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Our Greatest Asset
by Barefoot
I was in a meeting where we had a couple of new people seeking help, one there willingly seeking help for self, and the other there via the auspices of another, a judge, who was managing life for him.
I was reminded in the course of the meeting, that each of us that gets to the program, whether by AA or NA or EA or SA or GA or any other implementation of the 12 Steps of AA, whether by way of the courts or nuthouse or by the help of the hideous Four Horsemen, Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration and Despair guaranteed by Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Ernest and Julio and the myriad of other "Good Ol' Boys" of a thousand other names, each of us arrives with Our Greatest Asset.
You ask "How can that be?"
Well, folks, if you are at all like me, I arrived with the lifetime of experience and memory of "Things That Do Not Work." That was my Greatest Asset.
Hell, it was the only Asset that I had!! I damn sure did not know what did work, and thank God, because if I had anything that was working, I would still be out there trying to make it work.
Yes, my Greatest Asset then was my History, and today, many years later, my History is still my Greatest Asset. Today though, my history includes not only "Things That Do Not Work" but also "Things That DO Work", the things taught me by the simple daily practice of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to the best of my limited ability, one day at a time.
In the course of the meeting, a member brought out that HOW, Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness were the essence of the first 3 Steps, the Honesty of the Admission, the Open-mindedness to accept the premise that some power could restore us to sanity, and the Willingness to give it a try. He also brought out that Alcoholics Anonymous too has a History of the "Things That DO or Do Not Work." That AA, too, has gone through periods of "Dry Drunk" in the process of growth. That is the value of reading and studying the history of AA as presented in books like "AA comes of Age", "Dr. Bob and The Good Oldtimers", the many "Guidelines" published by GSO, all of the literature in the rack at the meeting, for it is in these that the "History", AA's Greatest Asset since the beginning, since the publishing of the BigBook, is presented.
It is in that history that the reason for the AA "Singleness of Purpose" is brought out, a simple matter of identification by the individual as he or she seeks help. Of course, each of us arrives with a myriad of problems that we despair of ever solving, as brought out in The Doctor's Opinion on page xxvii. But each of them can be solved, singly, one at a time, if we solve the primary problem first, that of our disease of alcoholism, by the simple expediency of following a few simple rules in our approach to daily living.
Yes, when I arrived, and even today, I am "An Alcoholic, amongst other things," and as I remember the one primary thing, my alcoholism, "The Other Things" which I have denied, and lied to myself about, are handled, and I cease being so damnably "Terminally Unique."
If I forget my Greatest Asset, my History, if we forget AA's Greatest Asset, its History, or if we deny or don't inform ourselves of it, then we are liable to make the same mistakes again, and again, ad infinitum.
by Barefoot
I was in a meeting where we had a couple of new people seeking help, one there willingly seeking help for self, and the other there via the auspices of another, a judge, who was managing life for him.
I was reminded in the course of the meeting, that each of us that gets to the program, whether by AA or NA or EA or SA or GA or any other implementation of the 12 Steps of AA, whether by way of the courts or nuthouse or by the help of the hideous Four Horsemen, Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration and Despair guaranteed by Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Ernest and Julio and the myriad of other "Good Ol' Boys" of a thousand other names, each of us arrives with Our Greatest Asset.
You ask "How can that be?"
Well, folks, if you are at all like me, I arrived with the lifetime of experience and memory of "Things That Do Not Work." That was my Greatest Asset.
Hell, it was the only Asset that I had!! I damn sure did not know what did work, and thank God, because if I had anything that was working, I would still be out there trying to make it work.
Yes, my Greatest Asset then was my History, and today, many years later, my History is still my Greatest Asset. Today though, my history includes not only "Things That Do Not Work" but also "Things That DO Work", the things taught me by the simple daily practice of the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous to the best of my limited ability, one day at a time.
In the course of the meeting, a member brought out that HOW, Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness were the essence of the first 3 Steps, the Honesty of the Admission, the Open-mindedness to accept the premise that some power could restore us to sanity, and the Willingness to give it a try. He also brought out that Alcoholics Anonymous too has a History of the "Things That DO or Do Not Work." That AA, too, has gone through periods of "Dry Drunk" in the process of growth. That is the value of reading and studying the history of AA as presented in books like "AA comes of Age", "Dr. Bob and The Good Oldtimers", the many "Guidelines" published by GSO, all of the literature in the rack at the meeting, for it is in these that the "History", AA's Greatest Asset since the beginning, since the publishing of the BigBook, is presented.
It is in that history that the reason for the AA "Singleness of Purpose" is brought out, a simple matter of identification by the individual as he or she seeks help. Of course, each of us arrives with a myriad of problems that we despair of ever solving, as brought out in The Doctor's Opinion on page xxvii. But each of them can be solved, singly, one at a time, if we solve the primary problem first, that of our disease of alcoholism, by the simple expediency of following a few simple rules in our approach to daily living.
Yes, when I arrived, and even today, I am "An Alcoholic, amongst other things," and as I remember the one primary thing, my alcoholism, "The Other Things" which I have denied, and lied to myself about, are handled, and I cease being so damnably "Terminally Unique."
If I forget my Greatest Asset, my History, if we forget AA's Greatest Asset, its History, or if we deny or don't inform ourselves of it, then we are liable to make the same mistakes again, and again, ad infinitum.
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