Member: Joyce M
Location: S Ohio hills
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 9:24:50 AM
I was glad to hear this tradition when I first started attending meetings. I had a serious desire to quit but was still working the will power angle and was baffled at my inability to stop drinking. This simple sentence is probably largely responsible for keeping many newcomers coming until they "get it". It was for me.
Member: Donnie M(dos3-1-99)
Location: W.Va.
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 11:24:02 AM
I`m Donnie and I am alcoholic. I say this and I was told I was in the right place, so that is the tradition, and I`ll keep coming back. Thank`s for listening.GOD BLESS ALL WHO TRY.
Member: Sarah
Location: NW USA
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 12:02:30 PM
i really like this tradition because the next morning when i had a "bad hangover" i would get a desire to stop drinking. i had no idea how to live without drinking...in fact it sounded impossible, horrible, quite beyond any of my thinking. Thanks to a bunch of drunks sharing their thinking... experience, strength and hope it is an path of living "happy, joyous and free" Keep Coming Back.
Member: AnilG
Location: Mt Vernon,IL
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 5:27:15 PM
My name is Anil and I am an alcoholic and a drug addict this tradition introduced me to sobriety first i was hesitent but when I listened to others and the group as a whole sharing there lives experiance there strengh's and hope i knew I was at the right place. tradition is something that keeps us togather so that we can pass it onto others our generations to come.
Member: Connie P.
Location: Phx, AZ
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 7:33:04 PM
Hello. My name is Connie and I am an alcoholic. Thank God for this tradition. I have been in and (unfortunately) out of the program for 10yrs. I have tried all kinds of consulers, phyco this and that, all of which require something -mostly lots of $$$. The program is the Only place I have been that actually has helped me. Plus they never wanted anything from me. All I need is the desire to stop drinking. What I also find very wonderful is the acceptance given to me for my other countless problems. Because of these kindnesses, I kept coming back throughout those past 10yrs and now I have (05apr01) found sobrity for the past 1 1/2 yrs. Thank you for Tradition 3.
Member: HIPOLITO
Location: Chicago
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 9:17:07 PM
HI Hipolito alcoholic when i heard this tradition i knew i was in the right place !!! thanks i' keep coming back .
Member: Adam H.
Location: Nagano, JAPAN
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 10:02:03 PM
Adam, alcoholic.
I too am glad this tradition exists. Where I currently live in rural Japan, most people do not make it into AA until the doctor of the psych ward they've been locked away in tells them where a meeting is and that they have to go. I have sometimes gotten the wide-eyed stare of disbelief from people when I tell them that I was not ordered to Alcoholics Anonymous by a doctor, but the stare does go away when I tell them about my life as an active alcoholic, that I knew I was going to die if I didn't quit, and how grateful I am that AA did not tell me I could not join at the age of 21 because I still clearly had more drinking to do if I was that young. My life has been saved by a tradition that allows me to decide if I qualify to stay.
Grateful to be alive and sober today.
Member: Once. again
Location: here
Date: 3/25/01
Time: 11:23:45 PM
Hi! Me, alcoholic. I wish I had something positive to say. I was clean for 5 months until this night. Here I am again. I need to follow this meeting ( and others better) God what a disgrace! How many of us do you see fail? It is true. I feel so much more guilt and shame than the first time around...Tell me it get's better..PLEASE.....
Member: Patg
Location: Tucson
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 12:10:49 AM
Hi Me, I'm Pat an alcoholic. It does get better if you stay away from the first drink. You need to remember to keep the bad memories of where your drinking led you fresh in your mind. Then you will think through the first drink. Just go back to Step 1 - admit you are powerless and turn it over to your Higher Power. The spiritual part of the program is what will get you sober again and more importantly keep you stopped. The Third Tradition gives you the opportunity to be here and if you just ask your Higher Power to get you through sober on a 24 hour basis you'll get sober again and stay sober. My prayers are with you - keep coming back. Also get a sponsor if you don't have one and get to some face to face meetings and start doing some service commitments. Just suggestions my friend but if you follow them you will see you really don't ever have to drink again. My experience has been the misery it brings is just not worth it but there are times my mind tries to convince me there once something good about it - these are cravings for you see the physical cravings may go away but sometimes the mental ones don't. Cunning and baffling as this disease is it can't outsmart your Higher Power. May he guide you on your journey to happy destiny.
Member: Dorothy B.
Location: Paris, France
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 9:08:02 AM
I am very happy we have tradition three. When I used to see someone come into the rooms that was stinking drunk and perhaps disruptive people would try to evict them. Someone in the group would say, "what would god do in this situation?" and the response was clear so everyone just bore with it and practiced a little tolerance. When I saw this when I was new, it made me angry. What if it was me? I would ask myself. The reason I liked AA in the first place was I figured if they would take anyone they must have room for me too. Many times I have heard newcomers (and old) recite the third tradition, "the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking." I wonder, where would AA be without that tradition? Would there still be an AA? Dear Once Again, I understand your despair. I relapsed after 3 years and 10 months. I was ashamed and didn't tell anyone for 11 months. IT's difficult but you will get through it. It is a cunning, powerful, and baffling disease. One which tells you you don't have one. But remember, if you don't take anything you won't get loaded. Do yourself a favor, get a sponsor, and start working the steps. Remember what we can't do alone we can do together!
Member: Sue J.
Location: So calif.
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 11:55:04 AM
Hello Sue alcoholic, In the 12x12 discussion of Tradition 3. It is pointed out that we did not always have this acceptance of anyone who walked threw our doors. The orignal groups had rules about who could come into the group. About two years in to this experiment, they had a few experiences that changed their mindset and the path of our group. The experiance I think they really wanted us to remember was repeated in the 12x12 and I found it again in the book Dr. Bob and the oldtimers. It is about a man who comes into the group and applies for membership. They find he is most defintly an alcoholic, a desperate case. ""But" he has a second addiction even worse stigmitized than alcoholism." Would they allow him in? It appears there was much debate as to what they should do. ""As the newcomers fate hung in the balance then one of the three spoke in a very different voice." What we are really afraid of," he said, "is our reputation. ....as we have been talking five short words have been running threw my mind. Something keeps repeating to me,"What would the master do" Not another word was said." Sobriety first thank you for letting me share. quoted from 12x12 pages 141,142.
Member: Von
Location: Ohio
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 12:45:10 PM
The traditions are the "walls" I bump into as I walk down the "halls" of AA. Thank goodness for all of them, especially this one. I believe that this tradition helps us keep it simple, despite ourselves. Without this tradition, can you imagine the horror of all of us insane, self-righteous, codependent alcoholics trying to agree on who can be a member or not???? The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
The dilemna we run into in my AA community is the people on papers. Some of them want to stop drinking, some of them are just hanging out. I personally believe that all prayers are answered, so even those that are just "hanging out" are in the right place. I've heard too many people say that without the nudge from the judge, they wouldn't have made it into AA. I discovered AA through a nudge from a judge, and it wasn't until way later that I realized that somewhere deep in my soul, I did have the desire to quit. It was buried in hopelessness and helplessness, but you people and the 3rd tradition helped dig it out.
Thank you for adhering to the 3rd tradition. It saved my life.
Member: dave z
Location: berkley mi
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 2:26:32 PM
I'm dave z, addicted to many things. This tradition gave me a hope and future in AA that i may not have had, when i just looked at the 12 steps before understanding them, or this whole program for that matter. I,m lucky and happy to be sober (and living) for today!
Member: William.A.
Location: High-Point
Date: 3/26/01
Time: 6:56:26 PM
William.A. Alkie...
I would like to start my sharing off with a question this afternoon. Does this tradition mean that one could do or say anything they darned well please in this fellowship ,or does the words state that the only requirement for A/A.membership is a desire to stop drinking,does this say anywhere that we may be held hostage to anyone that has nothing better to do but run off at the mouth and say anything that may offend other's ,what about our singleness of pourpose. do you all remember that we have shuch a thing. I have personally herd as well saw good A/A'ers sit in meeting's and say thing's like who are we to judge when in all actually they may have been practicing something I read about in the BIG-BOOK ( let's not evade patience while talking prudence).
Some times A/A newcommers can and will listen to those who want to be like instead of those who want to be sober.Can't we alljust get along and try harder to H-E-L-P. our brother who may be suffering even more than we.
Self centerness is the core of our desiese not drinking.
Member: Michael
Location: AZ
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 1:45:01 AM
Hi! My name is Michael, and I am a recovering alcoholic and addict, sober today only by the Grace of God and the Fellowship. Welcome newcomers! Thanks for the sincere shares!
Great comments, Sue J. of southern California! I would like to say for the benefit of serious-minded newcomers: stay away from those AAs who have a problem adhering to this principle.
Instead, remember to stick with the winners.
Member: Jack B
Location: Palo Alto, Pa
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 4:51:28 AM
Hi I am Jack, a real alcoholic. The third tradition I need to keep for myself on a personal level, and also on the group level. For myself, I was told early on to find a power greater than myself and I wouldn't have to pick up another drink for the rest of my life one day at a time.They also added, which I don't hear anymore-if you don't want to.I need this desire not to drink on a daily basis.If the desire to get drunk should ever exceed the desire to stay sober, I am going to get drunk.So on a daily basis I must make this commitment of the desire not to pick up that first drink today. On the group level, this tradition allows the individual to make the determination as to whether or not they are alcoholic.The only alcoholic I know of for sure in meetings I attend is myself, I lived the personal hell of alcoholism. As far as my home group goes, if you have not had a drink today, then you are in good standing in Alcoholics Anonymous whether or not you declare yourself an alcoholic. If I want to compare my war stories with someone else's, then I can convince myself that I was not as bad as them. Today going on fourteen years of continous sobriety, it really doesn't matter whether anyone else considers me an alcoholic or not.All I know is that thru AA, I have found a better way of life sober, than I ever did when I drank. Thanks for allowing me to share, and God Bless Also this following is for my specialist friend out there in cyber space LYR Don't take yourself so seriously!!!!!
Member: John R.
Location: Akron, Ohio
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 6:13:56 AM
Hi, John alcoholic. The third tradition is what made my recovery possible. All of my life people would tell me to go away and not to come back, but A.A. people NEVER said this! If they would've, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at today. In fact, I know I wouldn't be here. The third tradition is what gives beauty to the fellowship for me. This is the only place where I feel at home! Comfortable, safe, loved and tolerated. Thank GOD for A.A. and for blessing us with it. Thank you for letting me share. Have a bleesed day. Thank you for making me think about what I need to be thinking about today.
To Once Again: Keep coming back and for your Higher Power's LOVE, don't give up no matter how you feel right now. Even though you might think it won't change, it will! All thing's change and pass if we do the simple thing's.
Member: Donnie M(dos3-1-99)
Location: W. Va.
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 7:57:55 AM
Hi, all I`m Donnie and I`m a alcohlic. This TO ONCE,AGAIN : SO WHAT YOU GOT DRUNK MANY OF US DO , JUST REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM. MY SPONSOR ALWAY`S SAY`S WHEN YOUR ASS FALL`S OFF PICK IT UP AND GET IT AND YOURSELF TO MEETING. WE HAVE BURIED FOUR MEMBER`S OUT OF THE LAST FOUR MONTH`S. JUST THANK GOD YOU MADE IT BACK. Thank`s and GOD BLESS ALL WHO TRY.
Member: JanineB
Location: Pennsylvania
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 9:49:28 AM
'Morning, all, I'm Janine and I'm an alcoholic.
Surrender. That's so hard to do. I am so used to controlling myself and my life. Am I doing it for myself? Am I doing it because of what others think? Some days I just don't know. Is 'surrendering' giving up? It's hard to do. Sometimes I feel like surrendering to the desire to have a drink or 15. This weekend was tough, but I got through it. It should be 'one weekend at a time' rather than 'one day at a time' for me!!
Just rambling. Don't know if there are any suggestions. I never was one much for prayer, God, the 'Higher Power" stuff. I was raised Catholic, but haven't been to church in years. I don't know if I remember how to pray. It feels like I'm just sitting there, begging for help, for guidance, for....what? I don't know what will help me, exactly. And what do I give in return? I just say "please help me, please help me, please guide me, tell me what to do" and there's.....silence. I've forgotten what it's like.
My mother keeps telling me to "pray, pray for guidance", but it has done nothing for me in the past. Have I forgotten how to listen, what to listen for, expecting a big *ZAP!* to come down from the heavens and give me all of the right answers????
Still struggling, daily,
Member: Melissa
Location: Texas
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 1:55:41 PM
What I like most about Tradition 3 is that all is needed is a desire, regardless of what the motivation is. It shows that God, through the work, takes care of all the rest. Perfect simplicity!
Member: Mark D
Location: Manchester NH
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 2:24:45 PM
(TO ONCE AGAIN) Welcome back. I relapsed after 2 months. It brought me the lowest I hope I ever go. If your feeling absolutley miserable, it's where you should be. Remember it1 The memory will be your back-up another 6 months from now when the old thinking starts to creep in your brain. If you have 5 months you know it gets better if your working it. I am a couple of weeks away from my 6 month mark and damn if I haven't run into a bunch of people lately with my same length of sobriety who have relapsed. Keeps me from feeling cocky, that's for sure. Hang in there ONCE, go to meetings and if you don't as of yet--GET A SPONSOR. It has been the one constant in all of the people that I've mentioned who went back out.
Member: masterblaster
Location:
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 5:18:59 PM
im a slap-happy pappy
Member: Noel A
Location: Cowtown
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 5:39:19 PM
I'm funny,smart, good looking, hard working and most of all honest!!
No? Oh well atleast i'm willing and wanting.
Hope it gets easier a friend at my F2F meetings told me the only thing he is really sure of is "AA sure fucks up your drinking"!!
Thanx for being here and take it...
Love Noel
Member: joel
Location:
Date: 3/27/01
Time: 11:37:51 PM
i farted,but at least im honest.
Member: Ron J
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 8:53:43 AM
Jack B - Your comments on committing daily to the desire not to drink and the observation that I have a choice, daily, just for each day, means much to me today. So often, lately, at meetings I hear that the deisre had been taken away once-fo-all! Not me, and I make myself feel defective by comparison. So, I try to remember not to measure my insides by anyone elses outsides! Thanks - I am truly grateful for your share, just for today.
Member: Priscilla K
Location: Vermont
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 11:01:21 AM
Help! I am an adult child of an alcoholic and know that I am one too. I really want to stop and I found this site and this Third Tradition is where I'm at. I just don't know how to start stopping! Several of your comments that I read have hit home -- especially how I feel this a.m. -- lousy. I'm going to bookmark this site and look forward the every day reading and support. I sure could use some "starting to stop" support words.
Member: elmer
Location:
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 12:17:41 PM
im a slap happy pappy
Member: Noel A
Location: Cowtown
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 1:16:23 PM
((Priscilla K))Welcome to this strangly happy and open group.
As a new member myself all i can give is my short experience. I have found face 2 face meetings invaluble. This is because you meet local people who have the experience and are willing and keen to help. I like to come to this site as i'm housebound alot of the time,but i find f2f more convincing.I have lived in Canada for 7 years and have met more honest and giving people in the last 2 months than in the previous 6.5 years.People in my meeting always say that are group is a madhouse, but to me the only difference in sanity between them and my drinking partners is that my new freinds talk about it!!
People will always say the Big Book is the most important thing and must be read.I agree with this but for me 2 weeks of meetings let me know i was in the right place. Also if you dont like the first meeting you go to try another. I hated the first meeting i went to and it took 8 months of drinking to go to another. Since my second atempt i have 67 days clean and dry,a more open mind than ever before, and a faith in a higher power( an idea i would of laughed at only 2 months ago
Good luck god bless and smile
Member: RayP
Location: DenCO
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 1:48:09 PM
To "Once again" from "Here" purposely i will misunderstand yur question and answer from BB "it gets progressively worse never better! Get to AA meetings, get fellowship,learn the path....12 steps are for personal recovery...12 traditions are to keep groups together so i can have a place to go....although I personally coincide the first 3 steps and first 3 traditions in my daily life...may god bless us all RayP
Member: dogface dave
Location:
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 2:50:21 PM
the world sucks the big hairy one
Member: Stac
Location:
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 3:14:23 PM
Dog Face, You really are a pathetic asshole get a life or go get drunk. stop wasting other peoples time just because yours is so invaluable
Member: Pam B
Location: Daytona Beach, FL
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 4:11:03 PM
Hi,I'm Pam, an alcoholic, Thank God the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. At the 1st meeting I'd been 12-stepped and brought to - I identified w/being powerless over alcohol, knew my HP (God) wanted me to do this "achieving sobriety" thing - but the concept of joining or signing up or committing to it or anything like that terrified me. I was really uncertain whether I could do it - whether I could stay with this, or should I bolt out the door. An old timer explained tradition 3 to me, as well as "one day at a time" - and I was relieved that I didn't have to sign up nor committ to a thing - just get thru today doing what I had to for staying away from a drink or a drug just for today.
I experienced cravings 24/7 my early months, but my desire to NOT drink was stronger than my desire to drink was - so I followed the suggestions and did not have to drink nor drug even when I wanted to.
The suggestions to me were:
Pray as soon as I open my eyes each am and ask God's Will, not my will, be done in my life & keep me from a drink or a drug for this day. (I was told that believing in God or not doesn't matter - just do it anyway - or pray to the God that I believe in)
During the day, each time a craving/desire to drink/drug returned - immediately pray & ask God to remove it. He will.
Read from the BB, Call my sponsor, call at least one other in the program who is living all 12 Steps, get to a meeting, stay away from old people, places & things that I associated drinking/drugging with & to thank God for keeping me away from a drink or drug today, before I go to sleep each night.
As I continued following these simple suggestions each day, for each one day at a time, I continued not drinking nor drugging - even at times I wanted to. Finally the day came that I nolonger had any cravings, thoughts nor desires to drink anymore - But For the Grace of God & this program. Pam
Member: Anonymous
Location:
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 6:30:04 PM
"The only requirement for membership, is a desire to stop drinking."
~Once upon a time; and no one really knows the why or wherefore: this man, of the which it is here told of, became to be a visiter to the Saturday meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at the set time, but that he was there seated amongst the rest as the preamble was read to one and all. We know he was no ordinary man, for he had a strange way of thinking, such that is uncommonly told of. And as he sat there listening to the words read, As it was his custom to evaluate all things whatsoever he came across to discern the matter; He heard that according to this tradition of theirs, that: "The only requirement for membership, is a desire to stop drinking." Now this is a preplexing thing thought he, For why is it that anyone would agree to go apart from what is sensually desirable and pleasing? And another thing he thought, If any didn't have a desire to stop drinking, that would seem to him to be a valid reason for membership not against it. It would go something like this: Oh, you don't have a desire to stop drinking? Well then, you are indeed a welcome applicant for membership here, as we would love to look into the reasons why you do not, in fact, we've been trying to figure this out for quite sometime ourselves now, as to the reasons why! How strange thought he, the way things work in AA. But then again, as for me, thought he: Why make the membership, the way the program is now set up, so difficult! I mean this is next to impossible. Why they may as well ask for the moon! And yet, to add to this preplexity, everyone else seemed to think this requirement was of all things most easy, when to him it was all but shutting the whole thing down from the very start. How could they possibly expect to have memberships if they set the requirement so high! A desire to stop drinking!? This is of all things the most difficult way it would seem to him to run a business, for who would join? But they said to keep coming back, it works....
Member: Christian D.
Location: St Paul
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 6:47:01 PM
I am thankful for being sober today, for without that one factor I am worthless. I appreciate you all sharing it has helped me step through one more of hopefully many sober days.
Member: carolyn c
Location: seattle
Date: 3/28/01
Time: 8:21:57 PM
It felt so good to finally feel I had a place I belonged in, just having the desire to stop drinking was the only stipulation on entering, it feels good to be accepted for who I am, and know there are others out here who understand.
Member: JanineB
Location: Pennsylvania
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 8:21:06 AM
To Anonymous:
Your posts are thought provoking. They're helping me.
Keep 'em coming.
Thanks, jb
Member: Sue J. ( SJ6162@AOL.com)
Location: So Cal.
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 10:42:06 AM
Pricilla K. please keep coming back, Noel A is right a face to face meeting is without a doubt the best way to get in with the local AA group and that will be invaluble to your sobriety. They are where you will find a sponsor to show you the way and they are who you can call in your darkest hour when there seems no other solution than to escape in a bottle. I highly suggest a women's meeting they are far more focused for women and you will meet women who can give you their experiance strength and hope. You can find a meeting or ask just for a women's meeting by calling your local AA number in the phonebook and asking where and when they have a meeting. You can even have them match you up with a person who will call or visit and talk to you. Pricilla and Noel, I am leaving my E-mail address for you of this site you are welcome to leave me mail just as if we were at a meeting and I would give you my phone number. I check my e-mail not every day but a few times a week. Stay sober and the promises will come true.
Member: Greg A.
Location: Oshkosh WI
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 12:04:36 PM
I'm Greg, and I am an alcoholic. Today is my eigth day living with a drinking. For the past twenty years I have been associated with AA, but at most have had a little over two years of sobriety. MY sincere prayer was that I would not die while drinking, or die from withdrawals, or hurt or kill anyone. Thank God my prayers have been answered. I never give up once I put the drinks down. I give up when I pick them up. This tradition has always kept the door of AA open to me, and I owe my life to it. Today I am working with a new sponsor I talk with, go to meetings with, and at least phone call everyday. Right now I'm in damage control, but feeling more healthy. I have limits on what I do each day. I know each day my courage and strength will grow. We are a courageous bunch. Thank you for letting me share. Again, thanks for the door always being open to me.
Member: Mary
Location: CT
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 4:12:19 PM
((Anonymous)) great post!! so great that I won't even get on your case this time about still not writing in first person, LOL ;)
With only 12 days sober, sure there's still this part of me that wants to drink. But thanfully, the rational part of me that knows it won't get me anywhere but worse is the part that desires to quit. Thank God for this tradition as it is what keeps me going back.
((Noel)) love your first post here on this tradition, you had me LOL. I'll remember that qoute too about "AA really fucks up my drinking". =) Keep up the great work, congrats on 68 days buddy!
All newcomers- welcome and keep coming back, this site is great, and get to some F2F mtgs! Mary
Member: Anonymous
Location:
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 4:14:14 PM
The third tradition; "The only requirement for AA. membership, is a desire to stop drinking." I spoke on this yesterday, in the vain imaginations of mine heart. One here said of it, that it was thought provoking, and I'm glad for that because it was my intent. I hope no one is offended if I speak on it again today. Perhaps today if the lord is willing, I shall speak of it more from grace than vain imagination..~
The program of Alcoholics Anonymous is a program that is indeed one of the closest to first century Christianity available if the precepts of it are applied, which most often times they are not. But nevertheless though in recent years its taken another course of the which I am against, I shall say a few words on how it could work and does work if I break out the New Testament to see the similarities rather than the differences as they say!
The only requirement for AA. membership, is a desire to stop drinking: Firstly, has anyone or anybody in AA. considered the concept of self denial that appears so often in "How it works, and the Promises? We do well to do so. Self denial is at the heart of Christianity. I shall not be-labour to mention all the instances therein but perhaps this one, before I go on to list how often AA. itself points to this concept of self denial: Acts 2; "And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as every man had need." This then is one snap shot and only one of what is now~ "Letting go absolutly=self denial, abandon completely=self denial, half measures availed us nothing=self denial, If we are painstaking=self denial, let go and let God=self denial: At some of these we balked, we thought we could find an easier softer way, one that looked away from=self denial. Self seeking shall slip away=self denial; and so on. And of course last but not least: The only requirement for AA. membership is a desire to stop drinking=self denial!
Its the way to win, a way to win against an unmanagable life, to win against oppression and ungodliness. Its a prescription for living most are not willing to accept that: "He that finds his life shall lose it and he that loses his life shall find it." Yea, this design for living is found by this design for dying, dying to self and to self will that takes a man to the bottom that says: I have nothing in this life but God and God alone and in so doing, therefore have I all things ever I shall need, and am free, because the world has nothing I want any longer, nor am I allowed or willing to go to any length to get it lest I lose what I have found which is a new freedom and a new happiness through what could only be called=self denial. And one last point to ponder for those who like thought provocation: "What an order, I can't go through with it; Ah, fear not, God will do for us what we could not do for our selves, Thank you Lord for that Dui!....
Member: Priscilla K
Location: Vermont
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 4:14:45 PM
Sue J: Thanks for your thoughts and kindness. I'm in a small town in beautiful Vermont so finding a meeting location is basically around the corner. For now I find it comforting just to read other people's inspirational messages and some tribulations too. I'm having a very good day today after a very dry night. I wonder why I think being in a fog is better than this!!!!! I'm sorting it out as I can but thanks for an across the country reply. I'll keep the E-mail address handy. To all, thanks for support any time I need it.
Member: Bill M.
Location: Southeast Georgia
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 6:16:51 PM
Bill, Alcoholic Janie, the reason we surrender, is to live. We give up the battle to win the war. The second part of the 1st step talks about our management skills too or our inability to manage our lives. The Big Book says that many of us believe in a God of reason and that finding a Higher Power will be necssary for growth as in "growing up". Many types of meetings and groups came before AA. They died due to trying to be everything to everybody. Thats the reason we talk about our oneness of purpose in meetings. The key word in the membership requirement tradition is "drinking". I don't care what you're thinking I am not a "know it all". I just play one on line. Love ya all.
Member: dogface dave
Location:
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 6:52:34 PM
im a sick slap happy pappy,but im getting a handle on it
Member: Growing Still
Location: The World
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 7:15:45 PM
I think this tradition is highly misinterpreted! Yes, "a desire to stop drinking" is what AA was started for by two men who were hopeless drunks. But they didn't intend to start an organization to help drunks only stop drinking! It has been proven countless times over that if you cannot or will not practice the other things that are enumerated in the "Big Book" your sobriety is indeed on shaky ground! Drunks who know the misery of chronic and suicidal alcoholism who want help are first of all very sick people! They have been in and out of jails and detention pens where they couldn't get a drink, and when they did get out, their absolute most primary purpose was to get all the drinks they were deprived of in lockup. The same is true for dope fiends! So, if you dear AA patient want to hang onto some, if not all of the psychotic practices and whatnot of your days of stupification, you are not following the proven methods of therapy that have arrested these accursed addiction diseases from countless men and women all over the world!! Dr. Bob's "Nightmare" in the Big Book sums it all up, viz.,"If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when getting another drink."
Member: SLAP
Location: HAPPY PAPPY
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 7:32:22 PM
YOU KNOW WY THEY CALL HIM PEEWEE HERMAN
Member: dogface dave
Location:
Date: 3/29/01
Time: 9:50:58 PM
stac,
bite me till i bleed
Member: Dorothy S.
Location: Kansas
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 12:02:56 AM
In the beginning my desire to stop drinking was simply to avoid the misery that had come to be associated with drinking. It took me long enough to figure out the drinking was the cause of the misery! I did most of what I was told. Ask God in the morning to help you stay sober. Thank God at night. Do it whether you feel like it or not. Don't drink and go to meetings. Eventually after doing more things that were suggested, like getting a sponsor, step work, continuing to go to meetings on a regular basis, I came to value and enjoy SOBRIETY. Now my desire to stop drinking is because I want to keep sobriety as well as not go back to the misery associated with drinking. This is the 1st time to post on the list. Still go to f2f meetings on a regular basis, but not as often as I'd like. This is an option for me now when I can't get to a f2f meeting. Keep coming back all of you newcomers. I've been sober now for 15+ years one day at a time Thanks for being there for me.
Member: sickness
Location: in america
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 12:30:28 PM
oj simpson is writing a book called how to kill white women and get away with it.
Member: ADAM P
Location: BLACKPOOL UK
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 1:41:09 PM
Hi, I heard once at an AA Meeting that in sobriety we come to love being sober more than being drunk. I am sat here going on for 8 pm and sober and winding down for the night. I love this time of peace and relaxation and the though that another sober day has passed.
It has taken me time to get sober and the 'desire' to stop drinking as a condition of membership is more realistic than the condition to have stopped already. If that were possible we wouldn't need AA.
Member: jj
Location:
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 3:36:21 PM
whats a pole smoker mean?
Member: BERT&EARNIE
Location:
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 6:06:56 PM
IM NOT SURE I WANT TO KNOW.
Member: sister blister
Location:
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 8:00:32 PM
you boys stop that right now
Member: rachel
Location: harrisburg
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 8:20:13 PM
Hi I'm Rachel and I'm an alcoholic. When I hear the third tradition I know I'm in the right place. Sometimes I'm intimidated that I'm not a bad enough alcoholic...not enough jail...drinking...drugs...abuse. But it was enough to get me into the rooms and thank God I'm here. I have God which not everyone gets. I'm so grateful for teh serenity that I get in bits. Whatever I'm not enough of...I have a burning desire to not drink so I'm blessed by the rooms of AA. It's saved my life to date.
Member: jennifer
Location:
Date: 3/30/01
Time: 9:13:05 PM
i have a burning desire i think its the clap though
Member: Maggie
Location: Canada
Date: 3/31/01
Time: 12:04:37 AM
Well i'm back. I have had periods of yaers of sobriety but for some stupid reason i thought i could handle alcohol again. WRONG. I not only desire to quit drinking, i have to before i lose everything i have worked so hard for. my son and my sanity. I am terified to drink again but i allow others to stress me out and there is always the physical pain excuse. Please God don't let me take anouther drink!!!!!!!!!!
Member: ALICE
Location:
Date: 3/31/01
Time: 3:23:51 PM
JENNIFER DEAR GET TO A DOCTOR FAST ,AS YOU DONT WANT TO SPREAD THAT AROUND TOWN
Member: jmhisback
Location: cyberspace
Date: 3/31/01
Time: 6:50:01 PM
The 3rd step isn't misinturpreded. It says exectly what is means. The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.That's it! That's all there is to become a member of AA.. IT doesn't say that's all it takes to stop drinking. It is dealing with AA membership.WHY do us drunks try so hard to make every thing difficult????
Member: a dry drunk
Location:
Date: 3/31/01
Time: 9:29:06 PM
cause we just do.......crazy huh?
Member: sandman
Location:
Date: 4/1/01
Time: 12:00:49 AM
set the clock forward stupid
Member: Rich R, slowly recovering compulsive person :-)
Location: detroit
Date: 4/1/01
Time: 4:27:23 AM
I am grateful for this tradition b/c I wasn't sure if I was powerless over alcohol when I first came in, but I did know, for sure, that I wanted to stop drinking. That last hangover 12-12-90 was a dewsy! Thanks for letting me share.
Member: Donnie M(dos3-1-99)
Location: West Virginia
Date: 4/1/01
Time: 8:06:37 AM
HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY!!!
OPP`S WRONG SITE
STILL TRYING DON`T BE A FOOL TODAY!