Dear AA
On behalf of all the raging lunatic alcoholics who no longer drink I'd like to wish you a Happy Birthday. You maybe 79 but you don't look it. All those years of taking a battering from madmen like me don't seem to touch the sides. You seem to get stronger and bigger with age.
I'm not sure if you quite knew what you would grow into when your founders Bill W and Dr Bob met in Akron, Ohio way back in 1935, but it's huge now. There are millions of people in recovery and thousands of meetings all over the world. Even in Hounslow.
Don't worry it's still pretty much the same. Most people who attend gather to smoke, drink tea and talk about themselves. The only real change is the Government have banned us from smoking inside now. We have to go outside to feed one of our secondary addictions. Having said that AA, there are these things called E-cigarettes now, so we're getting around that one.
I guess when you were born you didn't really know what you were doing. I mean you couldn't handle those religious groups, the Oxford Group proved too straight laced for the ego maniac alcoholics. But I see where the seeds of your birth were sown.
I remain rather emotional when I learn about that ego maniac stock broker Bill W, a few weeks sober, in the lobby of the Mayflower Hotel, Akron, busting for a drink, the bar down the lobby full and bustling. The call of the booze loud and romantic. Never mind the fact he had been institutionalised several times for alcoholism and was on a death sentence for his next drink. He was sober, his business deal had gone tits up and he felt the call of the wild.
The fact he chose not to and instead picked up the phone to try and find another drunk in the town to talk to remains a pivotal moment in your history. Perhaps it was God, perhaps it was fate but whatever it was, he was put in touch with Dr Bob and from there you were born.
I understand there were some tricky times as you grew. You had no set formula or guidelines. I know Bill W wanted to sell the franchise and it would have made him a very rich man today. But thanks AA for coming to the rescue and putting the group and AA as a whole in place of the individual. I understand from that the traditions were born.
They say the steps keeps individuals sober and traditions keeps AA sober. I understand that today. If it was left to us there would be nothing left.
I hope you're having a nice day. You have received lots of lovely messages over this thing called 'social media'. In your day there was only letter and telegram. Now people are sharing their sobriety via the internet, email, Twitter, Facebook and social media. It has really changed AA. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's for the best though.
You have helped so many people AA. You still get a bad wrap in some circles though. There are splinter groups forming and the usual critics saying you're a cult, a replacement or religious organisation. I guess you get critics in all walks of life though. It never seems to faze or bother you though does it?
It seems you have enabled lots of other fellowships to grow too. There is a 12 step fellowship for pretty much everything these days. You've even become quite trendy. Making appearances in movies, TV shows, books, chat shows and even in the lyrics to some songs (granted from talentless knob-heads who are so shallow they use your phrases to make themselves sound more interesting and deep)
Are you happy at 79 AA? Are you like you thought you'd be? I must admit there does seem to be rather a lot of treatment centre talk now. It seems the steps and traditions in some parts have become somewhat passé. That's a worry as the endless therapy talk drives me insane and is so self obsessed it never really gets to the point. Plus they never do any service.
That's one thing you are not are you AA? You are relentlessly practical. You really have an answer for everything yet you never display it in a know it all way. Your so bloody humble aren't you? Quietly sitting there, throwing out some nuggets of advice, allowing people to live a decent life.
So I hope you have a great day AA. Thanks for everything you've given me, oh and my family too. Oh and the millions of people who have and continue to take your helping hand. You are pretty much a life saver.
I hope you keep going for another 79 years. We need you. We should cherish you. We love you. Thank you.
Happy Birthday
Together We Are Stronger
Nicholas E Evans
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