Mike D wrote:

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But people seem to think you can "damage" a sponsee by getting started on the Steps too soon.  That makes no sense.  

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I do see this....I don't know where it comes from...And it doesn't make any sense. The book is pretty clear we don't waltz into action...We launch. I've seen way too many people come and go...Some make it back and some don't. And for myself it comes down to they danced around these steps...Rather than taking them. Nothing else.

I think there is cause for optimism. I am certainly not saying these problems don't exist, but there appears to be a strong resurgence in program related meetings, studying the literature.

I arrived in the fellowship about the same time Cliff B of the Dallas PPG returned, and I walked right into what he was talking about, but as a new member of course I had no idea there was anything amiss. In our town there was not a single meeting that was based on the Big Book, 12 & 12, or any other literature. We read chapter 5 but never even bothered to read out the steps, instead just pointing to where they hung on the wall. There were still some of the original old timers around and I manged to latch on to them, which I am sure is why I survived when many others did not. From about 1985-90 I was away from home and not much involved in AA. when I returned most of the true oldtimers had died, and the meetings had changed, for one thing they were much shorter.

I came to realise later that we were really the victim of an unintended experiment. By and large we were trying to get by on therapy instead of God and the steps. My home town was heavily influenced by a local treatment centre to which more that 80% of our new members were sent and came from. They came out having done step 5 therapy style. At this point hardly any of us knew how to take someone through the first 5 steps. It was easier to send them to therapy. And strange as it may seem, rather than progress in the steps, a habit seemed to form of constantly going back to step 4. Perhaps it was familiar territory, perhaps there were not enough willing people to help and encourage application of the rest of the steps. In any cas people stopped getting well, the experiment was a dismal failure.

Then Joe and Charlie, and later Cliff B and others began to do something about it, reintroducing us to the Big Book and the AA program. They have saved a lot of lives those guys. But still we drag our heels. Here's why:

Ebby told Bill "Simple but not easy, a price had to be paid. It meant the destruction of self centredness." It seems we are not willing to pay the price, we don't 12 step much anymore, there are loads of people being sponsored but not sponsoring, and a big number of folks who have never done the steps. I have met quite a few oldtimers who don't sponsor because they don't know how. So the root of the problem could be in poor sponsorship- a kind of generational thing.

Some oldtimers are very close minded and won't entertain the idea that anything is wrong. For myself, Cliff B and others woke me out of my lethargy, and it wasn't a pleasant experience to realise I had been way off the page, a real smack in the face. But my life has been rocketed since I took up the challenge.

I have found it impossible to change a group that is set in its ways, but working with one alcoholic at a time, teaching not only steps but traditions and service manual as well, is bringing good results. There are now a lot more of us who know about the program and are actively seeking and helping newcomers, and the miracles have begun happening again.

God bless,
MikeH

We still have a long way to go, but I really feel great progress is being made.