Carrying the Message as the Mechanism That Finally Roots the Alcoholic in AA — Clarence S.

About This Speaker Tape

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.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Speaker attacks the attraction-not-promotion slogan as hogwash
• 0:20 Argues no drunk reads a newspaper and walks in on his own — this is a sales job
• 0:45 Says he had to sell AA or there would be no group in Cleveland
• 1:05 Barstool-hopping and dragging men out of saloons looking for his first rummy
• 1:25 Did not feel he belonged in the fellowship until he sponsored someone
• 1:40 Seven months of fruitless effort before getting his first man
• 2:00 Describes the unique feeling he has for the alcoholic he is working with
• 2:25 Does not care who the man is or what side of the tracks he came from
• 2:45 Begins story about being invited to speak in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan