editors note april/may 2015...editors note – april/may 2015 i'd like to extend a warm hug to...
TRANSCRIPT
Editors Note – April/May 2015 I'd like to extend a warm hug to
Sandy S. in Montana.
~Virginia
We would love to hear your stories thoughts. If you have a submission for the newsletter please email it to [email protected].
We publish for your enjoyment and information. Any mistakes you find are there for a purpose. We publish something for everyone, and some people are always looking for mistakes.
On the Rogue Again, is a monthly Newsletter of the Jackson County Central Office. It is about by, and for the members of Alcoholic Anonymous Fellowship. Opinions expressed herein aren’t to be attributed to Alcoholic Anonymous as a whole, nor does publication of any article imply any endorsement by either Alcoholic Anonymous Jackson County Central Office, or “On the Rogue Again”. (Exceptions: Quotations from the A. A. books or pamphlets and the 12 Steps and/or 12 Traditions are reprinted with permission of A. A. World Services, Inc) On the Rogue Again reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity, proper language, length, contents that violate A. A. Traditions, etc.
Have a good day unless you have made other plans. Read pages 86-87-88 in your Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous every day.
Central Office News Greetings from the Board of Jackson County
AA Central Office. We thank all of the groups
and individuals for their generous support.
A great way to get involved is to volunteer for a
four hour shift once a week. Please contact Bill
S. at Central Office to learn more about this.
You can always come to the business meeting
the first Saturday of the month to volunteer.
Remember, Central Office now has a web site.
There you can find information about upcoming
events and the meeting schedule as well the
current issue of “On the Rogue Again.” You can
find it by pointing your browser to
www.jccoaa.org.
Board Members Chair - Wayne T.
Co-Chair - Bob A.
Office Manager - Al Z.
Volunteer Coordinator – Bill S.
Secretary - Beth H.
Literature - Tom M.
Treasurer - Dewey
Co-Treasurer - Fran
Special Events Coordinator- Barb R.
District Liaison - Wayne T.
Newsletter Editor - Virginia H.
Web Coordinator - Drew.
Donations for February 2015
Planting the Seed Group 75.00
How It Works 22.11
Monday Nooners Ashland 112.50
I Did It My Way 200.00
Ruch 903 100.00
Bottom of the Barrel 20.00
Ashland Morning 9am 168.00
Thursday Night Candlelight 150.00
Birthdays
Al I. 21.00
Fifi 5.00
Brandie C. 41.00
Donations for March 2015
Bottom of the Barrel 10.00
Ashland How It Works 45.00
Landra H. 50.00
Ashland Living Sober 207.65
White House Seniors 120.00
As Bill Sees It 108.44
Birthdays
Wayne T. 18.00
Hugh 14.00
Gay 14.00
How about donating a dollar for each year on your
sobriety birthday?!
The District 16 ServicePalooza was outstanding! Chase outdid
himself! Thank you for your service.
The Central Office breakfast was a huge success! Thanks to everyone who made it so. Terry carried the message beautifully. Looks like Central Office will keep its doors
open!
Rogue Valley Women In Recovery
Saturday, June 20th Inn At The Commons
9:30am Registration Forms available @ Central
Office or call Fran 541-944-6807
40TH Annual Rogue Roundup
May 1st -3rd Josephine County Fairgrounds
Pre registration - $16 Registration - $19
www.rogueroundup.com
__________________________
STEP FOUR Made a searching and fearless
moral inventory of ourselves.
"Next we launched out on a course of vigorous
action, the first step of which is a personal
housecleaning, which many of us had never
attempted. Though our decision was a vital and
crucial step, it could have little permanent effect
unless at once followed by a strenuous
effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in
ourselves which had been blocking us. Our
liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get
down to causes and conditions. Therefore, we
started upon a personal inventory. This was Step
Four…We took stock honestly. First, we
searched out the flaws in our make-up which
caused our failure. Being convinced that self,
manifested in various ways, was what had
defeated us, we considered its common
manifestations. (AA p. 63-64)
A.A. venerable pioneer Clarence S. used
the following moral checklist as a
guideline for conducting Step Four’s
moral inventory:
1. Self-pity;
2. Self-justification;
3. Egotism (self-importance);
4. Self-condemnation;
5. Dishonesty;
6. Impatience;
7. Hate;
8. Resentments;
9. False Pride (phony);
10. Jealousy;
11. Envy;
12. Laziness;
13. Procrastination;
14. Insincerity;
15. Negative thinking;
16. Vulgar-immoral thinking;
17. Criticizing;
18. Lying;
19. Fear;
20. Greed6
The official Alcoholics Anonymous
book says the following about Step
Four:
First, we searched out the flaws in
our make-up which caused our
failure (p.64).
Putting out of our minds the wrongs
others had done, we resolutely
looked for our own mistakes. Where
had we been selfish, dishonest, self-
seeking and frightened? Though a
situation had not been entirely our
fault, we tried to disregard the other
person involved entirely. Where
were we to blame? The inventory
was ours, not the other man’s.
(p.67)
Moral Inventory Backdrop
"So to you, to Dr. Shoemaker of the Oxford Groups, to William James, and to my own physician, Dr. Silkworth, we of AA owe this tremendous benefaction." - Bill Wilson, in his
letter to Carl Jung.
The Touchstone and The Birth of Step 4
Rev. Sam Shoemaker is credited by Bill Wilson as the source for the teachings that became part of AA's program. Bill attended Oxford Group Meetings that Rev. Shoemaker ran in NYC. Rev. Shoemaker is said to have been heavily influenced by Henry B. Wright. Mr. Wright taught at Yale. Henry B Wright - The Will of God and A Mans Lifework, 1909, was an integral book for Rev. Shoemaker and Oxford Group Founder Frank Buchman. It is comprised of studies written for theological students. The book discusses God's Will and living in God's Will using Absolutes Standards. The Four Absolutes were used by the Oxford group to find God's Will. They got them from Henry Wright who developed them; utilizing the work of Mr. Robert
E. Speers. Wright arrives at the 4 absolutes by asking, "Are there absolute standards of right and wrong? How did Jesus find out the particular will of God for himself?" Dr. Speers in 1902 had already outlined how Jesus found God's Will: Purity, Honesty, Unselfishness and Love. In 1909, Henry Wright expanded on these calling them: "The Absolute Standards of Jesus". The Absolute Standards are presented by Wright as God's Will. He cites "Absolute Self Surrender" as the key to living in God's Will. The Absolute Standards of Jesus became known as the Four Absolutes in the Oxford Group and early AA. These were the original "Assets" that our Moral Inventory sprang from."
TRADITION FOUR
“Each group should be autonomous except in
matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a
whole."
“This means that these two or three alcoholics
could try for sobriety in any way they liked.
They could disagree with any or all of AA
principles & still call themselves an AA group.
But this ultra-liberty is not so risky as it looks...
also prevents AA from becoming a frozen set of
dogmatic principles that could not be change
even when wrong” (AA Comes of Age, pg 105)
STEP FIVE
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and
to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs "Most of us would declare that without a
fearless admission of our defects to another
human being we could NOT stay sober. It seems
plain that the grace of God will NOT enter to
expel our destructive obsessions until we are
willing to try this."
12 Steps and 12 Traditions, pg. 56, 57
TRADITION FIVE “Each group has but one primary purpose --
to carry its message to the alcoholic who still
suffers."
“We are people that normally would not mix...”
And members if we say so... Providing we share
our common desire NOT to drink, sobriety, and
helping others achieve sobriety, (Unity, AA’s
Primary & Singleness of Purpose)
“There are those who predict that A.A. may well
become a new spearhead for a spiritual
awakening throughout the world. When our
friends say these things, they are both generous
and sincere. But we of A.A. must reflect that
such a tribute and such a prophecy could well
prove to be a heady drink for most of us – that
is, if we really came to believe this to be the real
purpose of A.A., and if we commenced to
behave accordingly. Our Society, therefore, will
prudently cleave to its single purpose: the
carrying of the message to the alcoholic who
still suffers. Let us resist the proud assumption
that since God has enabled us to do well in one
area we are destined to be a channel of saving
grace for everybody.”
Bill Wilson, AA Comes of Age, Pg.232
Letter from a Grateful Inmate
Friends,
My name is Don H., and I am an
alcoholic, 13 years sober behind prison
walls. Under the influence of drugs and
alcohol I created this incredible obstacle,
a humiliating mountain. As I wrote up
my plea for legal help, I knew my story
needed to be shared. In no way am I
asking for your help.
Back in 1974-77, my father would take
my brother and I to Friday night speaker
meetings. As a kid, this was exciting. 511
North Carrol Clubhouse was always
packed, shaking hands, hugs, lots of
smiles. No clue to what it meant to be an
alcoholic, but I figured it was a door to
an exciting adventure. Listening to
speaker's talk of hard times, police
chases, women, wild places..to living the
good life of sobriety, I wanted in. No
kidding. Probably the only time I prayed
as a kid "God, I'd like to be an alcoholic
like my Dad". Well, God was listening.
As they say, "Be careful what you pray
for". In a few short years, alcohol and
drugs entered my life.
Don't recall most of my teen years. Once
that first can of beer was downed, and a
smoke, there was no looking back. By
age 15, detox, 16 DUI, by 17 armed
robbery. During those years woke up in
hospitals with tubes in my nose and
arms. With staff telling me I was a
chronic alcoholic and I needed to quit or
die. I didn't care. I didn't want to feel the
pain of life.
We all have that story of hopelessness.
The point is regardless of who's fallen
further, alcohol and drugs took over,
creating a personal hell. For me it was
hell sober and drunk, an insane revolving
door. I was stuck like a rabbit getting
shot at.
What a vicious cycle addiction creates,
how many victims are impacted? Pretty
much anyone within our reach. Typically
those who love us the most hurt greatly.
Prison is filled with crimes related to
drugs and alcohol. Some so heinous the
full truths are not revealed to the public.
Murder, rape, child molestation, battery,
robbery, DUI are common intoxicated
themes. Imagine waking up, scratching
your head, trying to remember where you
parked your car and then remembering a
crime. Well, prison is filled with good
men and women who've experienced just
that..a nightmare. I certainly never
thought I'd be a lifer due to a crime while
drunk, and drugged. Yet here I sit, close
to 15 years on a 61 year sentence. The
unthinkable happens every day in an
alcoholics life. Pushing that get-sober
date another day may cost you more pain
than detoxing.
I was sober for years, life was pretty
good. Then it seemed everything began
to fall apart, divorce, money issues,
depression, unresolved issues of
childhood abuses. All these problems
overwhelmed me in a short span of time.
For the better part of 1 1/2 years I used
extremely hard, numerous arrests, etc...
Tired, I checked into a motel to kill
myself. Eight days, 24/7 drugs and
alcohol, no food...lost my mind...in and
out of bushes, eating out of garbage cans.
Eventually I broke into a bar to rob, and
hurt a female bartender, and pretty much
woke up in prison from a nightmare. It's
one thing to hurt oneself, but to wake out
of a drunken blur to recall a victim is
beyond description.
If I would have done what works, getting
outside my problems, this daily pain
would have been avoided. There's no
trick. It's action, it takes strength, a will
to overcome defeat. Turn off the mind,
let action take over, give a smile, cut an
elderly's grass, read to the blind, buy a
kid an ice cream cone, feed the
poor...anything that produces good. Then
don't share these kind acts with other's. It
reduces pride issues. The world owes us
nothing. We owe the world. Fight the
good fight. Life is attitude, and
perspective. If you could see through my
eyes, well, I'd imagine you'd feel a whole
lot better.
In Jesus Christ,
Don H.
Typical Type AA Personality SERVICE…….. EARLY IN MY SOBRIETY, MY HOME GROUP WAS THE SUNDAY NIGHT GROUP IN ROGUE RIVER,OREGON. ONE OF MY MOST WONDERFUL FRIENDS AND MENTOR, WAS A LADY NAMED SIS BARR. ONE PARTICULAR SUNDAY AT THE MEETING BEFORE THE MEETING, I WAS TAKING A VIGOROUS AND VOCAL INVENTORY OF ANOTHER MEMBERS SERVICE WORK. WHEN I HAD FINISHED, SIS TOOK ME ASIDE AND SAID, OTHER PEOPLES SERVICE WORK IS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMNED BUSINESS, SO JUST SHUT UP. NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS WOUNDED DEEPLY. TODAY I AM THANKFUL THAT I HAVE ALWAYS HAD PEOPLE IN MY SOBER LIFE THAT ARE WILLING TO GIVE IT TO ME HONESTLY AND WITH LOVE. THE WORDS OF SIS CONTINUE TO GUIDE ME TO WORK AT DOING THE BEST I CAN TODAY. RAY WILLETT
On The Rogue Again 110 E. 6th Street, Medford, OR 97501
(541) 732-1850