"Our Twelfth Sep Responsibility - Are We Going To Any Length?"
(3 Messages have been posted so far) (Last Post:
=====
I believe A.A. is failing in its responsibility. There are a minority of members who are willing to step up and perform the tasks necessary to sustain the fellowship during it’s high rate of accelerated growth. But the minority doesn’t get the job done. Much of the job is left unfinished or unattended due to lack of willing groups and individual volunteers. So, what’s wrong with not being able to keep up with the increasing membership? A.A. is still there for the taking isn’t it? Yes! Those who’ve been around for a while may be using it selfishly. But what about those who are just starting their journey in sobriety and are reaching out for help? Must they be exposed completely to the commercialism of treatment centers and recovery houses? What about those who are incarcerated and are reaching out, but only a few volunteers are available and willing to step up and help. What about those A.A. members that are only interested in one leg of the legacy triangle, sobriety through recovery. How often are they relapsing because of the rout and mundane routine of some group meetings and their complete disregard of Unity and Service, the remaining legs of the legacy triangle? How often are they following in the steps of those who don’t care?
My opinion is that A.A. is depending on the existing core of GSR’s and other service positions to continue providing volunteer services plus literature, to approach and inform their respective group members on matters of A.A. Some of the existing core may not be familiar enough with the issues and materials and consequently the groups end up uninformed or misinformed because of their own lack of interest or service volunteer participation. My opinion also tells me some of the groups are not receptive to general service matters and are vocal against having them, or the message carried by the GSR is just tolerated or ignored completely by the group members. Many groups maneuver around personal confrontations with those who attempt to bring general service matters to them by accepting the unsatisfactory performance of some GSR’s who just wear the title “GSR” and do not participate or attend general service functions. Many groups discourage general service participation by not including nor electing and filling vacant GSR and other service positions. So who’s the looser? My opinion again is, who cares? It seems the majority don’t care.
It appears quite clear that lack of participation is the unresolved issue, and more willing volunteer participation in General Service is the solution. The question remaining is, how do we get from here to there?
A.A. can help remedy this issue by focusing on developing new and different ways to convert those selfish attitudes to a spirit of willingness and realization of responsibility. They can develop new and different approaches, taking advantage of all available media to accomplish this. Perhaps assigning a task force responsible to the General Service Conference Committees to study the scope of this issue and make recommendations to the fellowship. If A.A. comes up with a successful new approach, then more 12 step work would be conducted by the fellowship. This would introduce the presence of competition by the fellowship which would have a positive impact to those suffering souls now being served and under the mercy of the commercial treatment/recovery homes and centers who administer to dual addictions.
The individual member may also help contribute to the remedy by becoming more motivated and willing to take on volunteer general service and other commitments that serve A.A. as a whole. Accepting these responsibilities adds a a broader dimension to single legacy sobriety. By performing volunteer service commitments such as H&I, GS and others, the individual member becomes more aware of the internal workings of A.A.’s General Service and starts passing this knowledge on to other members. It’s contagious!
The group can help contribute to the remedy by administering, supporting and conducting their meetings with the three Legacies of Recovery, Unity and Service influencing the group’s guidelines.
This talk sounds great, doesn’t it? The necessary tools to do the job have been in existence for many years in printed form and other media and processes. Why aren’t they used by the fellowship as intended? I believe the answer to this question is the missing link required to make it all work as intended. What is that missing ingredient? I don’t know. Perhaps forming a new task force charged with the responsibility to discover it, is a means to a possible solution. Maybe our Area Delegate could introduce this concept to other delegates and trustees at the 57th General Service Conference. Maybe others will read this response and be motivated to submit their own comments for remedies, or maybe they’ll just say, “I’m crazy, this is all BS”. Ok! Let’s wait and we shall see…
(Message ID 3.001)
====
I believe that A.A., for the most part, is meeting all of its responsibilities as well as it ever has. A.A. must live and work in a changing world, and I know that some people who have been around A.A. for a long period of time, lament what they seem to see as the failure of the newer generation of A.A.’s to pick up the torch of responsibility. I believe that each new generation of A.A.’s has done just as well as the previous generations in meeting the responsibilities of a fellowship such as ours. Granted, the number of people participating is smaller, in proportion to the number of people who may have participated in the past, but the jobs that need to get done, still get done every bit as well as they have ever been done.
Our members who perform Corrections and Treatment Facilities service work, (called Hospitals & Institutions in our neck of the woods) I believe are just as dedicated as any who have ever done this work. These people have to “jump through more hoops” just to do the service work than any of their predecessors ever had to, yet they continue to do whatever is necessary to carry the message that we have had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps. They bring meetings into more facilities and more often than ever before.
Our members in General Service continue to examine and discuss all ideas for changes within A.A. They commit long hours to doing their particular kind of service work and are often derided for doing the “politics of A.A.”. In our changing world at large, new opportunities and responsibilities for A.A. service work are being discovered each year, and these responsibilities continue to be met, albeit sometimes not without a battle from the change-resistant. The sheer amount of information these A.A. members must digest and consider grows each year, as does the amount of time needed to perform these services. But the “ink-stained wretches” that participate fully in General Service always seem to get done exactly what they need to get done.
Our Central Offices continue to provide services to the A.A. community and 12th step service to the overall community. Through these “firing line” services, such as taking those late-night phone calls at home and answering the phones at Central Office, A.A. continues to meet its responsibility to those reaching out for help.
Having said this, I want to refer back to the statement regarding the smaller number of people who participate in 12th Step service work. These numbers are adequate to get the job done but due to the relatively small percentage of people participating, there is a tendency to over-load the dedicated servants who show up to do the work. In this one area - sheer numbers of participants - we in A.A. could do a much better job. All changes in this area of endeavor must start at the Home Group level and it must come about through committed sponsorship. An understanding and appreciation for A.A. history and tradition is a good starting point.
=======
I think the question for me is whether I am meeting or failing to meet all my responsibilities and how I might do better.
Here are some of the things I think I can and should and/or have and/or might do to contribute to making AA accessible to everyone (the hand of AA always to be there):
1. Work or do my steps rigorously, making sure to understand that 12th Step work is only possible after 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11th step work is done.
2. Read and try to understand the literature published by AAWS and AAGrapevine, including the Concepts, the Service Manual, and the annual conference reports, sharing my experience with the literature with others in the program.
3. Make myself available to newcomers as a sponsor, to share my experience with the 12 Steps with them, including service.
4. Do what I can to communicate to my home group about other opportunities for service, outside the group needs. Be loyal to one group and take responsibility for it's health and effectiveness.
5. Become active in service outside my group, in H&I, Central Office/Intergroup, General Service, AAGrapevine, or other opportunities in my AA community.
6. In a friendly way, help my group and individuals know where to find the history and experience of AA, rather than imposing my opinions on them.
7. Share with my group and individuals, in a friendly way, my personal concerns about things that I believe are obstacles to AA’s universality: tendencies to cultism (e.g. Group chanting along with readings and group chants after the closings), secular religion, elitism, accumulation of too much reserve money, lack of interest and/or communication with AA as a whole, etc.)
8. Share my enthusiasm for AA as a whole as well as my AA group. Do my best to make AA attractive and worthwhile and effective by my own experience and observation. Restrain from sharing my minor and fleeting irritations and titillating rumors about individuals and/or AA as a whole.
9. Watch for and try to identify areas where an alcoholic is having trouble getting “into” AA and look for ways to “open the door wider, or find the “right” door (e.g. wheelchair accessibility? Hearing or vision or literacy or language accessibility? Mobility? Remote location? Cultural or religious barriers? Others?)
It seems to me that I need to keep in mind that I have little or no chance to change AA’s behavior (or anyone else’s) by describing its failings.
However, I do have the opportunity, if I have the courage and the willingness, to change my own behavior and do more to meet my own responsibility to carry the message more effectively to the alcoholic who still needs AA.
=======