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Home > Archive > Recovery aa > September 2006 > AA 30 years ago
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www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com
Although there were Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Los Angeles,
they were few and far
between in 1977. And, when I went to them, not many people were staying
clean at that time.One
of the few meetings I could find was at a "treatment center" and
was at least a =BD hour drive away.
And when I went to the meeting I found that there was nobody with more
than a few months clean.
So I found a home at Alcoholics Anonymous and began to find out
what it was all about.I had
experienced AA within the prison and now I was about to experience it
on the outside. At that time,
drug addicts with drinking problems were more or less tolerated in AA
There were some kind AA's
who welcomed us but there were others who clearly resented our presence
there and said so in no
uncertain terms. ..
First of all, let me start by saying that Alcoholics Anonymous
does performs a
service in our society. And as someone who benefited somewhat from the
existence of
Alcoholics Anonymous I do not want to appear as an ingrate ,but
nevertheless I believe it
is important to be truthful. Over the years I have attended literally
thousands of meetings
of both Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The 12 Steps
,which the
founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, derived from the teachings of the
Oxford Group
(AKA First Century Christian Fellowship or Moral rearmament) and the
New Testament
are true principles for the most part. And it is also true that an
authentic Spiritual
Awakening is the solution to either an Alcohol or Drug problem.
However, my
experience within both AA and NA is that the majority of people merely
substitute their
addiction to drugs/alcohol for an addiction to meetings and the
comforts and the
friendships they find there. This is not to say that I don't believe
there are rare
individuals, here and there, who actually do wake up from the psychic
sleep they live in.
If you are one of the many individuals who has benefited to some extent
from these
programs I hope you will realize that my criticism of the programs is
well-meaning.And
perhaps you will see through some of these programs institutionalized
lies. It is the Truth
that sets us free, not lies.
( continued at www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com )
=A92006 Christianrecovery.blogspot.com
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| Walter Traprock 2006-09-29, 2:21 am |
| "tedw" <tedw2@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Awakening is the solution to either an Alcohol or Drug problem.
> However, my
>
> experience within both AA and NA is that the majority of people merely
> substitute their
>
> addiction to drugs/alcohol for an addiction to meetings and the
> comforts and the
>
> friendships they find there.
So? It's a big improvement over using drugs or alcohol. It's
best not to drink over the problems of others.
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| Srgnt Billko 2006-09-29, 8:21 am |
|
"tedw" <tedw2@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1159506721.416403.119880@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com
> Although there were Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Los Angeles,
>they were few and far
>
>between in 1977. And, when I went to them, not many people were staying
>clean at that time.One
>
>of the few meetings I could find was at a "treatment center" and
>was at least a ½ hour drive away.
LOL - you poor toad - a half hour ??? What a hardship. Don't you realize
that many of us happily travel that far to meetings ?
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| On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:44:14 GMT, "Srgnt Billko" <frrt@blipl.net>
wrote:
>
>"tedw" <tedw2@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:1159506721.416403.119880@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
>
>www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com
>
>
>LOL - you poor toad - a half hour ??? What a hardship. Don't you realize
>that many of us happily travel that far to meetings ?
>
>
Hell...around here (where I live) he's describing AA not NA....I will
say NA didn't even exist unless you went 50 to 100 miles away. There
wasn't chants of 90 in 90.
This little town I once again live in had one meeting (AA) a week and
6 or 7 people filling the chairs was a big meeting with 4 or 5 of them
being filled by out of towners who came from the next little larger
town 20 miles away. That little but larger town had 3 meetings a week.
To make a meeting a day required lots of driving....many stayed sober
on just a meeting or two a week and the program at the time wasn't the
meetings and how many meetings you went to.
Thirty years later there is 3 meetings (aa) a week in this little berg
with 20 to 30 a large crowd. Still no NA meetings unless you go down
the road to the next town....
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| Stuart 2006-09-29, 4:21 pm |
|
tedw <tedw2@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1159506721.416403.119880@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
www.christianrecovery.blogspot.com
Why don't you offer ernie some encouragement regarding his health, rather
than prancing on your high horse this morning tedw.
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| Dan from Boston 2006-09-29, 4:21 pm |
| "Srgnt Billko" <frrt@blipl.net> wrote:
>
> LOL - you poor toad - a half hour ??? What a hardship. Don't you
> realize that many of us happily travel that far to meetings ?
Yeah, boo-hoo! When I was trying to get sober, 30 years ago, I had just
moved to Manchester, NH. My temporary sponsor was a rasp-voiced laborer
named Roger. It was snowing, and Roger was giving me directions to the
meeting in this new town. "I don't think I can find it," I whined.
"Goddamn, if it was a liquor store you could find it!" Roger rasped. I
found it.
(Maybe the little ted doesn't own a car!)
Dan
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| Srgnt Billko 2006-09-29, 4:21 pm |
|
"Dan from Boston" <danfromboston@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:20060929100828.848$Ep@newsreader.com...
> "Srgnt Billko" <frrt@blipl.net> wrote:
>
>
> Yeah, boo-hoo! When I was trying to get sober, 30 years ago, I had just
> moved to Manchester, NH. My temporary sponsor was a rasp-voiced laborer
> named Roger. It was snowing, and Roger was giving me directions to the
> meeting in this new town. "I don't think I can find it," I whined.
> "Goddamn, if it was a liquor store you could find it!" Roger rasped. I
> found it.
>
Thanks for the chuckle - I can picture that very clearly.
> (Maybe the little ted doesn't own a car!)
>
> Dan
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| Srgnt Billko wrote:
A lot of my other addictions and obsessions have come and gone over the
years -- because I'm human and also because I have an addictive
personality. The literature alludes to the fact that we may never get
over the hump on some of our defects. While I understand that I'll never
be perfect, it doesn't mean that I don't want to be. I just have to
remember that perfection ain't gonna happen.
Hey, I'll go to as many meetings as I have to if it means that I'll stay
sober. And if constantly hanging out with people who share my problem
and understand me will help me, so be it. No one has to apologoze for that.
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Walter Traprock wrote:
> "tedw" <tedw2@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> So? It's a big improvement over using drugs or alcohol. It's
> best not to drink over the problems of others.
An improvement but not a solution .
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