “What services do Central Offices/Intergroups provide?”, “How are those services distributed?”, “What is an effective relationship between local Central Offices and District and Area Committees?” and  “How can we serve with a spirit of cooperation?”

Attendees began arriving at 11:00 am and continued to come until 1:00 pm when all 20 participants were present. Introductions began at noon and continued as people arrived.

The first discussion began after a brief break, “What services do Central Offices/Intergroups provide?” was combined with the second, “How are those services distributed?” The discussion included current practices, current problems and hoped for outcomes. Many similarities were discovered as well as shared experience, which was helpful to those who had issues.

After another break, the topic “What is an effective relationship between local Central Offices and District and Area Committees?” was discussed. It was a lively conversation about what is currently working with many good suggestions about how these relationships can be improved. A common problem in Central Offices and Intergroups is a sense of “us” (Central Offices/Intergroups) and “them” (the General Service structure). All were in agreement that there is no separation, that we’re all working to increase effectiveness and understanding in service, and that Central Offices and Intergroups is a special part of the A.A. service structure. We are all here together to support each other in our common purpose of helping the alcoholic who still suffers.

The topic “How can we serve with a spirit of cooperation?” was last. Attention was turned to the Spanish speaking community. There have been concerns for the welfare of this group, the Spanish speaking Intergroup Office has closed. The Salt Lake Central Office has spoken with members of that community about possible ways we can help and the alternate Delegate is in touch with the linguistic District 12. Hopefully, our concern and desire to help will be communicated and the Spanish speaking community will benefit. How we can be more accessible to those with special needs was the last topic, and many good ideas were discussed.

This was such a worthwhile event. The detailed notes of the discussions are available for those interested. A new level of communication has begun between Utah Central Offices and Intergroups, and with Utah Area 69. This meeting illustrated the strength in unity and the joy of service that is abundant in Utah. Hopefully this tradition will continue for years to come.

Long before I had any knowledge of The Twelve Concepts for World Service, I was a beneficiary of their influence.

All of us deeply desire to belong.  At the first AA meeting I attended, I was asked to introduce myself. As soon as I did, I became a member of that meeting.  I suddenly had the same right to participate in that meeting as the member sitting next to me with 15 years of sobriety.  Where did that “Right of Participation” come from?

The concepts cover a number of principles which were already traditionally practiced in our groups and our AA services but had never been clearly articulated or written down.

Concept 1 states that the final responsibility and the ultimate authority for AA World Services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole fellowship.

Concept 2 states that in 1955, the AA groups delegated to the Conference complete authority for the active maintenance of our world services. This made the Conference the actual voice and effective conscience of our whole society.

Concept 3 references the working relationship between our AA groups, the Conference, the AA General Service Board and the “Right of Decision” endowed to all. This includes the many service opportunities at the Group level, the District level and the Area level.

This brings us to Concept 4 that reads: Throughout our Conference structure, we ought to maintain at all responsible levels a traditional “Right of Participation”, taking care that each classification or group of our world servants shall be allowed a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must discharge.

The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous has recognized that we cannot ask people to serve us and then not allow those trusted servants to fully participate in the decision making process.

At the group level the trusted servants are not the ultimate authority, the entire group’s conscience is. But they do have a voice and a vote equal to every other group member. It is unlikely that any of us would be willing to do the work of a group that denied us that level of participation.

At the District level, the officers of the District and the standing chairs of the District have a voice and a vote.

At the Area level, the officers of the Area and the standing chairs of the Area have a voice and a vote.

At all levels of the Conference structure, every AA member has a voice.

At any level of service are our trusted servants any less conscientious, experienced and trustworthy than any other AA members? Certainly not. Each is granted a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility each must discharge.

Bill W. says there is another good reason for “participation” and this one has to do with our spiritual needs.  All of us deeply desire to belong. We want an AA relation of brotherly partnership. It is our shining ideal that the “spiritual corporation” of AA should never include any members who are regarded as “second class”.

Though I did not know why, this spiritual axiom was what I experienced at that first AA meeting when I was gifted with the “Right of Participation”.

In Concept 12 are the General Warranties of the Conference. I prefer to look at these Warranties as an ideal outline of the way we should treat each other as we try to discharge our service responsibilities. Warranty Three: “None of the Conference members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any of the others.”  This principle is discussed in Concept IV, but it is so important we have made it the subject of this Warranty – a strong stand against the creation of unqualified authority at any point in our Conference structure.

This information for the discussion of Concept IV presented above was gathered from my personal experience as a Panel 55 Delegate to the General Service Conference, The Twelve Concepts for World Service illustrated, The A.A. Service Manual combined with Twelve Concepts for World Service and a Workshop presentation of the Twelve Concepts by my dearest friends Jim and Mickey H.

 

~ Mike O.
Happy Destiny Group

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.

The freedom individual groups have in Tradition 4 carries with it the admonition to protect the fellowship as a whole.

Each 12 step group has complete freedom to decide for itself the program content of its meetings and the topics that will be discussed. The group can decide if the meeting will be opened or closed and when and where the meeting will be held. Each group can decide to change its meeting format and has complete authority to spend its funds as needed.

The group can also decide how it wishes to open and close its meetings. Some groups close with a prayer, while others have a moment of silence. In these matters, each group has total freedom. It is entirely up to the membership of that individual group.

But the second part of this tradition reminds each group that it has a responsibility also to the worldwide fellowship. By adhering to the traditions and principals of its program, each group can assure that it will not stray too far away from the program’s basic tenets.

The “autonomy” provided in Tradition 4 does not mean an individual group has the authority to re-word the steps or traditions, or to create its own literature. Nor should groups introduce, discuss, or sell “outside” literature at its meeting place.

Many a meeting has gotten away from the look and feel of its primary purpose by using non-conference approved literature, showing videos of popular self-help speakers, or allowing treatment professionals to speak at open meetings on the latest therapy techniques.

There is a saying that there is no “right or wrong” way to hold a meeting, but the group can cease carrying the message if it stray too far way from its traditions and concepts. But other than that, groups have complete freedom to design its program to the needs of its members, which can result in a wide variety of formats, as this visitor writes:

When I first came into this program I learned how it was in my little group, as I went to the other groups in neighboring towns I would think, “They don’t do their meetings right.” They have too much laughter and don’t start on time and so on. Today these little things that use to bother me now make me realize that they are what makes all these groups unique and different.

I look forward to the different meetings now because we are unique in our own rights. As long as the guidelines of the program are followed and the basic message is there for us this is one more example of why AA works.

~ Ed B.
Murray UT

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”

“Step Four.  It is the beginning of a lifetime practice in gaining a meaningful perspective or yourself.” So counseled the Sponsor to his Sponsee as they shared a hefty piece of apple pie alamode at Fellowship Hall.

SPONSEE: Yeah.  But what’s in it for me?  After all, I have gone to ninety meetings in ninety days.  Why an Inventory?

SPONSOR: Your inventory, a searching and fearless one, will give you the confidence to face yourself and your demons.

SPONSEE: I’m sober.  I’m smart.  In fact, I am walkin’ piece of art.

SPONSOR:(To the waitress.)  “Another round of apple pie alamode, for my friend here. I think we are going to be here awhile.”

SPONSEE: (Thinking to himself.)  “This guy is so slow on the uptake.

SPONSOR: I used to think that I lived a pretty good life before old John Barleycorn cut me down. I honestly felt that the good man I thought I was would reappear the moment I swore off the “sauce.” No inventory needed for me, so I thought.

SPONSEE: That is just how I feel.

SPONSOR: Now I have come to realize that my problems were of my own making.  I have come to learn that my alcoholism was a mere product of my self-centered behaviors.  I could never get enough of what I really wanted: more this and more that… especially more approval. And “MORE” was never enough. I was encumbered with the disease of “MORE.”  It left me empty.

SPONSEE: You mean to say that you needed a real brain flossing?

SPONSOR: I hope you can learn from the research I have already done for you.  But perhaps another round of incomprehensible demoralization is in your future.

SPONSEE: I have ninety days with ninety meetings under my belt.  Can’t we just skip Steps Four and Five?

SPONSOR: Not on your life, and it is your life that we are dealing with.

SPONSEE: Okay, I get it.

SPONSOR: And I hope you do get it, or you are going to get got by this cunning, baffling and powerful disease.

SPONSEE: What an order.  I cannot go through with it.

SPONSOR: Do not be discouraged.  You are not the first recovering drunk in search of a miracle.  Just suit up, show up and the miracle will find you.

SPONSEE: So when do we get started on Step Four? What do you expect that we will learn?

SPONSOR: I expect that we will learn that your drinking was the product of your self-centered and grandiose thinking.

SPONSEE: I am good with what you say.  Anything else?  A third piece of pie alamode perhaps? (“Geeze this guy can pack it away).

SPONSOR: When you become willing to do a thorough Fourth Step, you will find that it will bring you both sobriety and the joy of knowing you are living a life to a good and useful purpose.  That is the miracle.  And this miracle continues to happen each day as we continue to trudge down this road of happy destiny together. And let’s do it together.

 

~ Sugarhouse Men’s Group
3280 East 3900 South, Salt Lake City
Mondays & Fridays 8:15pm

 

 

“I made the decision to turn my life and will over to the care of God as I understand Him.”

Since 1969 I have gone to church, meditated, prayed, read book after book trying to learn how to surrender, to rid myself of my ever present ego.  My ego fought me tooth and nail. I wanted to switch the light of surrender on and be done with it.  Pretty much like I did with booze.  The key here was I was to make it happen and the surrender was to meet my expecta-tions.

This was one of the greatest contradictions of my life, I need to completely control my environment.  This need is of course based in self-centered fear. If I weren’t in charge the flood gates of terror would overwhelm me as I justly deserved. The irony is that I would sit in a gin mill and lose complete control of my body, mind and eventually my life as I continued to drink.  So the idea of   letting go scared me to my core. Then I read a Taoist wisdom “I do nothing and nothing is left undone”.  I didn’t understand.  The years past and I continued advanced in the Steps.  Slowly, most of the time without knowing it, I changed.  Mistake after mistake gave me the chance to ask for and rely on this Power. My mind began to open and my faith deepened and I saw things differ-ently.  As a NYC cop I thought courage was facing the “bad guy” who had a gun or knife. That may have been physical courage but the program calls for a moral or better still a spiritual bravery that asks for me to go “all in”.  To become defenseless and know that I am safe.  What a rush.

Mother Theresa once said that a true miracle was to do the ordinary extraordinary well.  The “do nothing” was to do those things that were in front of my face and do them mindfully.  Letting go of the outcomes, the success, or failure of daily life.  I had to learn how to trust that this Power had my back.  There was no sudden anything here, it was taking the risk that if I lived by the principles of the Steps I could live a joyful and productive existence. Now in my old age I can look back over the last three quarters of my life and see how well this has turned out.  My family loves me, I volunteer both within and without the program.  When my wife was dying I was able to be the husband and father that I only fantasied about.

There is no part of my life I would be ashamed of if it were published in tomorrow’s paper, old age may have something to do with that.  But mostly I am sober and at peace.  In a novel I read, one character says to another, “how do you know if you have learned your lessons?  His mentor replies “If you are alive you haven’t”.  I still have “miles to go” and when this life ends I still will be safe.

 

~ The New Yorker
Fridays 6:40am
Market Street Grill, SLC

I have discovered that our literature is the best resource for describing aspects of our program and so I have quoted from one of our pamphlets – The Twelve Concepts for World Service Concept III states: “As a traditional means of creating and maintaining a clearly defined working relation between the groups, the Conference, the A.A. General Service Board and its several service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives, and of thus ensuring their effective leadership, it is here suggested that we endow each of these elements of world service with a traditional “Right of Decision.”

“Every trusted servant and every A.A. entity – at all levels of service – has the right “to decide how they will interpret and apply their own authority and responsibility to each particular problem or situation as it arises.” That is, they can “decide which problems they will dispose of themselves and upon which matters they will report, consult, or ask specific directions.” This is “the essence of ‘The right of Decision.’” The above taken from the Pamphlet ‘The Twelve Concepts for World Service.’

If you are wondering how Concept III applies, I will share some personal experience. Last year our delegate, Keith M., invited a group of trusted servants to a committee meeting to help him decide which of the 90 plus General Service Conference agenda items might be the best for our area to discuss and report back to him about. Keith used his “Right of Decision” to form and consult with this committee and to ask for specific directions from this committee on the Conference agenda items. The results were shared with the area during reports at the Pre-conference Assembly last year and subsequently with the General Service Conference through our delegate. Keith is doing the same this year.

Another example of the Concept III in action is through your Home Group. Your group, through its member’s, exercises it “Right of Decision” is dozens of ways. From deciding the format of your meeting, including what literature or preambles you might read to the distribution of your groups 7th Tradition funds. Both of these example demonstrate the spiritual principle of Concept III, that of Mutual Trust.” The freedom to decide and to act relies on the concept and practice of Trust.

“Bill warns against using “The Right of Decision” as an excuse for failure to make the proper reports for actions taken; or for exceeding clearly defined authority; or for failing to consult the proper people before making an important decision. But he concluded: “Our entire A.A. program rests squarely upon the principle of mutual trust. We trust God, we trust A.A., and we trust each other.”

If you would like to witness more of Concept III in action, attend your Home Group business meeting, District meeting or Area 69 Assemblies. If you would like to learn more about the Concepts themselves, get a copy of The A.A. Service Manual combined with The Twelve Concepts for World Service. “It is one of the best kept secrets in A.A.”  Quote from Robert B., District 2.

~ Monte S.
Ogden, UT