I Participated in an AA Service Committee and Survived I always thought myself a bit of a rebel. To be frank I still do – even after putting together quite a few days of sobriety and experiencing what if feels like to truly become a part of something: Part of our fellowship. During the latter part of my drinking years, and among the multifarious resentments I accumulated; I thought I was justified in my anger towards virtually anything that I saw as bureaucratic. Organised religion was responsible for much of the trouble in the world, If only Government did so and so we would be in a much better situation in this country; and so forth. The end of my drinking was also characterised by the prevailing feeling that I was desperately alone with my problems. I always felt ‘apart’ from those I judged as somehow ‘normal’; whatever that might entail. In AA I soon found refuge with people that understood how I felt and what I had been through. These folks appeared to have something that had eluded me for most of my life: They seemed happy and content with their lives and laughed a joyous laugh at the world, each other and – above all – at themselves. When eventually I surrendered and asked someone in AA to help me, I was told: “Go to meetings”, “Work the steps” and “Get involved with service”. The first of these was challenge enough for me in the early days and to be frank I didn’t really think much of the second two. Surely these were for the real ‘bottom’ cases in the rooms and not me. I’ll skip the in-between story but suffice to say that eventually I learned that if I wanted to really feel a part of this fellowship I had joined; then I actually had to become a part of it. At first this meant taking on service commitments in my home group. After a while I was encouraged to get more involved. Naturally I resisted. I pre-judged virtually everything I was asked to participate in. When I attended group conscience meetings or service committees, it was generally the case that I left each ‘service’ collective with more judgment and resentment than when I walked into those places to start with! “How can this be good for me” – I protested. When I talked to my sponsor and other AAs about this, I was met with hearty amusement followed by identification. To be frank this aggravated the hell out of me to start with but I had a sponsor who kept returning to the same mantra: Go to meetings, Work the Steps, Get involved! Getting involved in service has – without exception – given me gifts that I could never have imagined I would receive. Learning about our traditions and putting them into practice whilst doing so in the company of people who are just as sick as me, has taught me so much about unity, tolerance and our primary purpose; which is to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Trust me folks; I no longer do this out of a sense of charity! My motives are selfish. I learn a lot more that serves my continued sobriety in service than I do by only attending meetings. “Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.” PEACE”!