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additional or fewer copies of the Alternative for your Group or Meeting contact:
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Reading / Berks Intergroup P.O. Box 12157 Reading, PA. 19612
www.ReadingBerksIntergroup.Org

 

Monthly Newsletter of
Reading–Berks Intergroup

PO Box 12157, Reading, PA  19612
Serving Districts 33, 66 & 67 of Delegate Area 59
Eastern Pennsylvania

April 2008

 

Apply the Principles to New Fields
Another Old-Timer's Viewpoint

EVEN a quick look at the world today reveals an endless variety of economic, political and cultural conditions that are crying for correction. In too many areas agnosticism, frustration and cynical brutality are the order of the day.

Many causes for this grave situation have been given. Generally speaking, it can be recognized that these causes all stem from mankind's tendency to leave God out of his calculations. Human civilization has lost its spiritual bearings. The Creator of this universe based its stability on law and order. When mankind ignores this divine basis, the world gets out of joint.

For instance, four years after the cessation of hostilities, there are no peace treaties between the major combatants. Nation is still against nation and race against race with greed and self-interest governing the councils of men. Whole countries lie in ruin while despair fills the hearts of their people. Mass starvation confronts millions in Asia. The warfare between capital and labor goes on with alarming persistence and there are many, many other situations known to us all that need courageous corrective action.

It is probable that any AA who has read this far has also questioned himself at least once whether he were reading The A.A. Grapevine or some other publication. In AA it is not customary to have our attention called to the conditions cited above. Exclusive emphasis is placed on the problem of alcoholism, recovery from drunkenness being the first of first things as it should be for us all for a long time after entering AA.

YET, it seems to me that with an increasingly large number of members accumulating several years of sobriety, the door should be opened to secondary considerations which grow in importance as our lives become reorganized through the AA Program.

IN this direction, I think, lies the answer for the restless "old-timer" who no longer fits the niche he has cut out for himself in AA, but who is fearful of leaving it because he has been conditioned against doing so through the years. This conditioning has come about not through limitations of the AA Program, but through popular misconceptions of the Program.

Traditionally "No AA group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, express any opinion on outside controversial issues--particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever."

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this attitude. It refers to AA groups or to individuals speaking for AA; however not to individuals speaking and acting in their own names. Yet, we frequently hear in meetings, "We are not reformers," or "We are only concerned with alcoholism," or, "There are no evangelists here," all stated in such terms that the individual is a hardy one, indeed, who would care to admit that he has an urge to apply his new kind of thinking for the benefit of mankind in general. This occurs in spite of the (oft forgotten) fact that our 12th Step specifically provides for us to "practice these principles in all our affairs."

As individuals our old-timers must overcome the conviction that has been instilled in them--that it is undesirable to be concerned about the evils in the world. When the time comes after years of frequent regular attendance at meetings that the content of the talks holds no novelty; when length of sobriety comes to be an actual barrier preventing full accord with new members; when a chronic restlessness sets in (as it does in many cases) then is the time, I think, when the old-timer should look for new fields in which to apply his hard won principles of honesty, humility and sacrificial giving. He should do this in the role of a seasoned, useful member of society, not as an AA. I am not advocating that anyone break off his AA association, but that the restless, mature AA should make some other thoroughly worthwhile activity his chief outlet.

AN attempt was recently made on Long Island to provide an answer for the man we're talking about through an experimental meeting similar to a regular meeting but emphasizing the spiritual and minimizing case histories. One AA member and one non-alcoholic, speaking at each meeting, attempted to provide material for spiritual growth beyond that available at ordinary meetings. Attendance fell off after several weeks and eventually the meeting was discontinued because it did not fully meet the need. To many it was not sufficiently different from a regular meeting to justify its existence. Some of us believe that the required step is to participate in the work of an existing outside organization that is doing a real job.

There are many avenues of usefulness open to men and women alike which will benefit greatly from an influx of new life that regenerated alcoholics can bring to them. The acceptance of new horizons by individual members of AA will permit continued spiritual development on their part and will at the same time bring to fruition the full promise of AA, which has been called the most vital spiritual movement of the century.

YESTERDAY. . .TODAY AND TOMORROW

THERE are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is YESTERDAY with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. YESTERDAY has passed forever beyond our control.

All the money in the world cannot bring back YESTERDAY. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. YESTERDAY is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW with its possible adversaries, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. TOMORROW is also beyond our immediate control.

TOMORROW'S sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds--but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in TOMORROW for it is as yet unborn.

This leaves only one day--TODAY--. Any man can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities--YESTERDAY and TOMORROW that we break down.

It is not the Experience of TODAY that drives men mad--it is remorse or bitterness for something which happened YESTERDAY and the dread of what TOMORROW may bring.

LET US, THEREFORE, LIVE BUT ONE DAY AT A TIME.

A Toast to Our Future

Since getting sober eighteen years ago, I have seen many changes in AA, at least in Western Massachusetts. The growing number of Twelve Step programs, the proliferation of treatment centers, and intensive media attention with the consequent increase in public awareness of alcohol and drug addiction, have had a definite impact on our AA society, on how we see and share our experience, strength, and hope.

At meetings today we commonly hear terms like codependent, poly-addicted, cross-addicted, alco-addict, enabling, dysfunctional family, and so forth.

When I was new in AA back in the Ice Age you talked about drinking and falling down and smashing up cars and your AA talk ended more or less abruptly at the point at which you finally entered AA, put the plug in the jug, and commenced to live a sober life. I remember speaking at a Chicopee meeting in the early days where all the old-timers sat in the front row with folded arms and sober stares. I wasn't feeling too secure about myself. But then it wasn't really required.

Nowadays people are better informed about alcoholism and not so dependent for total direction on the oldest old-timer in the room. Some of the talk we hear from the podium today would have brought down the wrath of the elders in the old days. Often today we have counselors but no sponsors; aftercare but no home group. Now and then we hear a little of what a friend calls "psychobabble," such as "primary and secondary alcoholic. . .passive/aggressive personality. . .group dynamics. . ." and so forth. New people speak blandly of "treatment" and "group" and "alco-logues," family script, adult child, dysfunctional family.

Sometimes I feel a little put off by this upsurge of recovery buzz words. I wonder if we are really keeping the focus on alcoholism, my disease, at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. Not long ago at my home group a speaker was talking about being from a dysfunctional family. He went into some detail about the deleterious effects his father's drinking had on his emotional well-being as a child. An older member sitting next to me was doing a lot of squirming and finally grumbled into my ear under his breath, "For Chrissake, doesn't anybody puke anymore?" When I was new we didn't have dysfunctional families. The speaker would simply say, "My old man was a drunk," and let it drop.

Sometimes I think I would like to hear less about being self-assertive and more about being of service. Less about deflected anger and more about ego deflation at depth. It seems that where we used to talk about the need for humility, today we talk about the need for self-esteem. Where we spoke of our old ways we now talk about old tapes. Active listening was keeping an open mind. Enabling was called minding your own business. Sometimes I am afraid that the new "me-first" mentality, with its strong emphasis on taking charge of your life, is slowly eroding a lot of what I learned about living sober in the late sixties.

But then I remember that the Big Book talks about fear being a corrosive and pervasive thread that runs through the fabric of my life, and I ask: What is it that I am really afraid of? Maybe I'm just afraid that the way I got the message is changing. Not the message itself. Only the words used to express it.

Maybe I'm afraid of becoming obsolete. A lot of older members that I got sober with don't go to meetings as often as they used to because, they say, "AA is changing." Maybe one of the challenges of continued sobriety is to change with it.

I have been to Al-Anon and Adult Children and benefited from both programs immensely. They do not compete--they complete each other in my recovery. But when speaking at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous I think it's important for me to remember that I am an alcoholic. If I forget that, it won't much matter what kind of a family I come from.

So I do have some qualms when I hear a speaker waxing Freudian about his secondary alcoholism or his passive/aggressive alcoholic subconscious. But then I look around at meetings and see all the young people getting and staying sober. Groups get larger and new groups sprout like mushrooms. And the basic message is still the same, "This is the way to a faith that works."

There is a candor and a warmth to the sharing that I don't remember hearing when I was new. There is a freedom of expression that covers more generously the broad and varied expanse of human experience, one I think that ties us with the rest of mankind in a way that was unthinkable back in the podium-pounding days of "Die, you bum, but don't drink." We seem to reach out from alcoholism, the family disease, to a spiritual connection with the family of man that does not encourage us to use the label "alcoholism" to explain away our humanity.

We can be grateful for the new awareness of alcoholism and that there are so many treatment centers ready and willing to help where years ago we were denied hospital beds because they were needed for "sick people." This member wishes to propose a sober toast to the future of our Fellowship, mindful of the now largely spiritual presence of those tough, plain-talking AA's who had the words of life for me when so much of my life still lay before me. Here's to us! May we always take our primary purpose lovingly with us into any enlargement of our awareness of this still cunning, baffling, and powerful spiritual malady. We can make wise use of the expanded understanding of our disease, provided we never forget Tradition Five: "Each group has but one primary purpose--to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

 

Cartoon illustration (copyright AA Grapevine, Inc.)

Cartoon illustration (copyright AA Grapevine, Inc.)

New Group

Sober at Six meets at St Paul’s Christian Building, Birdsboro PA (same location as the Sunday night Big book meeting) meets every Thursday at 6pm, format alternating step and daily reflection.

 

Groups Who Need Our Support

If your group needs some support contact the Alternative Chair and it will go on the following Alternative

The Wires Meeting at the Zion Church on Sundays at 6:45 to 8:00 needs Women’s support (it’s a women’s meeting  up in Womelsdorf)

 The Reading Berks Intergroup also needs your support with group representation, meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7:30 pm

Group News

Babysitting is available at the Saturday Morning Women’s Group at St. Albans

 

Come Celebrate 65 years of recovery with Walnut Street Recovery Group (History of former known names of group, Home Held Meetings in April 1943, 6th Street Meeting in April 1953, 10th and Greenwich Meeting in 1984, Been Walnut Street Since January 1989)  on April 19th, 2008 for an Afternoon of Speakers from 12:00 noon to ?

Food and Fellowship at the EDI Clubhouse, 647 Walnut Street, Reading PA 19601

19th Anniversary of the Experience, Strength, and Hope Group or known as E.S.H at Deka Battery- Gate 2 in the basement of the personnel office, Fleetwood, Topton Rd. Lyons Station PA, on Wednesday April 9th at 8pm, speaker meeting, food and fellowship following the meeting

Birdsboro Group celebrates their 33rd Anniversary on April 9th at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 5 Brook Manor, Birdsboro PA, meeting starts at 7:30 pm, speaker Warren D., food and fellowship following the meeting    

Unity Committee is meeting to discuss upcoming events, such as the Summer Picnic and other events and functions for this year, will be meeting on the 8th of April at 6:15 pm, at the same place Intergroup and the Happy Hour Group meet, Calvary Baptist church, all are encouraged to attend and participate, your support is greatly appreciated. 

 

!!!! Please be advised if the alternative doesn’t receive information regarding groups or group events directly, via. Internet or by phone to the alternative chair, and on a timely basis by the next Intergroup meeting for that month, the important group information will not be able to passed to other groups, thus please have all information to the alternative early, even a few months prior if possible. If your group is not receiving the Alternative please contact to update your mailing info.

Thank you for your patience and support to The Alternative.

  Email Addresses of Intergroup Officers and Representatives.

Officer Service Position E-Mail Address
Rick R.. Intergroup Chairperson
Kenny T. Intergroup Alt. Chairperson
Greg G. Intergroup Treasurer
Beth B. Intergroup Secretary
Ted L. Hotline Chairperson
Gary H. Archives Chairperson
Terry C.   Men's Prison Chairperson
Kelly M Woman's Prison Chairperson
Jan S. Literature Chairperson
Danielle B. Schedules Chairperson
Steve W. Institutions Chairperson
Tim W. Newsletter Chairperson
Mark G. Unity Chairperson
Terry Mc F. Bridging the Gap 

Greg G.

Website

 

Updated July 23, 2008 © 2001 Copyright All Rights Reserved Reading-Berks Intergroup, Reading, PA