"Have you ever seen someone who's got a long time sober, but not a clue how to work steps? It's hard because they think they know something and are entitled to something. They won't move and you can't teach them nothing. Unfortunately, some of them drink. We had one that did, after 20 years, he came back in teachable, and has been sober and on fire ever since."
What baffles me sometimes is when I hear someone with time away from a drink say "I know it works, but I don't know how it works." I don't know if it comes from a place of false modesty, but there is a whole chapter called "How It works," which lays out the mechanics and the concept of how it works. "This is the how and why of it. First of all we had to quit playing God. It doesn't work." How: "Hereafter in this drama of life, God is going to be the director. He is the principal and we are the agents. He is The Father and we are His Children." Sometimes in meetings they read the first portion of Chapter Five, "How It Works." And then someone will read the short form of the traditions and begin with "This is why it works." No, the why of it is that playing God doesn't work.
It is my responsibility to know how it works. In fact, I'm rather useless in Alcoholics Anonymous if I don't know how it works.
Jim