Alcoholics Anonymous

My father is an alcoholic; he’s been sober for over twenty-five years, but despite this he is still an alcoholic. Thankfully, he is a recovering one and I pray he stays that way. Despite the fact that he has been sober for so many years, he still goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice, sometimes three, four times a week. Because after all this time, he still struggles with his addiction.

Thursday nights he goes to the local meeting in our hometown. He gets there twenty minutes early to make the coffee and brings a package of Oreos for everyone to share.  My dad helps out on Thursday nights by doing this, but mostly Thursday nights are for him and the support he gives and receives from other people in the group. My dad also goes to meetings he calls “Commitments” in other towns in Massachusetts to share his recovery story. I can’t even begin to explain how good these meeting are for my father. Contributing to these meetings gives him a sense of purpose first of all, but they also have created an amazing support system for him. By attending these weekly meetings he was not only set up with a sponsor, but also was able to become part of a community that understood him and related with him. And now, my father also sponsors other people in the community to help them as well. These meetings give my father hope, strength, confidence and a second family. I believe the reason my father has stayed sober all these years is because of these AA meetings.

            Some people see AA as a cult, or as an authoritarian structure that is obsessed with following the Twelve Step Program and with religion, but I see it as a comfortable environment where members of a community can come together and help each other through tough times. I have attending open meetings with my father, to see what they were like, and I never once felt like I was being pressured into becoming part of a “cult”. While the twelve steps were an important part of the meetings I attended, they were more like guidelines than authoritarian rule and were modified by each individual based on their personal beliefs. I found these meetings to be very inspirational and I felt welcomed and comfortable at each one that I attended and left feeling confident that I was not alone. 

            While Alcoholics Anonymous meetings may not be right for everyone, because of the way I have seen them help and support my father and his friends, I believe that they are a great way to help those that are struggling with alcohol and drug abuse and they don’t deserve all of the hate that they are given by folks who have never given them a try.