Through the help of the SA International Central Office, I am in contact with an SA member here in Tanzania. Your work in serving the fellowship is saving lives. The translator of the AA Big Book into Ki-Swahili lives in Tanzania. He took me to the Ki-Swahili AA meeting. On the shelf of the room was a book describing sexual addiction! Soon our SA White Book will be on that shelf.
The New Jersey Marathon on November 6th in Cranford was a special occasion in SA history. The subject of victory over lust took the spotlight as the speaker challenged the eager gathering of SAs by describing the stages of his own progressive victory over lust. He offered joyous hope to any still wondering if it is actually possible to honestly “stop drinking” or who are unhappy with their own stage of lust recovery. The talk was in two parts: first sharing the stages of his own lust recovery, and then offering a new approach as breakthrough experiment. The talk was privately taped and transcribed for the Essay. Part One, Stages of Lust Recovery, appears below. Part Two, The 1935 Akron Experience as a Program for Lust Recovery, will appear in the next issue of Essay. The speaker was Roy K., who was asked to condense and edit his talk for publication.
There is an opening on the Board of Trustees for a non-sexaholic trustee. If you or your group knows someone who would qualify, please notify the Nominations Committee via Central Office. An eligible candidate would be a friend of SA and able to fill the duties of Trustee. Interested parties should submit a service resume and a letter of recommendation from an SA member, group, or Intergroup. A questionnaire for candidates is available from Central Office.
The first SA and S-Anon meetings have now started in New Zealand by a member who attended the January Conference in Sacramento. There is also a lone member in Wellington.
Following are portions of an e-mail sent to SA-Net by Dorene S., chair of the delegate assembly, regarding SA sobriety and the Tenth Tradition issues:
Following are portions of two reports sent to SA-Net by Dorene S., chair of the delegate assembly, regarding the Cleveland “Statement of Principle” vote:
In Cleveland on 9 July 1999, the Delegate Assembly and the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a clarification of SA’s sobriety definition. The approved statement of principle is as follows:
A few months ago I began sponsoring a man whose enthusiasm and personality are contagious! His disease landed him in jail for two months plus a few months of “work release,” and a whole lot of years under restrictions and the watchful eye of state officials.
I had just decided to give up and I cut off the SA phone line. The day after, I got some calls. I now have six people, including myself, who want to start a group.
Today the world is adrift on a sea of rapidly shifting mores. Change is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. The last eighty years have surpassed the rate of change of the last eight thousand, and the last thirty have probably surpassed it all. Every aspect of our lives and sexual thinking is affected. Thousands of voices clamor for attention, preaching new “freedoms” of every kind. Was it not but a few years ago that “shacking up”—what the courts called “cohabitation”—was thought to be abnormal? Today it is called a “meaningful relationship” or having a “significant other.” And witness the new movement to legalize incest.
