Living Tradition 1

How active AA Service Workers can make service work unattractive; reason 1.

….Personal Recovery Depends upon AA Unity. We need to get along. Good service workers make service work attractive by being nice. Service worker’s that criticize, judge others or are “holier than thou” turn people off from following their example.

I was taught about our Third Legacy, Service, when I had been around for a few years. One defect of character, being judgemental, was still lurking within me. My first reaction on learning what makes groups active and a part of the Third Legacy was to get ticked off about groups that weren’t active. I’ve never been opinionated at all (HAAAA!) so no one ever knew of my judgment, right?

Of course I probably began to spew negativity about inactive groups between every breath. I’ve seen other service workers do the same thing.

Becoming a District Committee Member was a turning point for me. I started visiting “those groups” regularly and was advised by an old timer to shut my mouth and let people get to know me as a drunk, not by my service position.

In two years I could no longer judge inactive groups. Not that they changed, or my belief of them getting active changed. My level of acceptance changed. The passage in Alcoholics Anonymous that talks about treating other’s as “spiritually sick” seemed to apply and I started to love those groups for what they were, not what I would have them. I also started to see how I would benefit from attending the meetings and see how they had strengths that many more active groups didn’t have.

After a relative transformation, I started to view things with an understanding of the perspectives of these people. My perception that service workers tend to be selfless and giving was not shared by the group members. They didn’t know or understand the sacrifices that are made in going to service meetings or carrying the message outside of traditional meetings. They judged service workers by how they conducted themselves in their presence. We would show up, only to make an announcement, not really participate in the meeting, go to fellowship, or talk to people afterwards. The next time they saw us, it was more announcments with seemingly little interest in being involved in any other way. Our deportment indicated that we looked more like we were doing something distasteful rather than meeting with friends.

Today I look at my experience and transformation with deep gratitude, for now, regardless of the meeting, I know that feeling apart of is on my shoulders, not anyone elses.

More to come on attractively carring the message of our Third Legacy!

Keep coming back!