The Happy Warrior on Autonomy | 自主=尊敬+別人

Tradition Four Checklist - Am I a Good Member of AA, or am I a Special Little Snowflake?

'Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole'.

1. Do I insist that only a few right ways of doing things in AA? (This has been a hard learned lesson for me - I have recently come to understand that there are four classes of alcoholic (from the 'To Wives' chapter, BB p.104).  Not everybody is a phase 4, full blown chronic alcoholic, thereby requiring the full solution (God and the steps) as I do....I used to think the Big Book was the only way - it says on pages 95 and 164 that it's not - I stand corrected).
   
   
2. Does my group always consider the welfare of the rest of AA? Of nearby groups? Of Loners in Alaska? Of Internationalists miles from port? Of a group in Rome or El Salvador? (I do, and my past home groups do.  The group we're starting will certainly participate in the Inmates Correspondence program).
3. Do I put down other members' behavior when it is different from mine, or do I learn from it? (Though I am certainly no saint in this area, I strive and continue to make halting progress in this area).
4. Do I always bear in mind that, to those outsiders who know I am in AA, I may to some extent represent our entire beloved Fellowship?  (I remember this always - which is why I shall never pander to the lowest common denominator from the podium.  The podium is a sacred place where God's love is to be shared freely, and we do not strut - ever).
5. Am I willing to help a newcomer go to any lengths-his lengths, not mine-to stay sober?  (Lately I've become much more flexible in this area - HOWEVER - they must be will to go to some lengths - anybody's.  I simply will not allow a newcomer to break the traditions if he comes to me for help - the first tradition guarantee's all of us a safe place to go - if they can't stop talking about drugs, the kindest thing to do is to show them to a meeting where recovery from drugs is discussed).
6. Do I share my knowledge of AA tools with other members who may not have heard of them?  (The spiritual set tools is all I try to lay at their feet  - everything else is bovine scatology).

|...today marks meeting 73/90 in that clubhouse and I'm so ready to move on.  My sponsor wishes me to finish the 90 in that room but I fear my spirit is in retrograde.  There is so much profanity and unhappiness in that room it's palpable.  I can actually taste the despair.  So, I accentuate the positive by listening for the message, and when the sharing goes dark, I mark up our Book for the new meeting.  Tragically, a lot of people left behind will not hear a consistent message of joy and recovery;  I can hold out no hope for them.  My sponsor is hinting he wants me to stay, but I fear I will turn into an animal if I do.  Many years it took me to get my mouth out of the gutter and I will fall before I can raise any of them. I will do as I am instructed, for my teacher has never let me down, but if he wishes me to stay past 90 days we are going to have to have a serious discussion about this one.  I am most unhappy in that room.

Most days I achieve spiritual fitness;  today I fear I was a snowflake and delighted in the fact that I almost got a street ruffian to throw a punch.  NOT GOOD.  If anyone throws a punch somebody is going to the emergency room, and then to jail.  I did a tenth step as best I could, but I know better than that.  God help me - 17 meetings left.  Give me the strength not to turn into one of them.  I am a child of God, first class, no better, no less than anyone else.  The same goes for AA groups - we are all the same, there is no better, no worse.  Some simply try harder than others. I yearn for membership in a group where we all strive for the highest common denominator - a loving God as he expresses himself in our group conscious.  Anything other than our best would be...simply common.  Common I can get anywhere - I go to AA to aim higher and further.  Why would you have it any other way?

Special Note - SNOWFLAKES DON'T STAY SOBER. THEY MELT IN THE HEAT.

God love us all, every one.

COG, 1st Cl.|