I was at a meeting tonight where an N.A. guy raised his hand and went on and on about his frustrations with the local meetings of his fellowship. Rather than bore you with the details, suffice it to say that a woman spoke shortly afterward and assured him that he would be welcome "at any A.A. meeting, regardless of whether he was an alcoholic or addict - a substance is a substance."
Sorry, but I beg to differ with her. I owe it to the newcomer to keep the focus on alcoholism and not try to be all things to all people. Moreover, she had no right to speak for all of A.A. in her assertion that he would be welcome "at all meetings." He would not. I know of one or two closed A.A. meetings where he would be required to identify himself as an alcoholic and confine his speech to recovery from alcoholism.
The early members of our fellowship were attentive enough to learn from the mistakes of other groups, such as the Washingtonians - who tried to address several different issues. Their split focus finally destroyed a promising young fellowship from which we derived much of what we have in Alcoholics Anonymous today. We must be careful not to follow the same course.
When I first came to Alcoholics Anonymous it was very important that I find somewhere to "fit in" and become apart of. Had the focus been in several different directions with attention to a multitude of issues I doubt I would have stayed. I needed a name to call myself (alcoholic) and people that I could sense that common bond with in order to do what they did and find recovery from this potentially fatal disease.
What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear your point of view.
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