Introduction of Class A Trustee

I’m Dennis and I’m an alcoholic. I’m sharing with you in this issue of ESSAY because I have the extraordinary honor of serving you as a trusted servant—as a Class A (non-sexaholic) Trustee. I’ve believed for some time now that trusted servants are those who earn the trust of those they serve, rather than the other way around. With that in mind, I would like to share a bit about myself, in the hope of earning your trust.

I attended my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous on November 5, 1978. By God’s grace and the principles embodied in AA’s Twelve Step program, I have not found it necessary to take a drink since that meeting. However, my experience with a Higher Power has convinced me that God is a practical joker. I say that because—on the day of that first AA meeting—I was actually bringing a friend of mine to an AA meeting to get him sober. It turned out that I was the drunk, not him. My friend had problems, but they weren’t alcoholism.

I would never have gone to an AA meeting for myself. By that time, I had done many horrible things that I couldn’t bear to think about. There was no person on earth whom I loathed or feared more than myself. But I still loved my friends, and so my Higher Power used my love for that friend to get me to the meeting where I needed to be. Only a truly Cosmic Power could have orchestrated that kind of practical joke!

The most recent example of God’s practical joking was that I was asked to serve as a Class A (non-sexaholic) Trustee for SA. I’ve given some AA presentations in my region on the idea that AA no longer needs the Class A Trustees on its General Service Board! So I could almost hear the Cosmic Laughter when I was asked to serve in that capacity for SA. I suspect there is something I need to learn that only SA can teach me. There is a prayer that I use in difficult situations: “God, do not let me out of this situation until I learn from it!” Okay, the student is willing to learn.

One question often asked of Class A Trustees in AA is: “Why do you want to do this?” The answer, at least for me, is because my Higher Power appears to prefer that I carry out this task. I have long had the opinion that, when I am asked to carry out a task, I am being given an opportunity that involves two things. First, it is an opportunity to build on experiences I have already been given. Second, I’m being given the opportunity to prepare for my future. I am a firm believer that we are where God makes an investment, and it’s only when we are of service that His investment can grow!

I’ve watched others who, when asked, decline to take on service roles—only to find later on that they failed to acquire a skill needed to move forward in life. I don’t want to make that mistake!

Today, my main focus is to study and learn more about the principles that drive the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts of our program. The opportunity to serve in both SA and AA gives me a wonderful horizon from which to see those principles at work, as well as to see what happens when they are not at work. What I find most interesting is that, in either case, the result was because of love—either love of self, or love of a higher calling. In my experience, that is the point where the road divides. I must decide whether I will invest my faith in my own way or my Higher Power’s way.

There’s a phrase in another Big Book that means a lot to me: “We see as through a glass darkly.” I have come to understand that this description, “glass darkly,” was a way of describing a mirror in old languages. So when I hold the glass up to the darkness, it turns into a mirror in which I see myself, and it becomes where I will focus my love. However, if I hold the glass up to the light (my Higher Power) I see through the glass clearly, and in that view are all the miracles available to me. One of those miracles, at least in my case, is the opportunity to serve SA. Thank you so much for letting me serve!