The speaker pushes back hard on the idea that AA works purely by attraction rather than promotion. He argues that no suffering drunk is going to read a newspaper blurb and wander in on his own — someone has to go out and sell this thing, drag them off barstools, and carry the message directly. He says he can speak on this without fear because when he came in, that is exactly what he did, and without it he would never have built a group in Cleveland.
He describes seven long months of fruitless effort before he got his first sponsee, and says he never truly felt he belonged in the fellowship until he had sponsored someone. The point is not technique — it is that carrying the message is what finally rooted him in AA.
When he is working with another alcoholic, something passes between them that he feels for nobody else. He does not care who the person is, what shape they are in, or what side of the tracks they came from. They are an alcoholic, and that is enough. He closes the clip by starting a story about being invited to speak in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
This B.S. I hear about attraction and promotion. Whoever invented that? This is the greatest promotion job in the world, and you better believe it. Who's going to be attracted to come to a bunch of drunks? This is a lot of hogwash. The...
This B.S. I hear about attraction and promotion. Whoever invented that? This is the greatest promotion job in the world, and you better believe it. Who's going to be attracted to come to a bunch of drunks? This is a lot of hogwash. The attraction comes after we meet and are together. But no drunk way out here is going to read some newspaper and be attracted to us or think that because somebody says there's a bunch of drunks down here that are sober, go meet them. They ain't coming down here. This is a sales job. I can say this without fear of any criticism because, brothers and sisters, when I came in this thing, I had to sell this. If I didn't, there wouldn't be any guys here. I wouldn't have any group in Cleveland. I got some guys from Cleveland who'll tell you this. They know me. They know what happened. They were in soon enough after I came in to know this. I was out. I bothered everybody about this thing. I went down this barstool hopping. I was dragging guys out of saloons and out of this and out of that. I did everything to try to get my first rummy. I never felt I really belonged to this fellowship until I'd sponsored someone. And it took me a long, long time before I got my first man, too. And when I did, I got him because I had a message to carry. That's why it took me seven long months of fruitless effort and disappointment before I got my first man. That's why it took me seven months of fruitless effort and disappointment before I got my first man, too. But why? What's my job when I come out there? I feel something for that guy. I am not a professional, but I have a feeling for him, that guy or that gal that I'm out there to work on. And I have a feeling for them that I have for nobody else. And I don't care who he is or what condition he's in or what side of the track he came from. And I don't care who he is or what condition he's in. I don't care anything about that. It means nothing to me. He's an alcoholic. There's something that goes between us. And this happens so many times. We were talking about this last night. I'm invited to go out to different places to make talks like I'm here. I can remember a couple instances that happened just this summer, this year. I went to Moose Jaw Saskatchewan. Whoever heard of that place?
Discussion
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