keithj

I'm not so sure, bballdad. Or, rather, I have mixed feelings about the whole thing.

I saw a post in the Newcomers section a day or so ago about a guy who went to 'an AA meeting' only to find zero solution. By his description, it was filled with young people (nothing wrong with that) with court cards (nothing wrong with that) that talked about their hairdryer difficulties or something like that. He left, frustrated that he went there for help, and couldn't find any. I read that and felt slightly heartsick, slightly guilty, and slightly angry.

There's a guy that walked into a meeting of AA looking for help, and none was available for him. In the sense of community spirit, it's an AA meeting and I should be supportive of that, right? That meeting has the right to run itself any way it sees fit. But on the other hand, it does itself and all of AA a tremendous dis-service. Not intentionally, of course, but the result of the blind leading the blind as best they can.

In truth, I don't feel a community spirit in a meeting like that. Have I judged that meeting and others like it? Absolutely. And i know that judgement is a sick thing to do. But do I, in a sense of community spirit, wrap my arms around that meeting and consider it the same AA as I'm engaged in, or do I call it what it is?