Category: Lifeline

“A.A., as such, ought never be organized.” And as the long form of tradition nine suggests, “Rotating leadership is the best.”

Every service position I’ve ever held has brought a new awareness of the multifaceted aspects of this Fellowship that we call Alcoholics Anonymous. At the end of the two year commitment I am always ready to rotate out and move on to something new. That usually happens just when I begin to feel like I know what I’m supposed to be doing! That is part of the beauty of rotation, the necessity of rotation. If I continue more than a two year commitment the position becomes mine, rather than me serving it, it would serve me. It would become totally backwards and upside down. I’ve seen that happen more than once with predictable results.

Besides it’s exciting to see ‘new blood’ come in and not only bring new energy and direction, but to experience the same blessings of growth and understanding that I have. It is exciting to see. I’ve heard people grumble, “Rotation isn’t the same people rotating through the various jobs.” To them I say, “Be the change you want to see. Stand for one of those Board of Trustee positions or Standing Committees. If you don’t it will be the same dedicated people joyfully serving the Fellowship that has saved their lives.”

My service sponsor told me that, “Service is gratitude in action.” I love that, as well as the statement that, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” My only addition to that last statement is to be sure you’re called and not just, “well I meet the minimum requirements to stand.”

We truly are blessed to have this Fellowship, the Steps of recovery, the Service structure and all these wonderful people! A.A. not only saved my life but it continues to give me a life worth living.

Doug R.
Newsletter Chair

Just one last time, I promise then I’ll change. My father glaring back at me holding back every tear in his heart, I was barely legal to pick up the bottle. That was the day I broke the heart of a person I always looked up to and dreamt of being. I had lost who I was. I was so afraid to fix this and thought I did not deserve that opportunity from all the hurt I had caused this world. But the same person I turned away helped pick me back up when I reached my hand out.

That was several years ago. Now after bettering who I am and being able to look the “world in the eye” by taking the steps, I have a relationship beyond measure with my father. I accepted my lessons and capitalized on that, through actions and not words for the first time in my life. Spirituality saved my life and I have learned to trust it to the best of my abilities. I owe my relationship that I have with my father today to all those individuals who lent their time to me on my journey.

Not only has the fellowship and program (12 steps, service, meetings) changed my current/old behaviors, but I have also been able to see my father change alongside me. To see love fill someone’s heart is beyond words, its priceless. I was so grateful for an answer to my chaos and I found that in the Big Book, it was the first time I could sit and enjoy all of me.

My life is about learning today and that is what I strive to do to the best of my ability. Before I believed I was on my own and had to figure it out, hard knock life. When I first came in, I was told to give it just one year, one year was not enough as I did not think AA would work for me, I was hopeless. Now I have the opportunity to be an example to younger individuals all around me and they are an example for me (Thanks Flava).

The gift about it all is really that I do not know anything about staying sober nor do I have the answer, but I have the happiness to show that it works. “Carry the message to other alcoholics” was the only requirement of my sponsor; it has been that simple when I open my eyes and ears with trust and a little love. I heard this early on and it has stuck with me every since “How many people you bless is how you measure success” and “The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you.” Small things changed my life by being “All In.” Thank you for this blessing of the second breath I have been given, I am forever grateful for you all.

Mario D.

While the Trustees hold final responsibility for A.A.’s world service administration, they should always have the assistance of the best possible standing committees, corporate service directors, executives, staffs and consultants. Therefore the composition of these underlying committees and service boards, the personal qualifications of their members, the manner of their induction into service, the systems of their rotation, the way in which they are related to each other, the special rights and duties of our executives, staffs and consultants, together with a proper basis for the financial compensation of these special workers, will always be matters for serious care and concern.

It seems to me that during this particular time in A.A. Concept Eleven deserves a thorough review. In this Concept we acknowledge that the Trustees, although they hold the final responsibility, cannot possibly do all of the work that needs to be done in administering the services of our fellowship.

The Trustees are unpaid trusted servants, most of whom are still involved in their own careers and life responsibilities. They have only part time to devote to their unpaid work for Alcoholics Anonymous. Therefore, it is important to ensure that they have the best possible assistance and that the paid staff members of our General Service Office and the Grapevine are well qualified and their roles are clearly defined.

Most members of Alcoholics Anonymous may never have an opportunity to meet any of the Trustees outside their own region. However, every member of A.A. who seeks information or assistance from the General Service Office or the Grapevine will have an opportunity to interact with the staff members, and from these staff members they will obtain the assistance or information they seek.

Similarly, these staff members will be the most frequent representation of A.A. to those members of the public who seek information about our program. For these potential friends of A.A. the staff member contacted is the face of A.A. It is essential, then, that these staff members should be informed, capable and given the authority they need to perform this service for us.

The discussion of Concept XI in the Service Manual also provides detailed information about the structure of the Trustees’ Committees and the corporate structures of A.A.W.S. and the A.A. Grapevine. While we as a fellowship are discussing the possibility of revising this structure, it is good to look to our history, and to the reasoning behind the current structure, which is comprised of two separate corporations. Only by understanding the purpose for the structure can we come to an informed decision regarding any proposed changes to that structure, and the impact such changes may have.

This Concept also outlines the A.A. method for delegation of authority and responsibility, compensation philosophy, rotation of staff, and other matters which are unique to A.A. Indeed, it almost seems the amount of information could easily have been broken down into several Concepts – but then we would have more than twelve, a number to which many of us seem to have a real attachment!

My hope is that this brief glimpse of Concept XI will encourage the reader to pick up the service manual again, or for the first time, and learn more about the fascinating program of Alcoholics Anonymous which has not only saved my life, but given me a life worth living.

Mickey H., Past Delegate

Panel 49, Utah Area 69

“Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. Al-Anon Addition: We need guard with special care the anonymity of all A.A. members.”

When discussing their personal recovery with the media, members who are identified by their full names — such as the case of those who are already well known in the media — they should not also identify the specific name of their 12 step recovery group.

If members wish to discuss the benefits of membership in a specific 12 step group, such as Al-Anon or Alcoholics Anonymous, they then should not identify themselves except by first name only.

Why?

Many recovering members have the attitude “When I was drinking, everybody knew I was the town drunk, why should I hide my identity now that I am recovering?”

The answer is, for the good of the fellowship. The example is given of a famous athlete or television personality — a role model for youth — who gets into recovery and announces to the entire world that A.A. has saved his life. What happens if that person relapses? The kids say, “Well, so much for A.A.!”

Through my years in AA I have seen what promotion has done to AA as a whole, it has allowed outsiders to change our message, so many changes that insiders now hear a different message.

Slowly we have replaced “we get better” with “things get better,” we have allowed outside institutions to tell us that it does not matter which 12 step program you go to they are all the same. I got to watch a drug addict die at an AA meeting because alcoholics couldn’t relate to what he was trying to say, they didn’t understand and she died from withdrawal at an AA meeting.

By trying to save the world we are not adhering to our singleness of purpose — one AA helping another AA. Our hearts are in the right place, but as a whole we are doing more harm than good. AA’s early success rate was around 75 percent. Today’s rate has dropped drastically from all the promotion.

On an individual level AA’s seem to forget that we are responsible for being the attractions, by changing our appearance, how we communicate, dress, and conduct ourselves in and out of the rooms of AA. That’s part of carrying the message also, to let people see the difference that this design for living we were given has worked in our life.

When people SEE the four changes in our life — mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual — they are attracted. They need no promotion. This is a program for people who want it. Let’s not let others tell us what they think we are about. Let’s just be ready when the suffering alcoholic is ready to open the door and show him what we are.

Alethea

“There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit.  But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life.”

What an incredible promise! This program is full of promises, each step has its own.

When I was first introduced to the steps there seemed to be no flow to them at all. But I had gotten to the point that I knew that if I didn’t jump in and do the rest of the steps that I was going to drink again. I stopped fighting, I stopped struggling.  I surrendered to the reality that this disease was far more powerful than I and that it (alcohol) controlled me, not the other way around.

The actual practice of meditation started when my sponsor suggested that I read pages 86 – 88 in the Big Book. Some quiet time in the morning to start the day, pausing throughout the day, then reflecting on the day in the evening.  This simple discipline was all I could do and not with much regularity!. It was enough to keep the ball rolling. It still amazes me that these steps seem to meet us where we’re at. No matter how much the fog has lifted the spiritual principles gleamed from the utilization of these steps has a powerful effect on us.

I found a couple AA meetings that focused on step eleven. They actually did a 20 minute silent meditation which I found very hard to sit through at first! One meeting gave a very simple technique of focusing on your breath and counting them. This simple focus helped quite my mind from all of its chatter, kind of! I heard it said that if my thoughts wonder a thousand times and I bring them back to my focus point a thousand and one that it was a successful meditation. That helped me realize that I don’t have to ‘do it perfectly’ to gain some benefit.

We’ve all heard that old saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” I began to truly experience Its presence in the stillness of meditation. It was an opening, a clearing of a channel.  At first I was convinced that there wasn’t a God, or at least not one that cared about us as individuals.  Why all the suffering and tragedy in events where it seems like it’s circumstances beyond human control?

What I’ve come to understand is that even that so called ‘suffering’ can be used for good. Every wrecked car, ruined relationship, every time I was sent to jail got me closer to the point of surrendering to that Power Greater than myself.  What I thought were my greatest advances weren’t! And what I thought were my greatest defeats were in fact some of the greatest advances. I do not know what’s best for me! I do trust the process of the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I’ve not only experienced miracles in my own life but I literally see the dead rising and the blind seeing. Those of us that are sober members of this Fellowship are living miracles, living proof that this thing really does work, when it’s worked!

Today I do feel like I belong, I am a part of this amazing Fellowship.  I no longer live in a completely hostile world. I have begun to see that truth, justice, and love are real and eternal things in life. I’m no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds me in purely human affairs. When I turn to Him all is well.

~ The New Yorker Group
48 W Market St , Salt Lake City
Fridays 6:40am

My name is TC, I was born in Vietnam 01/01/1983. My reason for writing my story is to share my experience, strength, and hope. I’ll be jumping from one subject to another as I reveal to you my journey. Don’t take anything personal if I say something that offends your religion or beliefs. Just remember that we do have the same disease despite our differences.

I came with my mother from Vietnam to Utah in 1993. On the airplane I asked her 100 times why are we leaving and why can’t the family come with us? She told me that we’re going to a place where I can have a better future and she promised me that our family will come to live with us one day. Well the promise of that one day never came and little did she know about my future of being a crack head and a tweaker from hell. Growing up without any of my family around me made it even easier for me to isolate myself in later years because I have always been a loner. At 13 I met some friends and through them I came in contact with beer, cigarettes, and marijuana. Later on I joined a Vietnamese gang and unfortunately they were all crack heads. We should have called ourselves the “crack head gang” that’s how bad it was. I also had some meth but was not hooked yet.

At 18 I was arrested for arson, and did three years. Got out, but got back with my girl and was right back on meds again. People often speak greatly of this thing called spirit or soul within us that never dies. I also wonder where the hell my spirit was when I was getting high. What kind of spirit stay up all night fixing a bike or cut grass at 4 am?

One day my friend, my drug dealer, asked me if I wanted to make some money. I expected it to be something illegal, instead he handed me a sheet of paper telling me that he was court ordered to go to AA meetings and that he would hook me up with the 20 sack if I went to the meetings for him. He also convinced me that to white people all Asians look alike so no one would ever know. So I found myself sitting in my very first meeting at Fellowship Hall. After being there I felt like these people needed to get a life. What made it worse was when guys tried to hold my hand to pray at the end.

After getting paid to go to these meetings I heard lots of stories and I thought to myself what a bunch of spoiled brats that get together and talk about how much they drank, and how much they smoked. But for me I have to come to these meetings just so my dealer would get me high. Even though people were pouring their hearts in the meeting my heart and ears were still hard and I couldn’t relate at all.

I thank God later in life for having my dealer pay me to go to meetings. One time while tweaking in my backyard two missionaries came to tell me that God loves me and he knows how many hairs I have on my head. I asked them, “How much do you get paid to do this?” I admired their selfless act for their God.  I told them to keep coming back to visit with me. Even though I no longer believed in Mormonism, I will always thank God for sending those missionaries to plant the seed in my heart which motivated me to seek for truth and at last find the true living God of grace, full of mercy and abundant in love.  If God never took me out of Vietnam for sure I would have become a Buddhist or some type of legalism where men are trying to earn heaven by doing good works in keeping the law. I used to kneel for hours in front of the statue until my knees went numb just to show my devotion. Not until I had a son of my own that I truly understood the relationship between me and God. I don’t want my son to go through some crazy ritual in order to come to me and neither did God.

After knowing and believing in the existence of God I got a little taste of true sobriety before I relapsed. I cut off all my old friends but didn’t make new ones. I was sober but still isolated. I thought about A.A. but I asked myself, “Why do I need meetings?” What can men teach me that God can’t? Of course I was wrong about that because obviously God does work through people. I went to church each Sunday, shaking hands and had some superficial conversations then went home. Without the support of true Fellowship of any kind I soon relapsed. I expected God to perform some magical sign to take away my addiction. I asked pastors to pray for me, I read spiritual books, I prayed to God for help. But there was one thing I couldn’t do, and that is letting the pipe go or say no when it came my way.

It’s funny how I used to blame everything on God as though he made me chase after the dope or something. It was not until I completely let go and checked myself in the rescue mission drug treatment program that I truly understood that it was not God abandoning me or that he didn’t hear my prayers. It is because I never gave him a chance because my days and nights were spent doing or getting drugs. He gave me a free will so of course he can’t come down from heaven to slap the pipe out of my mouth or take the bottle away. But ever since I let go I witnessed miracles in my life. If you ever feel like God has forsaken you and your prayers are in vain, cheer up. It’s not true!

God is waiting for you to let go of whatever it is that you are doing and give him some room to work in your life. Let go for one hour one day or whatever you can. I have learned that gratitude is the key to sobriety and I can’t make it alone. Just like the African buffalo in order to survive they must stand together with their horns facing the enemy, which are the lions. Lions sleep for only hours but the buffalo only sleep minutes at a time and they don’t all sleep once. Some sleep and some watch always staying alert. Some of us are sleeping and some of us are praying for each other. Some of us do the 12 steps and some of us are slacking but we must stick together if we want to live, at least soberly. I encourage you to drop your pride, get a sponsor, and get into service work because even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you only sit there. May God bless you in your journey!

~ T.C. – Salt Lake City

Concept 10 – Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal service authority – the scope of such authority to be always well defined whether by tradition, by resolution, by specific job description or by appropriate charters and bylaws.

Our service structure cannot function effectively and harmoniously unless, at every level, each operational responsibility is matched by a corresponding authority to discharge it. This requires that authority must be delegated at every level – and that the responsibility and authority of every entity are well defined and clearly understood.

Let’s begin with the group.  Concept I states the “final responsibility and ultimate authority” resides with the A.A. groups, and they delegate this authority to the Conference (Concept II). The detail of which topics for discussion or items of concern are forwarded to the Conference by the Groups via the GSR is discussed at our District meetings and at our Area Assemblies.

The Conference, in turn, delegates to the General Service Board the authority to manage A.A.’s affairs (Concept III) in its behalf. The detail of what topics and /or items are forwarded by the Conference to the General Service Board are reported to the Fellowship via a printed Final Report distributed to the Fellowship following the annual meeting of the General Service Conference.

The General Service Board is in authority over its subsidiary operating conditions – A.A. World Services, Inc. and the A.A. Grapevine Inc.  The General Service Board delegates to the directors of those corporations the authority necessary to run these service entities.

The directors of AAWS and the AA Grapevine are in authority over the executives of these corporations, but delegate to these officers the authority needed to carry out their administrative responsibilities.

And lastly, the executives of AAWS and the AA Grapevine delegate to the General Service Office and Grapevine staff members and other employees the authority necessary to carry out their important service jobs.

The benefit to the Fellowship of this delegation of responsibility and authority is immense.

Many of our members receive their monthly edition of the AA Grapevine with news and stories of and by our members. The Grapevine also provides books, CD’s, and an abundance of informative materials used by our members on their journey.

Our service entities receive service materials (pamphlets, guidelines, displays, etc.) vital to their efforts to carry the A.A. message to the still suffering alcoholic.

Our groups have access to the books, pamphlets, displays, wallet cards, etc., etc. used in our scheduled meetings to achieve our primary purpose as defined by Tradition 5.

I hope this brief look at Concept 10 has been helpful. I am forever grateful for the experience I have enjoyed in my service to the Fellowship. I know I’ve been guided by the hand of God through the application of these Twelve Concepts for World Service in my endeavors. And I would like to say Thank You for allowing me to share a little of what I’ve learned in the process.

Mike O.
Past Delegate, Panel 55, Area 69 – State of Utah

“Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.”

What stood out for me about Tradition 10 is that Bill W. is writing about lessons learned from the Washingtonians.  They were a group that had a large membership devoted to helping alcoholics.  However, the Washingtonians were also involved with prohibition and the abolition of slavery.  These issues created discord among the members which lead to the Washingtonians demise.

Since I have been in AA, I have heard people say “that is an outside issue”.  Here in Utah the topic most likely is about the dominate religion in the state.  I was chairing a meeting in December and I made disparaging remarks about Christmas.  After my share, someone else spoke up about their belief system which made me aware that I may have offended him.  What if that was a newcomer would he or she have stayed?

What about holding a meeting in a place where there are signs promoting one particular politician?  What if an AA member is wearing clothing that promotes various politicians?  I was having a conversation with my sponsor just before an AA meeting about politics and he suggested that we stop the discussion because he was aware that there was someone there who disagrees with his views.

I remember an incident at a spiritual retreat that I was attending.  A group of us went out for ice cream.  I was talking with a friend who was a democrat.  He was remarking about how the President at that time was bad for the country and should be removed.  Well there was someone at the table who strongly disagreed with what he was saying and abruptly got up and left the table.

The big question for me is what is an outside issue?  This brings me back to AA’s Primary Purpose to help the suffering alcoholic.  I believe that anything that does not help the suffering alcoholic is an outside issue.  For example, a discussion of religion and politics does not help the suffering alcoholic.

~ Walter C.
Area 69 Panel 61
Alternate Delegate