The Worst Best Kept Secret In AA [And Any Other 12 Step Program]
“Oldtimers” that don’t go to meetings!
When we arrived at the clubhouse yesterday there was an old “friend” sitting outside. We hadn’t seen him in quite some time and the first thought I had was “I’m glad you’re back.”
We shook hands, said our hellos, got our coffees, sat down and asked “Where have you been?” The answer wasn’t what I wanted to hear and had nothing to do with drinking (for now). “Raising my kids, running my business, doing all those life things, blah, blah, blah…”
“Comin’ up on twenty years, tomorrow’s my anniversary, so it was time I showed up for a meeting.”
From page 129;
“For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.”
And I want to know how these arrogant people get to keep what they have and not give it away!
I want to know how many newcomers might have benefited, or even found sobriety, by listening to and identifying with him.
And what I really want to know is why I’m different, why they’re more special than me, why I have to do what they don’t have to do to stay sober!
And I owe a debt of gratitude to Mary Ann from my first home group, Blue Point Traditions, who told me (and many others that night) that she was self-centered in the extreme but one of the most self-centered things she could do would be to keep this gift all to herself.
I’ll keep following in the steps of those who taught me, thank you. I’ve been given a legacy. Pass It On!
I can’t pass it on if I’m not in a place to pass it on…
Tags: 1st-Tradition, AA Legacy, alcoholics-anonymous, Self-Centered, trusted-servants
3 opinions for The Worst Best Kept Secret In AA [And Any Other 12 Step Program]
Jan
Apr 15, 2008 at 10:49 am
My experience has been … a person that doesn’t go to meetings with some consistency eventually doesn’t have anything to give away - except by coming back to share the insanity in trying to make some sense of life out there without a program. Just shoot me.
Love yr blog, read it daily. Thanks, Jan
Mark
Apr 15, 2008 at 11:39 am
Thanks Jan :)
Unfortunately, there’s a couple I know and sadly, have heard, that think they’ve got a lot more than they really do and spew it at their annual appearances… pretty bad stuff, especially for newcomers.
Then again, it gives some of us opportunities to debunk bs when we hear it :)
Destroying “The” Vital Principle
Apr 15, 2008 at 1:29 pm
[…] principle is within the last post. When you are given the gift of sobriety and keep it all to yourself, you break the chain reaction […]
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