[bluidkiti]

August 19

Quote of the Week

"A.A. is the only place I can hang out with sick people and get better."

I remember sitting in meetings in early recovery and hearing speakers share some of the most appalling stories. There were stories of robberies, prison, infidelity, and other assorted and demoralizing activities. What was as surprising to me as the stories was the reaction by the people in the meetings. Rather than be scared of, repulsed by, or even indignant over these stories so openly shared, they actually laughed and nodded their heads in understanding. What’s wrong with these people? I thought.

When I shared with my sponsor about how I didn’t understand how people could share such embarrassing and private things so openly, he told me that’s how we get better. He said we have all done stupid, selfish, and sometimes utterly incomprehensible things when we were drinking. This was part of the sickness of alcoholism. He told me that the way we recover is to share with one another these shameful secrets, and in this way, they lose their power over us. He said as long as we aren’t doing these things any longer, then they remain old behavior, and the Twelve Steps teach us how to get better.

Listening to the sick things people did while in their disease gave me the courage to look at and admit my own dark secrets as well. Suddenly I realized that I wasn’t a bad person after all. Rather, I had just done bad things when immersed in my disease. By hanging out with other people who had the same sickness of alcoholism as I had, I was able to draw on their experience, strength, and hope to recover. It was then that I understood why A.A. is the only place I can hang out with sick people and get better.