The Danger of Psychobabble in Discussion Meetings – Gay G.

morning everyone my name is gay Garner and I'm an alcoholic grateful to be sober and a privilege to be with you this weekend I had an opportunity to go to Tampa on their sponsorship weekend it was a wonderful experience and I just real glad to be here with you doing the same thing I did Tampa and that's talking about what I think is probably the most important thing we need to be concerned with in Alcoholics Anonymous today, and that is our singleness of purpose. I've had the wonderful opportunity to be the immediate past delegate of Georgia at a most exciting time, I think, for AlcoholicsAnonymous, penetrating through the Iron Curtain letting our message go into Russia and the Iron curtain countries. At the conference this year it was mentioned that they felt that in the next ten years that Alcoholics Anonymous will double plus our membership. So now we are talking about, in the next 10 years, an upward from 2 million to 4 million people. So I really believe at this time, with the growth that's taking place and with what's going on, that it is most important that we know who we are and what we are and what message it is that we carry. I want to thank the committee for asking me to be here and thank Patty for picking me up at the airport. Unfortunately, I didn't know. I drove down to Orlando with my husband and then flew over here, and I had to fly on one of those little puddle jumpers, and I didn't know that's what it was going to be. But it's wonderful. It's a wonderful atmosphere for intense third-step work. So anyway, I arrived fully with my life, and Will turned over to the care of God as I understood him. But singleness is purpose is what this workshop is about, and I hope that after I finish some of the experience and some of the studying that I've done on it that we can open it up and you can share some of your experience that you have had personally and that your groups have had. Singleness of purpose means that we do just one thing in Alcoholics Anonymous. Our society carries only one message, that we are alcoholics and we collectively only know about one subject, the devastation of and recovery from alcoholism. It is the one thread that binds us together and the one thing each of us has in common. It is our common ground, our common experience, and our common united strength. In Tradition 5, which states each group has but one primary purpose to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers, Bill further says that the very life of our fellowship requires the preservation of this principle, and also that the legacies of suffering and recovery are easily passed among alcoholics. It is our gift from God, and it's our bestowal upon others like us that is our one aim. We in the service structure and many other people who are dedicated in Alcoholics Anonymous have spent the last several years studying and talking about singleness of purpose. Many felt that AlcoholicsAnonymous was in serious trouble due to many problems other than alcohol appearing in our meetings. There has been a conscious effort to deal with these other problems throughout the AA world, and many of us feel that we have made great progress to educate our own members, which really is the most important phase of this singleness of purpose effort. We have also carried the message of our singleness of purpose to many outside entities, treatment, court, halfway and three-quarter houses, religious, medical, public and professional information and business programs, all reaching the suffering alcoholic. We have informed and will continue to inform these agencies what AA can do and what AA cannot do. Our textbook, Alcoholics Anonymous, our 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, our history book, AA Comes of Age, all our literature tells us one thing, that Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share our experience, strength, and hope with each other that we may solve our common problem and help others recover from alcoholism. Some of the most powerful statements we have about singleness of purpose appear in the long form of tradition one. Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. AA must continue to live or most of us will surely die, hence our common welfare must come first. Our first tradition tells us that we must stay together united or we will dissolve. We then have 11 other traditions that show us through experience what we must do in order to accomplish that goal of unity allowing recovery to take place. We are shown that our membership is open to all who suffer from one thing alcoholism the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking we cannot refuse anyone who wishes to recover no matter who they are or where they come from as long as they have that desire for that one thing a desire to stop another tradition tells us that we have but one purpose to carry this message to the alcoholic who still suffers other traditions relate to us the things we need to watch for so we don't get diverted from that one purpose things of money property prestige authority controversy sensational advertising and personalities all our traditions have come to us through past experience of those who have gone before us and who have experienced the price of what happens when these principles are not respected the chaos heartbreak and confusion that results when the guidelines are not followed the traditions the steps and concepts must be respected if we are to live successfully and happily in our personal lives in our group experience and in our society as a whole we in aa today are most fortunate to have so much experience to draw from regarding our one purpose not only our own experience but the experiences of other histories to look at and examine histories of other movements that have tried to sober up the hopeless alcoholic histories of the worse antonians in the oxford groups our founders were able to look at their workable principles their failures and weaknesses so that we can safeguard ourselves as delegate i received an analysis of the washingtonian movement written by milton maxwell milton-maxwell was a non-alcoholic trustee serving a from 1971 to 1982 he was a professor of sociology and a historian contributing much in the educational field of alcoholic studies his study was sent to the delegates by the trustees archives committee so that we could familiarize ourselves and our areas with the movement and its failure keeping in mind the need for our traditions as a vital tool for the survival of Alcoholics Anonymous the following is from Maxwell's study the temperance movement began to take hold in 1829 and they took the stand of total abstinence from all that can intoxicate since alcohol at that time was held to be the cause of alcoholism the temperance movement was aimed solely at keeping the non-alcoholic from becoming an alcoholic with the thought that all the drunkards would eventually die out and the land would be free at last the Washingtonian movement was born out of the temperates movement and named patriotically after our first president it was composed entirely of alcoholics trying to help one another the early members foresaw that they should dedicate themselves to this sole one purpose in order to make their meetings more interesting they adopted the idea of members relating their own experiences the members were asked to go to their old drinking companions and bring them not by force but by friendly persuasion and a sense of self-respect into the ranks and watch over them once they got there at meetings persons wishing to unite were invited forward to sign the Constitution of the United States and a pledge the society grew rapidly but membership began to include friends of the drunkards they began to urge that every man brings someone with him the characteristics of this great reform were the total abstinence pledge and the telling of their experiences regarding the evils of drinking and the good they felt would result if everyone would stop the meetings were charged with energy and highly emotional. At meetings anywhere from 2,000 to 25,000 would come forward and sign the pledge. A description of one New York meeting was as follows. Filled to its utmost capacity by a promiscuous audience of temperance men, distillers, wholesalers, and retail dealers in ardent spirits, confirmed inebriates, moderate drinkers, lovers of the social glass, teetotalers, and so on gathered to listen to the speeches of the famous reformed drunkards we believe more tears were never shed by an audience in one evening than flowed that night old gray-haired men sobbed like children and the noble and honorable bowed their heads and wept hundreds came forward and made the second declaration of independence by pledging themselves to touch no intoxicating drink and were promised health prosperity honor and happiness in the pursuance their new principles for the first time the drunkard found himself an object of interest and no longer an outcast in five years the movement was throughout the country martha washington societies came into existence with the concern of rehabilitation of the alcoholic woman the feeding and clothing of the poor and the cause of temperance the movement soon began to decline though their thunder was worn out and in less than 10 years virtually nothing Nothing was heard of a movement that claimed to have a membership of 5 million people. It is difficult to determine the number of alcoholics helped as everyone signed the pledge from teetotalers, children, moderate drinkers, excessive drinkers and confirmed alcoholics. Estimates are anywhere from 100 to 600,000. Many good things came out of the Washingtonian Movement. New theories into the nature of alcoholism were discovered. The hospital system of cure was born and for the first time practical help was offered in a protected atmosphere it is very clear that lack of singleness of purpose played the major part in the movement's failure the movement was attached to the temperance movement membership included anyone who wanted to belong they brought the maker and vendor of intoxicating spirits into the society and then induced them to give up their businesses the movement was basically a christian organization with songs geared toward religious and patriotic sentiments difficulties began to develop between the movement and the churches churches felt that the cause should be a direct connection with religion the Washingtonians felt that they were more pure than the Christians and that they lived the principles with which the church only talked about many meetings were held in churches and the church's began to close their doors to the Washingtonian meetings abolition of slavery was a stormy issue and the Washingtonian speakers violently and publicly took sides on this controversial issue. No anonymity was practiced, and the public became very aware of broken pledges and individuals exploiting the movement for prestige and fame. As time progressed, several factions felt that the aid of the law was necessary for the liquor dealers. In the light of the Washingtonian experience, the position of Alcoholics Anonymous stands in decided and hopeful contrast. and adhering to a singleness of purpose AA avoids the greatest handicap which the Washingtonian movement had in the 1920s another movement came into existence that of the Oxford groups its object was to work to further democracy by stressing moral and spiritual values its aim was to change the motives of men and nations and so create a sound basis for social racial and international justice the oxford group leader in america was sam shoemaker this is where all of our central characters of alcoholics anonymous were to come together before the forming of alcoholix anonymous members of the oxfords groups in the east were roland who carried the message to ebby who in turn carried the messages to bill in akron members of oxford groups were henrietta cyberling a non-alcoholic member and dr bob smith henriette cyberling was the one who connected bill and bob in may of 1935. many good ideas came from the oxford movements the weaknesses were basically the same as found in the washingtonian movements that lack of singleness of purpose the oxwood groups were more like a religious revolution they met in exclusive hotels and mingled religion with meals and merriment and declared itself to be not an organization but an organism under the guidance of the holy spirit membership was once again open to anyone and included many prominent influential people meetings were devoted to talks by members on sin surrender quiet times bible studies the four absolutes guidance and the rationale of intelligent witness the oxford groups were not particularly successful in sobering up alcoholics due to all the outside influences and controversies and in 1937 bill and dr bob made the brook made the break with the movement the reasons for the split were dr bob and bill felt that the alcoholics had trouble with the aggressive evangelism of the oxford movement the founder of the Oxford movement came out in support and praise of Adolf Hitler and the movement the catholic church forbade Catholics from joining other religious groups and many of the early members about 50 percent were Catholic the Oxford group also stressed that conversion be pinned down to a specific time place and emotional condition not allowing for the slow educational spiritual experience or awakening as we know today dr bobbin builds very strong feeling drawn to a singleness of purpose that participants could differ on theology and politics on an individual level and participate in these areas as citizens but the groups could not be threatened as long as they stuck to only one purpose the oxford movement was renamed moral rearmament and is still operating with headquarters in Los Angeles. In Alcoholics Anonymous, our traditions implore each of us to take care against committing AA to the fires of reform, politics, religion, and dissension of any kind as seen in the histories of the Washingtonian and Oxford experiences, and implore each of to stick to the one thing that we know and the one common experience that we all share. In the beginning of AA, all sorts of people and organizations wanted us to take stands and deliver opinions and fight evils and join in multi-purpose causes our founders knew that if we ever embarked on such a course it would certainly be our finish through the years we have survived the movies and tv scripts which portray us sometimes accurately sometimes not aa spokespersons expounding on our program famous personalities and politicians breaking anonymity and talking about a publicly sometimes correctly sometimes not books written for the personal benefit of those who have needed for whatever reason to exploit the program of alcoholics anonymous and favorable and unfavorable articles about about aa as of this day alcoholics anonymous has never divided has never been divided by a major controversial issue our fellowship has never taken sides criticized or defended ourselves publicly on anything all history affords us the spectacle of striving nations and groups finally torn asunder because they were diverted from their primary purpose from bill wilson we conceive the survival and spread of alcoholics anonymous to be something of greater importance than any weight we could collectively throw behind other causes recovery from alcoholism is life itself to us and we wish to preserve its full strength as our means of survival our own history that of alcoholics anonymous proves over and over again that sobriety freedom from alcohol through the teaching and practice of the 12 steps is the sole purpose of an aa group groups have repeatedly tried other activities and they have always failed we must confine our membership to alcoholics and we must confined our aaa groups to a single purpose if we don't stick to these principles we shall collapse and if we collapse we cannot help anyone some of the things we have seen in the last several years and the solutions are as follow and the first thing i'd like to talk about is the treatment facility i'd like to read to you a quote and there have been many of them but this one is what i'd love to use an example this is from the new york times it states it is common now at aa meetings to hear a young speaker say my name is joe and i'm a drug addict and an alcoholic and then a comment is made by a member of aa with 20 years of sobriety This fellowship was formed to help suffering alcoholics and alcoholics only. That's why it has been so successful. We don't monkey around with other problems. Then further is a quote from a gentleman who is identified as the executive director of the Betty Ford Center for Substance Abuse in California, and he quotes, AA is the epitome of tolerance, flexibility, and inclusiveness, but some drug addicts have told me about being turned away AA meetings in the Midwest and the south where they said they were just addicted to drugs now I tell them to say that they are both alcoholic and drug abusers the majority of treatment facilities including hospitals have combined all addictive disorders together claiming no difference in the problems of alcohol drugs other than alcohol and eating disorders and now the codependency issues. The facilities were bringing all their patients, no matter what the problem was, to AA meetings. This activity began to cause many problems for our groups. Problems of singleness of purpose, space, and finances. The number of patients sometimes outnumbering those with sobriety. Solutions began when many service people and groups in the spirit of cooperation talked with the treatment facilities regarding our singleness of purpose and our group struggles. in most cases there was cooperation from the facilities as a result of our efforts patients are now being taken to naca and oa meetings and meetings of similar nature have been started in the treatment facilities similar problems have been taken care of regarding halfway and three-quarter houses where they now have their own recovery programs plus mandatory attendance at aa meetings we have found that most of these residences of these programs have misinformation about identification and about alcoholics anonymous we discovered that many of our a members working in the field of alcoholism were not aware of our traditions some barely sober themselves could not help uphold our traditions because they just did not know what they were the statistics show that many of our members that work in the field of alcoholism drink again most of us feel with the exerted efforts of these past several years in trying to educate our fellowship on singleness of purpose that we have managed to inform many of our members now working in the field the second thing is the court systems judges and penal officials knowing of the success of alcoholics anonymous and also now realizing that alcoholism is a disease and prison is not the answer for a disease began to sentence drunk driving offenders to mandatory aa meetings in some areas this meant as many as hundreds of offenders being deposited upon area a meetings creating problems once again of our singleness of purpose numbers and expenses just because a person had a drunken driving offense did not necessarily mean that he was an alcoholic our very important principle of attraction seemed absent when mandatory was mentioned i want to read to you an article at this time that appeared there have been many of these also but this appeared in usa today it gives a gentleman's name his age of 47 an atheist who was convicted of drunken driving in Queens and County Maryland says being forced to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings violates his First Amendment rights they don't talk about drinking they talk about God 50% of the time I might as well be going to church on Sundays or listening to Jimmy Swigert he says the ACLU is asking for a review but as many Many of us know at the sentencing, the gentleman chose to attend the AA meetings once a week rather than spend time in jail. Many of such lawsuits have come about as a result of the judge's mandatory sentencing to AA. Alternate plans have been designed to help this situation plus enable those members who are particularly interested in this form of 12-step work an opportunity to contribute and participate on a voluntary basis. AA information meetings have been very successful in this area. GSO has suggested that if the group conscience is in agreement, that we should cooperate in signing court cards. In some areas of the country where the problem has gotten out of hand, groups have refused to sign the cards and forced the courts to cooperate in setting up informational meetings where AA does contribute by telling our stories and by giving information about what AA can do and what we cannot do. the court and penal systems are now looking at the overall picture of crime in relation to the alcohol and drug problem the percentage is staggering as high as 90 percent in some areas finally at the heart of the singleness of purpose is our own aa meetings groups have had to close their doors due to multi-purpose problems the alcoholic became outnumbered and the primary purpose was lost in the activity of problems other than alcohol individually and collectively the following are some of the solutions we have found that have worked they have been discussed at length in singleness of purpose workshops in new york at the conference 38th general service conference and in workshops and group inventories that i have had an opportunity to participate in throughout georgia one read one or more of the following at the beginning of an aa meeting preamble of alcoholics anonymous the 12 traditions or the primary purpose card all state our primary purpose card the primary purpose card which states what a closed meeting of alcoholics anonymous is and what an open meeting of alcoholic's anonymous was born out of the frustration of members needing something concrete from an overall consciousness of alcoholic synonymous as a whole it is a service piece available upon request from gso for the asking for those group who feel that they might like to use it two try to have strong chairperson discussion leaders who establish and adhere to a policy of how to respond to other problems have information available on other 12-step programs names and telephone numbers for referral three whole closed discussion meetings for alcoholics only most agree it is better to avoid embarrassing an individual by speaking to him or her privately remembering a spirit of understanding should accompany firmness four keep lines of communication open with court officials treatment facilities employee assistant programs always informing them what a can and cannot do and we have pieces of paper that state those principles strong PI and CPC public information cooperation with professional community committees and temporary sponsorship programs are helpful five at workshops and meetings and emphasis should be on our entire program recovery unity and service reading and dissemination of conference approved literature is always helpful six stress home group membership the home group is where we have a sense of belonging and a growing knowledge of how the program works and where the understanding of service begins seven a group that periodically inventories itself is generally a very strong singleness of purpose group eight carry the message of singleness of purpose through your sponsorship nine take on the responsibility of being informed as to what our traditions are all about the story is told in all our literature read it become a responsible member of Alcoholics Anonymous be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem can be aware of the following statements from other 12-step programs and their position on singleness of purpose it is as strong a stand as that of Alcoholic Synonymous these are statements from the trustees of Narcotics Anonymous one of AA's greatest strength is its single-minded focus on one thing only by limiting its primary purpose to carry the message to alcoholics avoiding all other activities AA has done that supremely well and they have paved the way for narcotics anonymous by freely giving us their steps the simple fact is that both fellowships have a sixth tradition for a purpose to keep from being diverted from our primary purpose each 12 step fellowship must stand alone unaffiliated with everything else we each have a separate unique primary purpose statement from the trustees of cocaine's anonymous we at ca look for guidance from aa and learn from its experience as we look to aa for guidance we feel separate because each fellowship has a unique primary purpose both of us have an enormous amount of work to do and each time someone recovers we help each other statement from the trustees of overeaters anonymous aa's willingness to share fully what it has and to recognize the necessity of hewing to a singleness of purpose has opened the way to recovery for all of us statement from the fellowship of alanon al-anon is so focused on their primary purpose that in their service structure on trusted servants starting with their gr which is comparable to our gsrnaa you cannot serve in their structure if you are a member of another 12-step group from a comes of age we think we should do one thing well rather than many things to which we are not called our society gathers in unity around this concept the very life of our fellowship requires its preservation together we have found a substantial remedy for a terrible malady as a fellowship we know we must not be diverted it is our experience as alcoholics that makes us of unique value on our sector of the total alcoholic front. We can approach sufferers as no one else can. Therefore, the strongest kind of moral and ethical compulsion is upon us to do this and nothing more. We shall direct our energies where they count most. Most emphatically then, AA has but one single purpose, to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. This is our basic objective, our real reason, and our only real and our only reason for existence thank you and i'd like to open this now to anyone who would who would like to share their experience and i know that everybody has one because this is probably one of the most talked about things throughout the country in alcoholics anonymous eddie i saw your hand come up do you want to come up and share with us I'm an alcoholic, my name is Eddie Dalton. This is a subject that's very dear to my heart. It's a problem that we have and where else can the blame be but with our own fellowship? In the beginning all meetings were closed meetings. Today in South Florida there are very few groups that have closed meetings, the reason given for the open meetings is that they will get more money. has never been any of the ideals of this program in South Florida we have meetings which are not affiliated with a group they are open meetings of open meetings to anybody and anywhere they come from the topics range from 101 psychology and if a person who has a serious problem were to pose that problem they are getting answers if there's 30 people they'll get 30 different answers, none of which pertain to the subject itself. Confusion abounds. In the beginning of AA and I have been in the program for 47 years, I didn't read it in any book. I was there. They were closed meetings because the few that we had in our membership then, having been con artists of the best, knew that we were fair game for almost anyone who could think of any way to personally capitalize on the fact that there There might be a chance to make some money or to gain some fame. It's a serious problem. I'm not a name dropper, but we all know that our co-founders believed in singleness of purpose. AA is not a panacea for a lot of problems that people have. Its singleness of purpose is not new, it's repeated at this time because it's being ignored by open meetings which are in no way affiliated with the group. The answer to that is very simple. groups can have open meetings but the topic is going to be alcoholism that's what people come to this program for it's true today and I know it well that if I were to encounter a true one drug alcohol person. I would be tempted to take that person and have him or her stuffed for the simple reason we are a breed that are dying out, never mind about the whales and others. How did it happen? It started with dissatisfaction with certain individuals, dissonance, and in those days you could start a group if you had a coffee pot and six three or four days old doughnuts was built on resentment and the resentment is a killer I do feel very strongly that we We can't make generalizations. But into our meetings today that are not closed meetings, we have people who come to us and wish to talk about problems that have nothing at all to do with Alcoholics Anonymous or with alcoholism. They are allowed to talk. I don't believe in generalizations because we have roadshows that come to us into our hospitals from far away who are here to make money. They teach those that are in their custody that when they go to AA, the word addict must be added to the word alcoholic. Yet anyone schooled in the field of counseling, educated in that field knows that every alcoholic is an addict. Addiction is an inordinate dependence on some harmful agent. Ours is alcohol, not overeating, not gambling or any of the other offsprings of it. It isn't as though there were not fellowships that those people could go to. They go to those and when they come to our open meetings, they want to talk about the subject of their addiction at the other fellowships. Most people who are alcoholic an act of an AA, don't care to hear about that at an AA meeting. A closed meeting, a group meeting, groups can have open meetings but if the group has an open meeting they don't import some other fellowship to be the leader of it. If we don't do something about it now, it'll get worse. And on three occasions dating back to 1945, both Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson in my presence said that if AA ever goes down the drain, it will be an inside job. we let the Trojan horse get inside of our walls and take over, then it's going to be a sad affair for those of us who recognize the singleness of purpose of what our program was founded for and what its tenants say that. In the preamble, we are not affiliated with any sect, denomination, organization. We are not and we don't want to be. As a classic example of it, in my second year in AA, it was getting close to St. Patrick's and two of the newcomers of Irish ancestry thought that it would be an ideal job if we hired a truck in Worcester, put on the shamrocks and banners and put chairs in the truck. And the seven of us in the group will be be a part of the Boston Irish Day surprise. We all know that God works with us when they found out that the Treasury didn't have any money. Nobody is sconded with money in those days. You wouldn't buy aspirin for the headaches that you you had embezzled. A collection was taken up from seven people. There were five pennies and two slugs. One of the slugs that looked like a slug was a bus token in Philadelphia. So needless to say, that didn't happen. We do have a responsibility as a group and as individuals that we hold forth and firm to the purpose of our fellowship. I think it's wrong for generalizations. Today we have people who are triple threats. They drink their booze, they use the Chinese popcorn pills and they smoke their boozes. But still our tradition says that the only requirement for membership in Alcoholics Anonymous, now it says a desire to stay sober. In the early days it said a sincere desire to be sober and they changed that because And some purists said that he didn't know any sincere alcoholics. I know a lot of them, they're still around. The insincere don't last. Maybe we feel that we shouldn't rock the boat. I don't call it rocking the boat if we stand firm to that which we love, to which many of us readily accredit the saving of our lives. We did as well in the beginning with a few members that we had. If you were here at the earlier session I said, and I repeat it now, AA is not a panacea for all ills. People think it is. People think that it's a quick fix. They interpret 90 meetings in 90 days as a cure. Most people don't, but a lot of them do. If we stick to what we find in our textbook, the big book, it's amazing today when I was growing up and I was not a Bible student because as I grew older I found that the Bible was being misquoted to fit the occasion, because we're not the only ones that have a corner on rationalization. I say to you now, as one of you, that the most misquotted book is the book Alcoholics Anonymous people who have not read the book particularly the first chapters in the book maybe it's because their sponsors and I know that they do first thing they say is turn to page 83 which is 83 and 84 of where the promises are we earn those promises they don't appear in the picture in their fullness until we have done such things as the foundation of a good strong firm program in the first three steps that we have in the fourth and fifth step taking a real look at ourselves so that the real person can stand up and acknowledge the fact that change is necessary in him or her or me. And then in the latter part of it in the sixth and seventh step we find out that the chemical ethyl alcohol only exaggerated the character defects that we had to the point that we weren't just a little bit greedy or a little but impatient or a little bit vain or anything else that we were at the extreme. And then we are told that it is not enough to say I put the cock in the bottle and other things don't matter because the same book tells us the top measures are of no avail and certainly one or two steps like one half of the first and one third of the twelfth which says that we tried to carry the message what is the message that we're caring. It certainly isn't fair to those who have to listen to it to tell them that once they get sober and AA, everything's going to come out even. There is a rash judgment to pass on to somebody who's a third broom in some upholstered sewer that within six months he will be a vice president of something. Lies are told through what is referred to as friendly persuasion. In World War II the shore patrol brought them in, cuffed. The The MPs brought them in cuffed. I don't think that helped them. It got them off the base so that those that were brass could have a peaceful holiday maybe, but it didn't do much for the individual who didn't want help. Today it's not a question of need. We don't have stadiums and we don't enough indoor places to take care of all the people who need help. So they must want the help, that they come freely. I'm not an alarmist, I'm too old for that. But I do feel that you and I who are here now, particularly those of you who are going to be around after they take my suit away from me, it's our responsibility. If you go to your group business meetings, then you do have an understanding of what is proposed. I lived for seven years before we had the traditions. The biggest and the loudest made the musts. People said there are no musts in AA, but if you open the envelope that was given to you as it was me when you came here, you will see that there are a lot of musts, but the musts are not made by leaders. We don't have leaders in AA. have trusted servants. My suggestion is be good and supportive to the trusted servants that you have now because someday you may be a trusted servant and you will need support and kindness. I was present for seven years in the program before we had traditions. Unfortunately, there's still a stepchild. The new breed says we had enough rules and regulations when we were drinking and I do not hesitate to add you broke all the rules and regulation then we don't have rules or regulations in AA. The steps are suggested and so are the traditions. So I urge you, as I intend to do, I'm going to hold a line. If it works you don't change it. And I pray to God that when I'm gone that those left behind me will in some way remember that those who came before them hung on and stood by the tenets of this God-given program and that we don't want to lose it and we won't if we hold align thank you very much Thank You Eddie is there anyone who'd like to come up and share some solutions maybe that their group has found to the singleness of purpose I'd like sure if you one thing that my my group did I my home group is the Clarkson 12-step group it's a wonderful group we have uh tradition meetings and step meetings and a service meeting and it looks at the total picture of alcoholic synonymous and i feel real fortunate inventories itself and we have just now our group conscience has said that we will not have any discussion means that we have 41 meetings a week that does not come from our literature big book 12 and 12 the ay way of life is bill season and we Have found that we Have really stopped a lot of off-the-wall discussions just because We go straight to the literature and talk about the words in black and white that are there. Come on up. Hi, I'm an alcoholic member of the Third Tradition Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, and my name is Jack. Just in a point of view of sharing what we do in our meeting, We have two meetings a week. They're both closed meetings. One is a closed discussion meeting on Sunday night. The other one is a close step discussion meeting on Monday night. And we have the awws and the why do you do that's when we ask people to leave. Before we start the meeting, we tell them it is a Closed Meeting. We tell them we are going to go around and identify when the meeting starts. If you cannot identify as an alcoholic or is having a desire to stop drinking, please leave now. And if they don't leave and we go around and identify and they refuse to identify, we ask them to leave then. We hand them a where and when, and one of our members, a male member if it's a male and a female member if its a female, follows them outside and explains to them the details of what we're talking about. Now, a lot of our membership when we really started enforcing this We're concerned that we would drive people off. One of our members sitting out here, and I'm sure he'll back me up on this, we can't get enough room to fit our meeting. On Sunday night, our room comfortably holds about 100 people. On Sunday Night, it's packed. On Monday night, they sit on the cabinets on the back. So you're not going to run anybody off by having closed meetings. You're not going to, you know, your group isn't going to die because you enforce the, or not enforce, I don't know if that's the proper word, but that you follow the primary purpose and make that the main thrust of your program. It works for us, and it's worked really well, and we've attracted a lot of good sobriety. We have a lot OF young people in our group who are duly addicted. They're duly addictive. but they identify themselves as alcoholics in our room and we talk about nothing but the recovery from alcoholism and it works, we don't have a problem we still get the people that when a situation like that occurs and they occur much less frequently now but we still got people in the back of the room and you know, we just keep going and amazingly, they come back thank you Thank you, Jack. Anybody else have something they'd like to share? I take it that there's no problems. No problems in this area of Florida about singleness of purpose? Okay, I'm going to turn the meeting back over to the chairperson. Oh, Vince, good. Come on up. My name is Vince and I'm an alcoholic. This is a subject that is close to my heart as it is many of us. And my home group is the Pacific Group in West Los Angeles, California. It is a modest group of 1,200 people. It meets every Wednesday night. it is not a discussion group as you well might imagine it's a big speaker meeting which incidentally well that's another story what we have done to preserve singleness of purpose in our area and at our group is we have a preamble in addition to the Alcoholics Anonymous preample that is read at the beginning of our group and I can't quote it verbatim but essentially what it says is that our primary purpose is that we are alcoholics and that if you are new with us tonight you are welcome. If alcohol is not your primary problem you may be interested in seeking another self-help group that is more in tune with what your problem is. It is an open meeting and you are welcomed regardless and we hope that you can find something here that you can take with you, but in order to participate at our group you must be an alcoholic you're certainly welcome to stay and not participate even if you are not an alcoholic. Additionally at our Group on the second Wednesday of each month we read the Twelve Traditions in long form and I don't know if many of you are new, maybe some people in this room have not even heard the Twelve Traditions in long form. If you haven't, they're really enlightening because they really explore the principle behind each tradition, what they're actually about. What they're truly about. And I think it especially applies with regard to singleness of purpose. It is my own view, and I'm going to say it now because I guess that's what this meeting is about. I think that And as the learned gentleman who just talked, and I am always in awe when the pioneers of Alcoholics Anonymous are in my, when I'm in their presence and when they're around here because there aren't many of them left. And it is always a privilege to hear what they have to say about our fellowship. and in listening to him I am reminded that I think maybe one of our problems these days is we have too many discussion meetings because they tend to lend themselves to psychotherapy and they invite all kinds of things that are, in my view, not even related to Alcoholics Anonymous and I think we would do better if we stick to what our format really is we share our hope, strength and experience and we talk about ourselves and we do not get concerned with introspective psychotherapy which I think is the enemy of the alcoholic to begin with. Anyway, I've said too much. Thank you. Vince has really grown since last time I had an opportunity to be on a program with him. He was using the term psychobabble last time. Now he's psychotherapy. Anybody else have anything they'd like to share? Come on up. Hi, I'm an alcoholic. My name is Julie. Hi, Julie. And I didn't think I was going to raise my hand, but I really felt compelled to do it and I'm scared to death up here. I was at a meeting not too long ago that was a discussion meeting. when asked for a topic someone raised their hand and they said i had a terrible problem with a traffic ticket i've had 25 traffic tickets and the whole meeting just continued to talk about traffic tickets it really concerned me and i thought well i can't be pointing the finger at everybody in this room i have to look at what i can do and it really concern me that you know if there was a new person in that room what kind of message were they getting that we all drive 70 miles an hour and get traffic tickets, you know. And so I raised my hand and I talked about my alcoholism, you know, and how I didn't like to follow the rules. And a couple other people started sharing about other things and I just, you now, after the meeting, a few of us went out for coffee and one of the ladies that was there was telling her how concerned I was, you known. And I said, you kno, what if there was a newcomer in that room? She said there was. And she, it was a man and she told another man to go talk to him after the meetin. I was really glad that he did, but But I just wanted to share that, because it really did. You know, this is my life. This program has given me a life. I didn't have a life, and I wanted to die when I got here. And I'm just real glad that not all the groups talk about traffic tickets. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Anybody else? I really appreciate the opportunity. Come on up. hi everybody my name is Paul and I'm an alcoholic and it's really great to be here today I just I don't know what I want to say other than that I feel strong I felt the strong desire to have to say something I have for the last few years listened to this problem and seen this problem go on in groups up north and then down here and it scares me you know when I came in I came into Alcoholics Anonymous and I had had some ten years of drug problems and to this day when I get to the podium or say my name, I say nothing but alcoholic. I understand drug problems and I've been part of it, but I get terrified thinking about what could happen to this fellowship if there was no other way or no other place for people with other problems to go, and I would certainly think that the God of my understanding would open the doors and keep them open for everybody, which he does. But we have to hold on, like Eddie said, and other people. We have to holding on to our traditions and to ourselves with this program in order to stay alive. I know for myself I suffered for a long time and very hard, and I suffered in my early days of being here but for the grace of God and Alcoholics Anonymous, I don't suffer like that anymore and it's really scary to think that I think that I need to open up my eyes, I think we all need to open up our eyes and look and see because there is a lot of people that are going to walk behind us that need us and need that strength and need to know that we're that strong and we hold on to what we have and we keep it the way it's supposed to be kept. I don't know if I have the nerve to get up in front of my group and bring up something like that, but I think if enough of us can get together in our own groups, I think that we can do something about it and I think we have to. I have a lot of friends that are drug addicted and I don' t know how the hell I would tell them that they can' t sit in a closed meeting. uh but i would do it because it's my life and i'm responsible for that and i'll be responsible for anybody who reaches out thanks thanks i think it's very clear that it is each of us our responsibility to make sure that those traditions are upheld and i'd like to thank you again for the privilege of being here and turn it back over to chairman for this morning that's you know things like this i really realize how ignorant i am and how much i can learn from you people I'd like to thank our speaker, Gaye, and may we please close the meeting in the usual way.