JFT June 12 - A Vision of Hope

[Gmoney]

June 12

A vision of hope

“Yes, we are a vision of hope...”

Basic Text, p. 51

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By the time we reached the end of our road, many of us had lost all hope for a life without the use of drugs. We believed we were destined to die from our disease. What an inspiration it was, then, coming to our first meeting and seeing a room full of addicts who were staying clean! A clean addict is, indeed, a vision of hope.

Today, we give that same hope to others. The newcomers see the joyful light in our eyes, notice how we carry ourselves, listen to us speak in meetings, and often want what we have found. They believe in us until they learn to believe in themselves.

Newcomers hear us carry a message of hope to them. They tend to see us through “rose-colored glasses.” They don’t always recognize our struggle with a particular character defect or our difficulties with improving our conscious contact with our Higher Power. It takes them time to realize that we, the “oldtimers” with three or six or ten years clean, often place personalities before principles or suffer from some other unsightly character defects

Yes, the newcomer sometimes places us on a pedestal. It is good, though, to openly admit the nature of our struggles in recovery for, in time, the newcomer will be walking through those same trials. And that newcomer will remember that others walked through that difficulty and stayed clean.

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Just for today: I will remember that I am a beacon to all who follow in my path, a vision of hope.



Copyright © 1991-2008 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[navysteve]

Some of the biggest help I have been given in the rooms has come from people with under 30 days. Some of the sickest crap I have ever heard in a meeting came from so called oldtimers, or self appointed gurus. The scariest people who put people on pedestals are people with time. I am more impressed with 30 days than ten/twenty.thirty years. At 30 days you are going against everything your gut tells you to do. You may even be operating on pure faith. With time in the program you develop ( hopefully) a way of life that is far too valuable to lose by getting high.

I am not an advocate of not telling someone how long anyone is clean. After Just for today is about how I am living not just about not using. I like to know that people have stayed clean for decades

[todd6138]

I agree I have seen so called old timers run people out of meetings because they don't talk the recovery language and are treated as they have no hope for recovery. I did find different meetings that were more positive and i have found the majority of that here in na. you are not judged by the type of substance abuse youhave nor do we care.. I have enjoyed recovery immensely in this program because there are no musts except an honest desire to stay clean.

[Gmoney]

What I get from this JFT reading is that, even members who have stayed clean for an extended period of time tend to go through the trials and tribulations of life. These members with time offer a "hope shot" for the ones who came behind them by sharing how they got through those struggles and stayed clean. Often newcomers look upon members with time as people who have "arrived" and have no problems or cares (hence, the "rose-colored glasses" or being put on a pedestal). Oldtimers are recovering addicts too, and some are sicker than others.

[navysteve]

They show us how human we are. No Halo-tosis here???

I hate watching people suffer, but I love watching people practice the program and get through lifes trials.

Much hope found in that.

[REZ]

Newcomers and oldtimers both have their good and bad points. Newcomers tend to have a lot of emotion (pain and joy), gratitude, some hope, but usually very little experience. Oldtimers may have the experience but can also be cynical, jaded, arrogant. I don't like to put either on a pedestal. We are all addicts. We all need help. We all have hope. And any one of us could go out and use drugs again (with the accompanying consequences) any day. But any one of us could also say or do something that helps someone else stay clean for another day.

[Gmoney]

I don't like to put either on a pedestal. We are all addicts. We all need help. We all have hope.

I agree Rez. NA tells us that we are members of equal status, freely helping one another to stay clean and recover. I still hate it when members get into stereotyping one another in meetings (i.e., newcomers are this way, or oldtimers are that way). Like Steve said, we're all human.

[Africa Life]

Stick with the winners.

The people who work their programme are apparent, it shows in their lives. I aspire to that and it works for me. Its strange I couldnt identify with them at first but they were showing success in meaningfull ways & by showing geniune concern & care for others who are prepared to work their programme. I do identify with that.

I realise that anyone who is actively working the programme is in a process of self renewal and that no-one is perfect that is why we are there in the first place.

I like to hear from old timers because I can hear that what ails them are human issues that aren't foreign to me and to see where I am headed in the future.

Thanks for letting me share.