AA Is a ‘Great Gift in This Crazy World’
In response to Jack Trimpey’s comments in “A Sobering Alternative” (April 13), I have a few things to say as a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
If Trimpey has read the Big Book of AA, he would know that the first sentence in the foreword to the first edition reads, “We . . . are . . . men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.” I am recovered, not recovering as he contests.
Trimpey goes on to say, “. . . we have better things to do with sobriety than waste it on recovery.” While recovered from alcohol abuse, I use AA to learn how to rediscover (or recover) normal perceptions, balance and ways to handle life’s ups and downs. In other words, sobriety allows me to uncover what got buried during 13 years of drinking.
Trimpey declares that AA’s 12 Steps connote “weakness, frailty and degeneracy” by mention of a higher power. No one in AA has the right to force a belief system upon another--they may only suggest.
Ultimately, AA is a program that teaches us about love and service--giving of ourselves unconditionally--and any program that assists someone in abstaining from mind-altering chemicals is a great gift in this crazy world.
MARK J.
Los Angeles