Has Alcoholics Anonymous Lost its way?Written by Ted W.
Has Alcoholics Anonymous Lost its way? HAS ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS LOST ITS WAY?I have been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 28 years. AA has become a worldwide and an American Institution. Treatment centers throughout United States tout 12 steps and Christian Churches in USA provide meeting places for Alcoholics Anonymous. It is not polite to criticize AA. But countless American depend on AA and its teachings, so it is legitimate to ask “Has AA lost its Way ? ” I say it has. Its not that there is anything wrong with 12 steps. AA’s founder, Bill Wilson, rightly said that principles of 12 steps came from bible. Consider what one early AA member had to say years ago: One morning, after a sleepless night worrying over what I could do to straighten myself out, I went to my room alone-took my Bible in hand and asked Him, One Power, that I might open to a good place to read-and I read. "For I delight in law of God after inward man. But I see a different law in my members, warring against law of my mind and bringing me into captivity under law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of body of this death?" That was enough for me-I started to understand. Here were words of Paul a great teacher. What then if I had slipped? Now, I could understand. From that day years ago, I gave, still give and always will give time everyday to read word of God and let Him do all caring. Who am I to try to run myself or anyone else?*
| | Passing The TorchWritten by Virginia Bola, PsyD
First, there were baby boomers who came of age in 60s when no one over 30 was to be trusted, establishment was enemy, and peaceful revolution was general goal. Then came 80s, "Me Decade" when disco was king, Wall Street was rocked by machinations of Ivan Boesky and Barry Minkow.The ideals of 60s and 70s died with murder of John Lennon, hell of My Lai, killing fields of Cambodia, and "Midnight Express." Royal marriages unraveled, Middle East violence was only intermittently stilled, and drug warlords of Colombia took over streets of U.S. inner cities. Generation X moved to forefront, fighting wars in Bosnia, Kuwait, and Somalia that were acceptable only because of their dissimilarity to mire and mayhem of Vietnam. Who will first engrave their generation's stamp on Twenty-first Century? Generation X is still young but already assimilated into broader American culture. Will it be young right-wing born-agains with their willingness to condone murder and punish women in their goal to give life to unplanned and unwanted fetuses in a world where overpopulation is root cause of so many evils: famine, pestilence, war, genocide? Will it be clean cut, patriotic military reservists and guardsmen who despoiled entire American culture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? It has been 15 years since presidential candidate Bush spoke of a kinder, gentler, world. It has been 30 years since President Jimmy Carter tried to cool Middle East through logic, compromise and good faith. It has been 40 years since we sang "Let's give Peace a chance." It has been 5 years since we all thought that decapitation with a sword had died with middle ages. In most recent past, there have been explosions in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, murdering and mutilating thousands. 800,000 individuals were hacked to death in Rwanda within 10 days, while world watched and waited. In Sudan, killing, raping, and torturing continues unabated. Natural disasters numb senses and expose our powerlessness over nature.
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