[Sugah]

I've been taking meetings into county jails for more than five years, and I had similar concerns when I started. I spent a night in a police station awaiting arraignment on assault charges but not a single night in jail. That's not to say that I didn't have experience to which they could relate. I have a string of involuntary commitments to psychiatric facilities and two years in a wheelchair. But honestly? I rarely needed to "prove" myself to any of the inmates. I spoke to them about my drinking, why I drank and how I couldn't stop, even when the consequences started piling up. That was enough.

I go to meetings on the outside with folks who have a very different background than I do and got sober with a much different pile of wreckage. The language of the heart is universal. As long as we're relating our insides instead of comparing our outsides, we can communicate.

Peace & Love,
Sugah