I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting, held Wednesday at the 12 Step Club, located inside the Yard Birds mall, in Chehalis Washington. I had gone down the day earlier in the week to make sure I knew all the logistics, where, when and how long it would take, whether or not it was an open meeting, and so forth. The room was in a shopping complex the size of a small mall (305,00 square feet to be exact), and the room itself looks like it had retained the furniture and paint from when it was originally constructed forty-five years ago. Frankly it looked cold, old and moldy, with bleak, dirty, concrete block walls. The gentleman I talked to had long pony-tailed grey hair down his back, of an age impossible to determine, was washing dishes
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This was followed by introductions. I stated my name and rather identify as an alcoholic, I said this was my first meeting. Then the night’s main speaker came up, and delivered what I can only describe as a beautifully powerful story. The topic was personality change. Among the things she said, several things stood out for me. She stated that she wasn’t a bad person, as the world would label her, but that she was bad with alcohol. Apparently, one of the tenets of the” big book” is that to experience substantial change for the alcoholic, thinking must be overhauled, and the wording from AA was a profound change (W, 1986). She pointed out that a profound change does not equate to a complete change, and she said she would never have to atone for her thoughts, but most certainly will always have to atone for her actions, good or bad. This, I thought was profound. I was struck with how this population has strength and vulnerability all at once. My own unrealized stereotypes were challenged at this meeting, because I did not pity these folks, in fact I saw them as people period. She also stated that she was powerless over alcohol (a statement I heard repeated several times by different people), but not powerless over her
This was followed by introductions. I stated my name and rather identify as an alcoholic, I said this was my first meeting. Then the night’s main speaker came up, and delivered what I can only describe as a beautifully powerful story. The topic was personality change. Among the things she said, several things stood out for me. She stated that she wasn’t a bad person, as the world would label her, but that she was bad with alcohol. Apparently, one of the tenets of the” big book” is that to experience substantial change for the alcoholic, thinking must be overhauled, and the wording from AA was a profound change (W, 1986). She pointed out that a profound change does not equate to a complete change, and she said she would never have to atone for her thoughts, but most certainly will always have to atone for her actions, good or bad. This, I thought was profound. I was struck with how this population has strength and vulnerability all at once. My own unrealized stereotypes were challenged at this meeting, because I did not pity these folks, in fact I saw them as people period. She also stated that she was powerless over alcohol (a statement I heard repeated several times by different people), but not powerless over her