Daily Reflections reading August
31st
A Unique Program
Alcoholics Anonymous will never have a professional class. We have gained some understanding of the ancient words “Freely ye have received, freely give.” We have discovered that at the point of professionalism, money and spirituality do not mix. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 166
I believe that Alcoholics Anonymous stands alone in the treatment of alcoholism because it is based solely on the principle of one alcoholic sharing with another alcoholic. This is what makes the program unique. When I decided that I wanted to stay sober, I called a woman who I knew was a sober member of A.A., and she carried the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to me. She received no monetary compensation, but rather was paid by staying sober another day herself. Today I could ask for no payment other than another day free from alcohol, so in that respect, I am generously paid for my labor.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My
thoughts on August 31st Reading
Being different is terminal uniqueness taken a risk like I
was the first one to ever admit I was an alcoholic and I was the only one ever
taken this big risk just coming thru the doors of AA, what was going to happen
if I told all these people who I am and that my life was unmanageable
The fear of doing that kept me from doing anything about my
problems, then I took that risk of trying to get to know God as you people
explained Him to me; you said He was unconditionally loving and forgiven and
will help me if I ask Him
I believe terminal uniqueness is a form of false pride and
in my case an over inflated Ego uniqueness at first glance to me was like I was
a person who believes himself to be better than. Uniqueness is also used for a
person who believes that nobody in the world
Has had problems as grotesque, unforgivable, as unusually,
as they have had, I know when I got here I thought you people couldn't possibly
help me, I’m too messed up you could never understand what I've been through, I
was an all-around bad person
Through talking to other people in the fellowship who have
been through similar things, I found out I was not as unique as I thought I
was, a unique program not really many people have died because they thought
they were unique
The program is a simple teaching of what is right or wrong
in our lives it shows the way out I found by sharing my own character defects
and shortcomings with some of these people I was not any different than any of
them we all had that common bond
Uniqueness can also be used for the person who wanders into
an AA meeting and says I'm not like any of you, I never lived on the streets, I
never resorted to crime, I never used drugs, uniqueness holds a person back
from making the progress they need to make in their lives
There are real instances in which people use this mindset to
evade responsibility, there is potential for grave misuse of the term terminal
unique, an alcoholic who wants to learn to drink moderately rather than
abstain, or who wants to quit using some other method than the 12 steps
They might come under fire as being terminally unique,
people can use the concept of terminal uniqueness to browbeat someone into
avoiding any semblance of individuality at all, and it may also be used to
gloss over the real differences between people
Some autistic people I've known have found that within the
program their sponsors misjudge their behavior due to differences in body
language and social skills, when they try to explain they may be told to give up
and quit expecting special treatment
When I first started I had no clue why I was in AA I didn't
think I was as bad off as anyone there, once I got over my terminal uniqueness,
I found out that they had a lot of useful suggestions everything I do in life
has a certain amount of risk involved
I remember when I said I would never get married again well
after meeting my angel Sandy, getting to know her we did the unthinkable we
twenty months sober got married, we had taken that big chance, this time with
Gods help, living with-in the guidelines of the twelve steps
We have made this marriage work and as some of you know
Sandy and I have had a fantastic marriage of thirty-four years come October 4,
09 all thanks to the twelve steps of our program why she is still with me who
knows we started out with a lot of the fears
Because of our past marriages, fear of the mistakes we had
made in our pasts, then we started to project them in to this marriage, but
thanks to the fellowship we found in living these steps we were able to walk
thru our fears
We were able to share our feelings with each other, holding
back nothing, we felt another big risk to let down our guard completely and
share every feeling we had honestly and openly thought the fifth step was hard
But that was even harder because we both projected the fears
of what if this hurt the others or maybe our love will be diminished, because
of how we feel about different things, sure is a scary thing but with out the
program we could not enjoy the many wonderful gifts god has given us
God bless you Al M
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