During the course of the semester I have learned about the many substances individuals can become addicted to, specifically alcohol. It is one thing to learn, read, and hear about in class what alcohol addiction can do to an individual; it is another to be able to personally hear and experience the stories of recovering addicts. Since a lot of our reading and class discussion has focused on the large problem of alcohol addiction in the United States, I chose to attend an Alcoholics Anonyms (AA) meeting. It was difficult at first to find an open meeting around my area. To start my search I searched online, looked in the newspapers, and lastly talked with family members. It was through talking with family members that I learned that of a close
…show more content…
By this I mean that on one side of the room there was mostly women and on the other side it was men. I kind of singled myself out by sitting on the men’s side of the room with the friend who brought me to the meeting. There was a intermingling of men and women throughout, but you could definitively see the segregation of gender. Furthermore, men outnumbered the women by a long shot. Majority of those who attended the group were middle aged and Caucasian. Sprinkled throughout were a couple of younger and older individuals. In total, I believe there were at least seventy people in attendance that night. It was shocking to see how many people were there. Never would I have that thought that an AA meeting in a small town would have more than thirty people at most. According friend who brought me to the meeting, there have been times that the room has been packed with one hundred plus people. A reason behind there being so many people is because it was an open meeting. A closed meeting might have less people in …show more content…
This is when they celebrate member’s anniversaries of being sober. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for one of these meetings. Four people were commemorating a sobriety anniversary, three of them a one year and then one person was celebrating twenty-four years. Before recognizing these four members accomplishments, a couple of things happened. First, like any other type of meeting the announcements and upcoming events were read. Along with this, the twelve traditions of AA were read out loud. Second, it was asked if anybody was new or celebrating a small victory (such as being days sober, instead of months or years). Lastly, everyone participated in saying the serenity prayer and then it moved on to recognition of those celebrating their sobriety. Each person’s sponsor went up and talked about the celebrant, some of their struggles and just praising them for making it this far. Each celebrant than spoke for just a little bit about themselves and just how much this achievement meant to them. One of the members talked about how this was the second time they had made it to being one year sober, but that this time he was going to stick with it because if he did not, he would lose everything he loved. It was inspiring to hear these people talk about being proud of themselves and being on their way to getting their lives back on
By this I mean that on one side of the room there was mostly women and on the other side it was men. I kind of singled myself out by sitting on the men’s side of the room with the friend who brought me to the meeting. There was a intermingling of men and women throughout, but you could definitively see the segregation of gender. Furthermore, men outnumbered the women by a long shot. Majority of those who attended the group were middle aged and Caucasian. Sprinkled throughout were a couple of younger and older individuals. In total, I believe there were at least seventy people in attendance that night. It was shocking to see how many people were there. Never would I have that thought that an AA meeting in a small town would have more than thirty people at most. According friend who brought me to the meeting, there have been times that the room has been packed with one hundred plus people. A reason behind there being so many people is because it was an open meeting. A closed meeting might have less people in …show more content…
This is when they celebrate member’s anniversaries of being sober. I was lucky enough to be in attendance for one of these meetings. Four people were commemorating a sobriety anniversary, three of them a one year and then one person was celebrating twenty-four years. Before recognizing these four members accomplishments, a couple of things happened. First, like any other type of meeting the announcements and upcoming events were read. Along with this, the twelve traditions of AA were read out loud. Second, it was asked if anybody was new or celebrating a small victory (such as being days sober, instead of months or years). Lastly, everyone participated in saying the serenity prayer and then it moved on to recognition of those celebrating their sobriety. Each person’s sponsor went up and talked about the celebrant, some of their struggles and just praising them for making it this far. Each celebrant than spoke for just a little bit about themselves and just how much this achievement meant to them. One of the members talked about how this was the second time they had made it to being one year sober, but that this time he was going to stick with it because if he did not, he would lose everything he loved. It was inspiring to hear these people talk about being proud of themselves and being on their way to getting their lives back on