Holy Cow! I've been to some groups whose 'doctrine' I could not
accept, but this one takes the prize. Somewhere in this groups history
sponsorship failed. This is scary.

I've been told that I take sponsorship too seriously, but I believe that
this case is proof that sponsorship MUST be taken seriously. In
detail, years ago a young woman asked me to be her sponsor and I
declined. She drank. I had explained to her that she could call me
anytime and I would be there for her in any way that I could, but that I
thought I was too inexperienced to be an effective sponsor. While I
regret simply turning her down, I still think I was on the right track.
If I had it to do all over again, I would say yes, with the suggestion
that she find a second sponsor.

I see people with years of sobriey who still don't know how to conduct
themselves outside of the bar/drug scene. They seem to feel that
they're 'selling-out' if they clean up their act a little. I've even
had it explained to me that 'This is just who I am. I would be phoney
if I tried to change.' I'm not saying that we need to become
cookie-cutter people, just that we need to learn how to join civilized
society. Some of us spent so many years in the subculter of drugs and
alcohol that we firmly believe that we will never fit in the rest of the
world. Hell, it looks like a foreign country to us!

If my sponsor is not reading the Big Book, the 12 & 12, etc. How can he
or she pass anything worthwhile on to me? And so on....

After reading this article I think I'll appreciate my meetings so much
more!

Deb K.





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