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 Fifi3333@gmail.com.

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