Daily
Reflections reading May 29th
True Tolerance
.
The
only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. TWELVE STEPS
AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 139
I
first heard the short form of the Third Tradition in the Preamble. When I came to
A.A. I could not accept myself, my alcoholism, or a Higher Power. If there had
been any physical, mental, moral, or religious requirements for membership, I
would be dead today. Bill W. said in his tape on the Traditions that the Third
Tradition is a charter for individual freedom. The most impressive thing to me
was the feeling of acceptance from members who were practicing the Third
Tradition by tolerating and accepting me. I feel acceptance is love and love is
God’s will for us.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My
thoughts on May 29th Reading
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 the 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 and may become diluted to the point
of ineffectiveness; this is primary fear of change and we all now changes are
necessary to grow
I rarely have see an addict who didn’t have a drinking
problem, also I myself would never turn away anyone, If a person doesn’t belong
in A.A. 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 an Alcoholic or addict, but people in all walks of life, I am no
judge to turn anybody away at anytime Let’s let God do the judging
I have met many alcoholic who substituted drugs to cure
their alcoholism and 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 just 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 his or her 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 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 thinking I was to be
cast out before I could even get to know who or what I was, 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 Welcome all
God bless you Al M
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suggestions or comments
