according to the traditions we should
maintain anonymity in areas of press,
radio etc.
while i fully understand the reasons
for non-promotion of AA, the irony
is the general public has little or no
conception about 12 step recovery.
there are those who view AA as a
cult or a religious organization.
while attraction is a noble method
getting others to seek recovery, it
falls short of reaching many who
need help.
therein lies the paradox;
in order to maintain the tradition,
the message may not reach the many
who remain skeptical about the
program of AA.
3 comments:
Completely agreed - especially since we are famous for our "contempt prior to investigation".
Amazingly though, many of us find hope, strength, life and love if it gets painful enough "out there"!
Thanks for the post!
Love the pic!
yet i don't think there's anyone out there who doesn't know about aa either... we made jokes about it as kids, pointing and giggling at aa signs on cars, until our parents corrected us, saying it stands for 'automobile assocation'
you know we in NA feel the same, but we also feel that AA is more established and better viewed by professionals. We just lost one of the prisons we go into with H&I because the chaplain simply does not want any 12 step programs in there, they want religion based recovery and we simply cannot do that. it is also hard to explain to newcomers who want to go in with the religion based people and they want to take in our literature under the religious flag and it is just not our traditions to do so, and our traditions are very much taken from your fellowship and you know as well as i do that they are not negotiable. It is difficult to deal with but we need to read up on our literature and keep getting our message out there. here we ask places if they could hold a literature rack and groups sponsor them and we try to put them where addicts will see them. hope this helps, but at least you know we have the same problem here.
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