Originally Posted by
miamifella 
Grungehead--It can be hard to find a sponsor willing to talk to a new sponsee. I know that my (admittedly old school) sponsors did not feel that it was their job to be my buddy and made it clear we would not be talking much till I was ready for a fourth step.
But if someone can find a sponsor who is willing to be available that is great.
Hi MF. It sounds like you had a really crap AA experience. I had a really old school sponsor, and he could not do enough. I still look back at his selfless example and wonder if I could ever live up to it. He was absolutely key to me surviving to even start the 4th. The other oldtimers of that time, all got sober in the 60s and 70s, were much the same if i remeber correctly.
And I can understand your frustration at not being able to respond to anothers share (in a helpful way to share experience that might help). I have been to one meeting in my life that has that rule and it is the sickest meeting I have ever been to. It was just a dumping ground for peoples problems with no solution offered because it was against the rules. I suppose any group is entitles to have what rules it wants, but I don't know of any approved literature that suggests this is a good way to do it.
When I joined the fellowship, the chair actually gave a little feedback to each speaker. I don't suppose it did much good, and was probably wide of the mark a lot of the time, but it had two benefits. First the speaker knew that someone had heard what he said, and second, the chair had to pay attention to every speaker lol. We stopped doing that sometime in the late 80s.
In our BB study, it is recognised that as a text book, it is an account of what the first one hundred did, and the influence of the many helpers from outside. It worked pretty well as a spiritual means of recovery. It says this is what we did and this is what happened as a result - it shows how "they recovered" So this is established fact.
It suggests we might like to follow along. So in the sense that questioning and discussion deepen understanding about meaning and context, we get into that big time. We want to know what they meant and how to apply it to ourselves. We don't "disagree" with the book because that would be illogical. But we may raise questions where we are having trouble seeing the point of something as it applies to us. With input from others, our understanding can improve.