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Awesome post. We recently had a group inventory conducted by an member from another group. Only a handful of members had ever been through a group inventory. What most of the issues boiled down to was sponsorship. The following week, my sponsor sat down with me and the rest of his pigeons and we went over a number of issues. 1) Singleness of purpose.....We are here to discuss those problems as they relate to alcohol. Not drugs, gambling, sex, co -dependence, overeating, undereating etc. I am an alcoholic, not an alcoholic and addict or worse addict and alcoholic. This is Alcoholic's Anonymous and that should be respected. 2) Attention during meetings. Get your coffee before the meeting and relieve your bladder before the meeting and then put your butt in the chair. There is nothing more disruptive in the meeting than people getting up and down like a jack in the box. 3) profanity. While it happens and on occasion our lips will get loose, profanity is not a sign of spiritual progress. He went on to say that he was taught by his sponsor that we are in mixed company and should respect that. Of course 2 days later I was sitting next to him in a meeting and let an F bomb loose. I have work to do. 4) Projecting the image. He discussed with us how we show up. Are we projecting an attractive image of AA for the person walking in off the street holding onto hope? 5) Service work. Participating in group conscience. Chairing meetings. Coffee duties and trash duties. Helping the newcomer settle in and adjust. We went over a number of things, the bottom line is that none of us knows what it means to be an AA when we get here. And there are some who have been here for awhile that still don't know. If you're like me you have to be shown and taught. I'm very grateful to have a man in my life that takes the time to pass this on to me and his other pigeons.
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