Daily Reflections reading October 22nd
True Tolerance
Finally,
we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent
emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true
tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. TWELVE STEPS
AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 92
The
thought occurred to me that all people are emotionally ill to some extent. How
could we not be? Who among us is spiritually perfect? Who among us is physically
perfect? How could any of us be emotionally perfect? Therefore, what else are
we to do but bear with one another and treat each other as we would be treated
in similar circumstances? That is what love really is
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My
thoughts on October 22nd Reading.
Although the qualifications for
membership in AA are specifically defined generally it is the individual
members themselves that decide if they “belong” to the group or not AA opens
the doors and offer fellowship to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking
They leave that determination up to the
individual, those who attend these meetings either feel a sense of “belonging”
or they do not and move on, Yes the feeling of acceptance from members who
practice the Third Tradition by tolerating and accepting everyone
Is what makes us all feel the acceptance
of God’s love, tolerating all the differences between each and everyone of us,
some old timers believe that the fellowship has been diluted by including those
who are dealing with issues other than problems with alcohol
Such as drug abuse even if step six tell
us we deal with problems other than alcohol, they feel that the program has
gotten away from its spiritual foundations and primary purpose, it may become
diluted to the point of ineffectiveness
This is primary fear of change, we all
now changes are necessary to grow, I rarely have see a drug addict who didn’t
have a drinking problem, I myself would never turn away a so called addict, if
a person doesn’t belong in AA they weed themselves out
Would you belong to an over eaters
anonymous program if you were skinny? A.A. has given me the tools to help
people in life, not just if they are
alcoholic or addict, but people in all walks of life, I am no judge to
turn anybody away at anytime, “what would the master do”
I have met many alcoholic who substituted
drugs to cure their alcoholism, today I see many addicts substituted alcohol to
cure the drug habit, in both cases all I see is they get addicted to both
alcohol and drug
I believe this tradition is what it says:
“The only requirement is to have a desire to stop drinking”. I would certainly
hope that anyone who wishes to stop drinking would have the freedom to choose
AA as their means of support, AA has learned through trial and error
I want AA to be here with out fear of
being hurt, whenever someone reaches out for help as it was for me I must give
people the same kind of unconditional love, forgiveness, understanding and most
importantly tolerance the same things I received when I arrived at the doors
Change is an absolute growth is optional,
I must continue to grow with the rest of you or I will die when I hear these
comments at meetings “you don’t belong I don’t want to here about drugs I can’t
even imagine how hopeless and despairing this could be
If I was that person suffering from the
dual addiction of alcohol and drugs, thinking I was to be cast out before I
could even get to know who or what I was, the doors must stay open with out
someone saying you do not belong
Tradition three shows us that we’ve
thrown away all membership rules and regulations that might keep you out I want
you to have the same chance for sobriety that we had AA decided to be
inclusive, never exclusive, so for me if you say you belong it is good enough
for me,
God bless you Al M
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suggestions or comments
