JUNE 1
A CHANGED OUTLOOK
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
When I was drinking, my attitude was totally selfish, totally self-centered; my pleasure and my comfort came first. Now that I am sober, self-seeking has started to slip away. My whole attitude toward life and other people is changing. For me, the first “A” in our name stands for attitude. My attitude is changed by the second “A” in our name, which stands for action. By working the Steps, attending meetings, and carrying the message, I can be restored to sanity. Action is the magic word! With a positive, helpful attitude and regular A.A. action, I can stay sober and help others to achieve sobriety. My attitude now is that I am willing to go to any length to stay sober!June Birthdays… IF They Make It!
June 6th… Mark Q. celebrates 3 years
June 10th… Brian B. celebrates 9 years
June 16th… Jeremy R. celebrates 3 years
June 21st… Matt E. celebrates 8 years
June 22nd… Pat R. celebrates 3 years
June 24th… Mark W. celebrates 39 years
June 25th… Dan G. celebrates 1 year
If your birthday has been missed…. fill out the birthday form.
We really want to celebrate your AA anniversary because your birthday made ours possible!
Thanks everybody and apologies to you if you were missed or incorrectly noted.
A Visit with Stealie
I was contemplating Step Six.
I ask God or my Higher Power to remove my defects of character. I have done this before, many times. I wonder if HP, as I like to call God and my Higher Power, has gotten tired of this. Some of the defects have been there a long time.
Suddenly, maybe I started a dream, but I am looking at the rug in the living room and Stealie arrives. Stealie is one of the Grateful Dead’s mascots.
Stealie, I say, I thought you were doing the Dome in Vegas with Bobby, Bill, Phil, Mickey and the rest of Dead and Company?
I am, he says, but I am a mystical mythical creature who can be divided and multiplied.
I nod.
Is that my ledger?
He nods.
Are we gonna review or something?
Or something, he says… and then we start going through all this stuff.
I really don’t want to, I say, the Mavs are playing the Wolves….
Let’s start with the gambling, he says.
Ah, c’mon I say, I barely bet and only $10 here and there.
Ok, let’s talk about your relationship with your Ex. Now….
Wait ! Let’s talk about gambling………
We go for about an hour like this. Everything. Times when I have made up a story to get out of doing something. Impure thoughts of a semi niece. My failures with my buddy Marv. That leads into a discussion about Mickey, who is one of us. Discussions about Bruce, my sponsor, and honesty.
Abruptly it ends. I gotta go, Stealie says. I was just getting used to the guy.
Listen, Stealie says, promise me one thing. You will work on these. Try to get better, and keep trying after that. I know it’s in one of their songs somewhere, but the road never ends. You gotta keep going down the road.
Then it was back to the Mavs-Wolves game. I thought I should share the experience. I didn’t have much for a column anyway. Be Good and have a good month.
Contributed by John M.
My First Meeting
Please be “of service.” If you’ve never contributed a “My First Meeting”, please help to keep this column going…we need you! What do you remember most of your first meeting? It can be one sentence; it can be up to two paragraphs. Could be funny, poignant or strictly “clinical”. Write what you want…you might have enjoy writing it!
“Mouse’s Corner”
A.A. member Dave Mc. curates a few selected readings from a variety of A.A. related publications each month.
Some struggles are worth fighting even if we know we cannot win, just as some are not worth fighting even though our victory is sure. This is discernment, and it comes from our experience. We learn to tell the difference
between a principle we need to stand for and an opinion that we just won’t let go of. We are
able to choose for ourselves when to stand up and when to surrender, and as we practice we get better at determining which is right for us.
Living Clean, page 127
Contributed by Dave Mc.
Drunk Headlines
- Colorado driver claims his dog was driving to avoid DUI arrest in Springfield (link)
- Hungover Man Wakes in Sealed Shipping Container (link)
- Motorized beer cooler lands driver in court (link)
- Man Eats Underwear to Beat Breathalyzer (link)
- 2 KY DUIs: One Man on a Mower, Another on a Horse (link)
- California man arrested for DUI while riding a horse (link)
- Drunk driver arrested on her way to mandated DUI classes (link)
Happy Birthday, Dave!
Tradition 06
Short Form
“An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.”
Long Form
“Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An A.A. group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated and so set apart that, if necessary, they can be freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities ought not to use the A.A. name. Their management should be the sole responsibility of those people who financially support them. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well outside A.A.—and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never to go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.”
Tradition Summary
We Keep It In-House and Remember T5
Would you be surprised if I told you that I found the solution to my worries about financial problems by working the sixth tradition in my life? When I was drinking my primary purpose was pursuing sex and finances. In my early sobriety I did the same thing by devoting my energy to acquiring “money, property, and prestige.”
I was a bankrupt idealist. “We are all perfectionists who failing perfection, have gone to the other extreme and settled for the bottle and the blackout.” (“12 & 12”, Sixth Tradition, p. 156). The areas that affected my “money, property and prestige” and sex were the areas I gave all my perfectionist energy.
Without realizing it, I was losing my dedication to sobriety from my primary purpose: carrying the message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
It never occurred to me that God would take care of financial and relationship concerns a day at a time if I would let go of them and trust his plan with the same patience he had waited for me to come to him for sobriety. By devoting time and efforts to pursuing relationships and finances I was endorsing these things as my primary purpose by lending my name to their pursuit.
The first half of Tradition Six will likely never occur if I stay focused on Tradition Five. The more I stick to carrying the message, the less worries I have – a wonderful paradox. Bill Wilson comments in “A.A., Comes of Age”, (p. 109) on a similar paradox concerning the fellowship, “The more A.A. sticks to its primary purpose, the greater will be its helpful influence everywhere.”
Step-Tradition Parallel
The sixth step poses the question, how can I become entirely ready to have my defects of character removed? The answer is in the sixth tradition. In fact the sixth tradition describes my main character defects: the problems involved from seeking money, property, and prestige. The sixth tradition contains the solution to my problems of money, property and prestige: the more primary in my life carrying the message becomes, the less problems of any kind I have!
Therefore, observing the sixth tradition in my life by placing my primary purpose of carrying the message first, and not problems of my property, prestige or worthy outside interests, keeps me sober.
From an idea by George T.
Funny Pages
Step 2 Men’s Group Believes…
“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
We’d never presume that the 12 Steps are not clear. Nor would we imply that they need ‘improvement’. However…for purposes of assisting to keep the meeting pointed in an important direction each day, the “Step 2 Men’s Group Statement” is read as follows:
Step 2 Men’s Group is founded on the belief that spirituality is essential to our sobriety.
Our group is non-religious, but we do not oppose anyone’s religious beliefs. We believe that respect for others and their beliefs is essential to our spiritual development.
Accordingly we ask that avoid criticism of others or of their religion or lack of religion, their race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation, physical appearance, trade or profession, length of sobriety, or personal beliefs.
Our goal is to further our spirituality, our sobriety and our personal development, not to confront or belittle others. Always remember to be kind to others.
Our Trusted Servants Continue to Be:
The current Step 2 Men’s Group meeting schedule is Monday, Wednesday & Friday at Tim’s (3809 J St), Tuesday & Thursday online, Saturday in the park is “Daily Reflections” and Sunday is our Rogue meeting in the park. Each gathering is one hour. Great job men!
- Monday: Tim C.
- Tuesday: Mark C.
- Wednesday: John M.
- Thursday: Sean F.
- Friday: Jon B.
- Saturday: Dave M.
- Sunday: Mark C.
Want to add your name to the “Back-up-Help-Substitute Secretary List”? Just contact Group GS, John M., Treasurer Mark W. or any of our other Secretaries and let them know!
Extra Special Thanks Dept:
Thanks to our General Secretary John M. for “A Visit with Stealie”, Tom W. for comic contribution, Dave Mc. for “Mouse’s Corner”, and our Treasurer Mark W. for all your contributions. We’re still waiting for YOU gentle reader…Why don’t YOU contribute a short “something?” Any length, most any AA related topic. Reply now and it will get included next month!
Men’s Gazette – May 2024
Men’s Gazette – July 2024