redatlanta

Elton John has chosen NOT to be anonymous. He has spoken at length about his involvement in AA and NA. Has been very open publicly about his addictions, what drugs he took, and how he got sober. There is nothing anonymous about his journey. For that matter Robert Downey Jr is the same.

LexieCat

It's one thing to talk about someone as a member who has publicly announced he is in AA (a violation of the Tradition of anonymity), and another to announce the name of someone who attended your meeting (even if he's open about his membership in AA). What he chooses to say about it is his business (we don't police each other) but I think it's our personal responsibility to make sure we aren't talking about who comes to our meetings.

My opinion.

CarryThatWeight

This is exactly what I meant. So everyone knows Elton John and Robert Downey Jr. are in AA. Great, I am happy for them! They wish to carry the message without being anonymous. But the way I understand the program, if they want to break their anonymity and talk about their own involvement, fine, but it's still not for me to talk about their involvement. And not for me to talk about if they spoke in my meeting or not. There shouldn't be any kind of "who's who in AA."

This is probably just a knee jerk reaction from me because it seems like my Al Anon group has gone off the rails lately, cross talking and not following the meeting guidelines or traditions. Grr...

LexieCat

I get ya. My own home group has been pretty much decimated of its senior core members (let me put it this way, with seven years I have the third-longest period of sobriety--one member has a couple of months on me and another is celebrating 36 years), and the remaining ones (only one or two of whom have more than a year, and none more than 18 months) have been pretty much under the thumb of their sponsor (someone who REALLY gets under my skin) and there have been some changes I don't care for. I don't feel like I am in a position to complain, though, because I miss quite a few meetings with travel and deadlines. Maybe time for a change for me, too.

LexieCat

Oops, correction. We have one more senior member--the sponsor of these newbies. He seems to have sort of "taken over" the group, nature (and AA) abhorring a vacuum.

CarryThatWeight

Oh gosh. I know this type. My soon to be ex husband is one of them. He goes to AA to "help others" and because "the group needs" him. He said that when he was gone for a few weeks a bunch of people called him and said the group was falling apart without him there. I told him that was a sign of an unhealthy group and he got really mad at me. He sponsors a lot of newbies and takes credit for their sobriety--"I got so and so sober." Give me a break!!