AA vs individaul group membership

[David Snow]

Hello, my name is David and I'm an alcoholic. I have been sober in AA twice in life (by the grace of God of course) 1st 1981-1986 and presently I am sober since 9/27/99. I am not boasting (I was an intergroup rep for two yrs in the early 80s and have since then held various positions in group services.
I am now living in rural NH where there are only 10 mtngs weekly (all of which are in this small isolated city in which I live). I have uncontrolled epilepsy and therefore I cannot drive. It is good that almost every mtng is within a short walk of home.
Now I will try not to come accross as one combating resentment (now in paticular but for sometime running) I am losing my mind because I am concerned with "carrying the mmsg to the newcomer". Now I have learned that it is imperative I keep things as simple for the new man as possible which does require a concious effort ( I can dictate ALL of the common recitations done at the commencement and adjornment of AA as practiced in the eastern US from wrote - off the top of my head ) because all individuals are different and have differnt wants/needs and often these wants/needs are the only way to get the interest of a newcomer. It is critical that I get his attention appropiatly in as little time as possible lest I find no hope in further contact.
Now the crux of the matter.......................................
As I said I am in a community that is very isolated from all other communities as we are located forest and paper is our product which does require a fairly sizeable tracts of land. Members of AA up here only attend local meetings and most have never been to AA outside of here. I would say there are 75 regulars and I myself am one of the few that have been to AA in other places and I am probably the only member that takes AA at large into account when it need be.
As with any cross section of society is kinda the same - up here we have the AA 13th steppers, would be dictators, and so forth. Uniquely though here they don't know what a 13th step is slang for and so on.
For years now all of the mtngs are random sharing at the individuals own discession. Therefore very few people will share seeing that THOSE IN CHARGE do all the sharing!!!!!! Only a handful of people ever say anything at all and me being one of the ones that does what I have to say is different from or opposing to what gets shared by the "top dogs". There is a crippling of the mssg going on lately here---where 3 of these men have virtually assumed control. here is the Kicker - they openly 13th step and blame. There is no accounting for contributions, no secretaries, no representatives(remember -I caanot drive and there is no public transit).
The end result is grotesque as far as what I have found traditionally conducted within AA where primary purpose is concerned, where intergroup/area/gsr/anything outside of here is traditionally conducted.
(pArDoN Me If YoU sEnSe any AnImOsItY)
In the last 6 months these gurus have changed 2 meetings and turned them into "english" diction classes whereby all that is accomplished is to read a paragraph and hit the dictionary They are not illiterate and find doing this entertaining(both are that is or were Big Book mttgs. In both instances they have accomplished this by bringing there discples with them to 1 of the regular Big Book group sessions and posing a "vote" on a format change. At that time they seek to and have indeed outnumbered those who are in regular attendence. The motion carries and the matter is closed. The meetings have become a farce wherein sometimes all that is read is bills story as far as when his drinking got bad.
I want ask anyone for some sound advice on what there may be that I can share with /prove to the AA membership at large here about this practice of voting in every group and at any time calling a vote and steamrolling it through the AA group irregardless of a that groups regular attendees best interest -IE does anyone at all have a say in every goup they are at where voting on group format is concerned......
ps - am sorry but I did prepare my reader for potentil bias on my part...
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHelp

[Dallas]

Hello David, welcome to the site. When I've faced similar situations -- I discovered that all I was doing was accomplishing was much of nothing, in regards to trying to help. That doesn't sound very encouraging, but I have to be true with what is, and honesty first.

I don't know what to suggest in your situation. Whatever happens, to change for the better, normally will take time and a lot of effort.

While I don't suggest trying to replace belly-to-belly contact with virtual online Fellowship, sometimes we have to do whatever it is we have to do, to get us to our next Step and our next 24.

What I did, and do, is read my book regularly. Do a lot of online Fellowship. Always looking for another way to be helpful and to be of service to another alcoholic. I have a long-distance sponsor that I know, and I keep in touch w/ him regularly. I maintain a lot (many) online and in telephone contact w/ many AA old timers. I spend a lot of time 12 Stepping and working one on one -- and I try to avoid local AA meeting politics and gurus. I've got to trust God, keep my own house in order, try to be helpful to the Fellowship, even when I don't like them and even when I think and feel and believe that they are doing it wrong -- within reasonable reason. I believe that our answers will come if we keep our house in order and do those things.

Hang out here with us. Rant & rave if you have to... so you don't get it bottled up inside you. Try to remember, that we're exposed to the outside world here... so, sometimes we use private messages to communicate some negative stuff, so that our dirty laundry isn't getting hung out to dry in front of others, who may not be experiencing what we're experiencing -- and we can try to be a positive example.

Whatever you do -- keep coming back!!! Don't let yourself fall into the trap that you can do it all alone. That never works.... and guaranteed, you'll lose your mind! I know!!!

Peace to you bro. I care and we care. Hang in there and simply do what you can, even when it's only a little -- it matters.

Best regards,

Dallas

[Toast]

Liked David's contribution to this topic.
Anyone who uses the word ' Guru' in AA obviously cant spell ' Charlatan'.

[Dallas]

Yep. If it's longer than four letters we need a teacher w/ a dictionary who can tell us what it means.

[Dallas]

Looked up the definition! I like it and I'll add it to my vocabulary. Progress.