jim,

 

i like it.  i like it.  i used to cringe when i would hear these so-called AA slogans in the rooms.  now i just share what the book says without trying to make "My Way" the way.  like one of my favorite speakers says - "I don't get to have a way."  It's the steps and God's way or i will drink. 

 

Another one that really sits in my craw is - "Just Ask God to keep you sober."  Hell, if that was all i wanted it would be easy.  I want to do His Will and get all the rewards that go with that.

 

It's a wonderful life being recovered.

 

cindi from philly

 

AA has really become the "parrot society". Anything that sounds good
is repeated enough to become gospel and is somehow misconstrued to
be a part of the AA Program. Here are a few examples:

"Don't drink and go to meetings"
While you may learn a thing or two at meetings expecting to stay
sober this way is analogous to standing in one's garage and hoping
to become a car. This is true of another popular statement "If I
attend a meeting each day I won't drink".

"Take what you like and leave the rest"
Part of Alanon's closing statement it has no real value in AA. I'll
just hit the dessert table forget about anything that's good for me.

"I wish you a long slow recovery"
I kinda like the idea of recovering and ending the suffering. This
statement, much like "You have your whole life to take the steps"
assumes that there is something else which can be employed to
recover other than the steps. Page 118 in our basic text tells us
differently.

"I will always be 'recovering', never recovered"
Our basic text tells us that "recovered" is the aim of our program
of action. Most people find that hard to believe - but it is
mentioned numerous times in our Big Book and does not mean we are
cured - even the book tells us so. Just like someone who has broken
a leg skiing we can and do recover - but we can break our leg, or
drink, again - if we fail to take some simple steps.

"I choose whether I will pick up a drink each day"
Having lost the power of choice in drink we never regain it. What we
do have a choice about is living a spiritual life - "...what we
really have is a daily reprieve contingen on the maintenance of our
spiritual condition". I read that somewhere...

"All I need to do to be a winner in AA is not drink"
Since we do have a way of life I think it does beg the question -
what have we changed to enable us not to drink each day? Drowning
puppies and not drinking isn't what we're looking for here.

There are plenty more where these have come from. Feel free to add
to the list.

Jim

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