Suite 404 BROWARD COUNTY INTERGROUP, INC. Oakland Commerce Center 3317 NW 10th Terrace, Suite 404 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 Phone 954-462-7202, 954-462-0265; www.aabroward.org VOLUME 5 MAY 2018 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Step Five — “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” Tradition Five 2 Volunteer Opportunities 3 Humor The Sixth Sense Local Readers Share 3 Way back in the late 1950s when I was a young lad, one of Anniversaries 5 my favorite TV shows was The Three Stooges: Larry, Curly, and Moe. Moe was the serious one, Curly was the dunce, and Word Scramble 6 Larry was the fall guy, always caught in the middle between Curly and Moe. It was a curious comedy act, looking back on it Meeting Changes 8 after all these years, yet there was an important lesson to be Upcoming Events 8 learned that would surface many years later when I finally got sober. What made me laugh so hard watching the show was the Are you registered for way these three stooges screwed everything up and then blamed each other and beat up on each other. the State Convention? They would poke one another in the eye, hit each other If you would like to with a hammer or a steel pipe, or punch each other in the stomach. It was a non-stop violent vendetta! I was a little boy volunteer to help sell being entertained by dismal failure and brutal behavior. The TV stations today are loaded with the very same brand of comedy. books at the How could mishap, bungling, retaliation, and downright stupid- ity be so entertaining? It would take me years of hard drinking, Intergroup table that many mishaps, and heaps of humiliation to find the simple answer. week, please call the I went to my second "first AA meeting" a little over two office. Thanks years ago, having been given a second chance. I was full of shame, regret, and self-hatred. I remember being confused when someone would tell a story about some senseless, harm- Concept V ful, often self-destructive scenario they pulled off when drunk. Almost everyone at the meeting would laugh, some with tears in their eyes, like they were in some kind of hilarious pain. Throughout our Why were they--even the storyteller--laughing? These crazy structure, a traditional folks weren't just chuckling. Their laughter came from some- place deep inside. All I could feel was regret and resentment “Right of Appeal” when I looked at the wreckage of my past: the people I had ought to prevail, poked in the eyes and the times I got hit in the head with a hammer--often held in my own hand. I kept my story to my- so that self for a long time. I saw nothing funny about my last forty minority opinion years of insanity. will be heard and Two years sober in AA have passed by quickly, after a slow start wracked by compulsion and fear. My life seems to personal grievances have started over again from scratch. Everything is different. I receive careful think the most remarkable change has been the way I perceive myself and my past. The first five Steps exposed a man who is consideration. (continued on page 4) PAGE 2 SUITE 404 MAY 2018 Tradition Five - “Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.” For Charlie's Sake Squabbling ceased when a newcomer’s needs turned the group to its primary purpose Over coffee at an all-night cafeteria some years ago, disagreements flared among four or five tables of AAs. There was dissension about the bookkeeping of the clubhouse treasurer, about dues and rules for membership, about the brand of coffee, and about the right of the program secretary to schedule a nonalcoholic speaker. I recall feeling vehement about several of these matters, and I expect I got loud, too. Suddenly, someone brought to our attention a newcomer who had attended his very first meeting that night. All arguing ceased, as if by magic. Everyone pitched in to comfort Charlie and encourage him. Even those of us who did not care for each other acted polite and friendly, for new Charlie’s sake. We ended the evening amicable and united. Although this happened in 1945, before our Twelve Traditions were written, their good sense prevailed among us. It was a beautiful demonstration that “Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers,” our Fifth Tradition. No one doubted that Charlie’s welfare was more important than our petty arguments. For me, there was still another lesson embedded in that one. Since I was so new myself, I had been made to feel very much like the most important alcoholic present—until then. But when Charlie appeared, I wasn’t. Not even to myself. Much later, I realized that my nose had not gone fiercely out of joint, that I had not gone all -over jealous. I had been so eager to help Charlie (with my vast store of AA knowledge gained in about six weeks) that I had not suffered even a twinge of sibling rivalry. I began to think of someone else, not of what I wanted. It was a classic illustration of the “twelfth suggestion” made in the book Alcoholics Anony- mous at the beginning of Chapter 7: “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail.” So the Fifth Tradition, like the Twelfth Step, encourages me to become progressively less self-concerned and more concerned about others. Traditions repeatedly have that effect on me, and that is why I rank them as highly significant in our process of recovery. The Fifth, like others, has a liberating effect. As AAs, we don’t have to get tied up in owning real estate or operating clubs, with all the organizational, legal and financial hassles and ego battles such projects would involve us in. We need not try to become a medical or a religious fraternity, an educational organization or a political one. Because of the Fifth Tradition, we are free of the necessity of raising large sums, or trying to change society. It is not our purpose as AAs to educate children about drinking, nor to teach the medical profession or the government about alcoholism. These might be side effects or spin-offs of what we do, just as a network of enjoyable and therapeutic social activities may also result from AA life. But they are not our chief purpose; they are subordinate to our goal of staying sober and helping others. (continued on page 6) Thank you so much to all the groups and individuals who so generously contributed to our 55th Annual Appreciation Banquet Raffle. Also, a big thank you to all the volunteers and everyone in attendance. The event was a beautiful evening and a wonderful fundraiser for Intergroup. We are so grateful for your support! VOLUME 5 SUITE 404 PAGE 3 Local Readers Share…….. My favorite passage from AA literature comes from page 152 in Alcoholics Anonymous, chapter “A Vision For You” and states: We have shown how we got out from under. You say, “Yes, I’m willing. But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid, boring and glum, like some righteous people I see? I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I? Have you a sufficient substitute?” Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you. “How is that to come about?” you ask. “Where am I to find these people?” You are going to meet these new friends in your own community. Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” AA has given me a design for living that helps solve any life circumstance that’s come my way. I’ve not had to go through anything alone since I’ve been around the fellowship. In fact, there’s nowhere I have been where I can’t find a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. Early on, someone said “my disease doesn’t take a vacation” so, anytime I travel, I find the fellowship. Each time I find a new place to discover, I am welcomed with love, support, and open arms from fellow AA’s. Without the literature and ability to get connected from local intergroup offices, I don’t know if I would have made it through certain times in my sobriety. I thank God for bringing us together in our brokenness and using that to beautifully help heal each other.