AA

Last week I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at a church in Mount Joy. There were around 60 people in attendance. Most of the attendees were in their middle ages, between 30 and 60 years old. There were several young adults in attendance, but these people were not as vocal during the meeting. Regarding gender, I believe it was approximately half men and half women. The majority of people were Caucasian.

These people acted very comfortably with one another. One woman went around and hugged every person who showed up for the night, even me! Before the meeting, everybody was chatting. From what I could hear, they were catching up about work and families, not necessarily about anything that would be covered in the meeting. These people were obviously friends, having deeper connections than just showing up for the same AA meeting that night. Unfortunately, I was not involved in the meeting. I mainly observed what was happening around me. We were unsure whether to introduce ourselves when they asked if there were any newcomers in attendance. However, we did introduce ourselves to those we were sitting by and told them that we were at the meeting for educational purposes. Everybody was very accepting and welcoming.

An older man took charge of the meeting. He started the meeting with the Serenity Prayer and then opened up the floor for anybody who had some general information or announcements. After that, he designated people to read the general history of AA and what the meeting was all about. The Steps of AA were also read aloud. Then the floor was opened for story-sharing. The man who opened the meeting asked for everybody to share in a timely fashion so that anybody who wanted to speak had the chance to do so. He was also in charge of deciding whose turn it was to talk. When somebody shared a thought or story, they always started by saying, “Hi, my name is _____ and I am an alcoholic.” The rest of the group would then greet them. Everybody was very respectful of everybody else. There was no chatting while other people were talking and everybody was very attentive. The meeting lasted for an hour.

I believe that this meeting was very helpful to the participants. It was a time when they could vent their frustrations and talk about whatever was on their minds. They also had the peace of mind that they would not be judged and that everybody would understand their struggles. Many of the participants said that these meetings kept them sane and also away from the alcohol that once ruined their lives and had the potential to ruin everything that they had worked so hard to build. One woman shared that she had been in her car getting ready to head to a bar when she found the AA schedule on her passenger side seat. This gave her the strength to come to avoid the bar and go to the meeting. These meetings are literally saving lives.

This experience connected with a lot of the information that we have reviewed in class and from the book. AA attendees use this meeting and group as their primary support system. Many of the people mentioned having relationships with one another outside of the weekly meetings. They understand each other as not many other people can. This meeting also enforced some of the stereotypes that alcoholics must deal with. Many people associate alcoholism with the poor. However, from looking around the room, I could tell that this disease/problem could affect any type of person. Also, the fight is a lifelong battle, which some people do not understand. One woman shared that she was about 1 year sober. Her husband had recently asked her why she kept going to the meetings. He said, it had been a year, wasn’t she cured now? It amazed me that somebody so close to her did not understand alcoholism. Only people who have been through the same thing can truly understand.