I am a member of AA and have been for 24 years.

And I am not ashamed of that.

Well, mostly.
:hide:

:rofl:

I'm shocked!!

:rofl:

Bake

:eyes:

0-9. At least they have a perfect record.

:hug:

I just wanted to put a 'face' on AA membership...

:)

he's been sober for about 20 years now.

that's excellent, KitchnWitch. Something to be very proud of....:hug:

:hug: :loveya:

5 years next July.

But some people here think AA is a cult.

ETA: Glad to know you are a fellow traveler! :D

I have never been to two home groups that were exactly alike.

:hi:

If it works for you, that's fine. But the government should not be allowed to court-order people into a group which tells them, "You need to trust in a higher power." It's not objective fact, and some people find it disempowering, and whether or not someone joins such a group should be a matter of personal choice.

and the way it was presented to me was that the higher power can be deity or it could be your higher self. I wouldn't have lasted long there if I felt I needed to talk to the Christian God to fix myself. I did need to function out of my higher self rather than my smaller, more frightened self to be able to affect the change I wanted.

Unfortunately this is an outside issue and AA can't do anything about it.

on the court ordered attendance thing.
AA is for those who want to be there.

You should not be ashamed of it. It's a positive action, and no one should be ashamed of positive actions.

And you're a fool for allowing AA to take advantage of your weakness.









:sarcasm:

:rofl:

Fertilizer. :D

:thumbsup:

What did you do with #5?

We're gonna eat at a little place at the airport, though, so I thought I might screw his feet to the runway.

My dad was an alcoholic. My husband's dad is an alcoholic who's never gone to treatment or AA.

Our grandpa has mucho years in AA as well. One of the most meaningful things he's ever shown me was the article he wrote for an AA compilation about his experiences. In other words, he took a risk, and it means a lot to me that he would share with us.

Julie

My paternal grandfather sobered up about 2 years before he died. My maternal grandfather died as a result of complications of end stage alcoholism. It was an ugly death.

My dad has been sober 27 years.

Are you celebrating your AA Birthday today?

But there is a 'discussion' about AA going on in another thread, so I felt the need to 'stand and be counted'.

I'm so very proud of your dedication to sobriety!



I'm always the last to know what's going on around here. :shrug:

I'll have to take a look-see at that other thread.

It seemed like this came out of nowhere. Now I see.

And you will get those equal rights. The fundy whackadoos have already lost that war and they don't even know it. Or maybe they do and that's why they are making such a fuss right now.

FTR: AA is not a 'cult.' Sure, its Theist and Evangelical in its origins, but most of that has been stripped out.

The meetings are open for all to attend, so its not like anything secret goes on, other than a lot of coffee drinking

Granted, that Theist element is enough to keep me away, but that's just me.

Just tired of the 'AA is a cult' message.

Basically saying I don't think its a cult

We have plenty of atheists. There's a whole chapter in the Big Book called "we agnostics" that makes the case for spirituality not religion.

The agnostics are expected to embrace the religion. Or DIE.

As for me, I just can't pretend to believe in fairy tales anymore

FTR...there are a ton of Atheist and Agnostic organizations that use the same principles behind AA, without the theism for the same result. AA is not about theism, per se

Good for you, sweetie...

Nothing to be ashamed of, IMHO...

Going to AA has allowed the very good, sweet person that you really are to shine through...

:hug: :loveya:

:popcorn:

:P

:hi:

:hi:

:hi:

:hug:

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:P

:hug:

I could not survive without my support system. I love AA.

If not for AA, I would not have been able to survive 8 years of GWB without killing someone.

And the majority of my AA friends voted for Obama, which really makes me happy.

:hug:

Most of my AA friends not only voted for Obama, they voted AGAINST Proposition 8. Which flies in the face of the argument that AA is filled with fundy nut jobs who believe that being gay is a choice.

I wouldn't have survived without DU these last eight years.

:P

:spank:


:rofl:

me too! that was at about 22 days too :evilgrin:

What you've done and do every day takes a boatload of courage and strength. You should be proud.

/on edit/ What all of you have done and do every day - salute.

Thanks for the reminder, I think I'll find a cult meeting tonight and get reprogrammed...

:loveya:

RL

More power to you :thumbsup:

19 for me -- for a few more weeks, anyway~!

You're taking care of yourself. You have an illness and you are handling it. I don't see where shame comes in.

It's kind of like me saying, "I have Celiac Sprue and I haven't eaten bread in 10 years and I'm not ashamed of that.". Ya know?

As an aside, people often compliment me for my willpower in staying away from gluten but it's not willpower, it's self preservation. Gluten will kill me if I let it. I see your situation similarly.

There is so much wisdom to be gained from them, just about how to live life serenely on a daily basis. Laughing a lot is included.

I used to go to Al-Anon and it was wonderful. Also been to quite a few AA mtgs.

Congrats, KW! That's quite an accomplishment!

Are you insane?

Why do you ask?

I don't see what shame would have to do with it, but to each his or her own.

:bounce: :party: :bounce: :party: :bounce: :party:

Tonight, we have gourmet pizza. On my way to pick it up now. BRB.

:hug:

:-)

:rofl:

:thumbsup:

:hug:

I've been clean and sober 18 years. I'm agnostic/atheist. AA? it's basic structure is an actual anarchy-- couldn't be a cult if it wanted to. Loves it.

That God word either pisses people off, or scares them off I suppose. My advice? When someone gets busted with a DUI and is court ordered to go to AA and thinks up all kinds of bullshit why it's wrong? Don't go. Refuse. Go to jail instead. You broke the damn law. Pay your dues. Lose your license or whatever. You always have a choice. I'm sick of drunk driving whiners personally. I work in transplant. Our possible Liver recipients often need community recovery. They too, have a choice. (And it's not always AA, sometimes it's SOS or other support type groups.
Sometimes they just die drunk)

Nobody tells me what the fuck to do, or what to believe. What they told me is were few simple suggestions that worked for them. Pulled my head out of my ass and started listening. Then doing. Result is I'm no longer a criminal hard case but a productive member of society. With a big mouth and a loving heart.
:hug:

:hug:

:hug:

me too babee, me too. I'd be dead or in a gutter by now if it wasn't for those darned 12 'suggestions'

:yourock:

I resisted the GOD reference since I first walked into AA. But AA opened the door for me to seek out different types of beliefs which all led back to AA - a simple program for complicated people. AA is probably the most spiritual fellowship I've ever experienced. AA meditation meetings are some of the most powerful meetings I've ever attended. And when I'm at a meeting, I know every single person in that room is chanting om with me inside themselves.

Another amazing thing about AA is that republicans, democrats, independents and non-political people can all sit in the same room and feel totally together, accepted and supported. Bill W and Dr. Bob wanted to take the AA concept and change the world with it. Thank god they were convinced to follow the AA traditions and keep it within the halls of AA. Not many people realize that, altho Bill W was an egomaniac, he tapped into eastern thought and incorporated it into the Big Book. Funky as that book is written, it has become more and more unbelievably spiritual and powerful to me the longer I stay sober.

:hug: :grouphug:

:silly:

:D

I broke Grovelbot. :hug:

I just have issues with the whole "Higher Power" thing...

And Steps 2 and 3 in the 12 by 12

Dr. Bob himself recommended that in the early stages your "higher power" be the group itself. Worked for me.

If my Priest found out what I was using for a "higher power" at the moment, he'd have me burned at the stake for heresy.

Aw well, it'll do.

Just because you're a quitter ;), it doesn't make you a bad person. I have several friends who are in AA or NA, it works for them. I can't understand anyone shitting on you for doing what you have to do and having self-discipline. Pay no mind to such fools.

Good guess? :shrug:

(I'd be ashamed to put down an organization that exists to help people.)

Anyone who thinks this is a cult should visit my home group! It's a women's group, and I've often thought we should call ourselves the "Mixed Bags". We've got everything from tattooed biker chicks to librarians to gold star mothers. We've got Catholics, Protestants, Wiccans, Buddhists and Atheists. But I know if I were ever in real trouble any one of them would drop everything to help, and I'd do the same for them as well.

but I stopped going to AA after an initial 90mtgs/90days. Groups around town were infighting back then-- don't know now. I did go at 1 year but was denied a color chip for not being on the exact day.

Anyone put off by the God thing, all I ever heard was a careful use of 'higher power'.

The biggest deal is admitting the powerlessness, fuck it and move on.

The 90/90 is usually enough to quash the physical cravings, while wondering what to do with some of those looooong afternoons.

I have patience for drinkers, no patience for drunks. People get more boringly stupid than they know--

Now SMOKERS: I can pillory a lung farting ashtray head without a second thought.

As I recall all the AA mtgs I did were crazy smoky coffee addled blessings of anchoring connection.