It is a deep sense of joy and gratitude that accompanies this letter. I have been part of the Regina SA group for over three years and my life has been so changed and enriched. I have my sobriety, I have found friends and I have a safe place to go when I am afraid. The group is doing quite well.
I mentioned in my letter two weeks ago that I would like to approach the Seattle Friday night SA fellowship about acting as a liaison between our group and Central Office. Well I submitted the idea to them at last night’s meeting and asked that they consider it for a week, discuss it at a brief business meeting and then decide the matter by group conscience.
In May, we cut the percentage of what we send to the Central Office in order to free up money for some outreach. Our projects, however, are already increasing our returns. The increase enclosed reflects the increase in attendance on the last week in June. This is because that meeting was the first of the “All Groups SA Unity Speakers Meetings” we’ve begun for the last Saturday of the month.
In the past, the Essay newsletter has been sent free of charge to anyone who requests it, and the Oversight Committee recommends that we continue that policy. However, the committee asks that each member who receives the Essay and who can afford to do so, make a voluntary donation of $10 per year to cover the increased costs of printing and mailing.
The Politically Correct Policeman (PCP), loosely defined, is a fellowship junky who considers it his job to flag anything in the literature or at meetings that might embarrass newcomers, minorities, or women. The idea is that no one gets offended. Currently I’m in my 10th year of recovery from Politically Correct Policeman-ship in 12-Step fellowships.
(The following is an extract from a talk given by Roy K. at the Socio-Psychosomatic Clinic in Bad Herrenalb, Germany, in November 1985. Roy’s audience consisted primarily of members of 12-Step Fellowships.)
It happened again. Those two simple words “I’m sorry” did their miracle. Two words so simple but so hard to say. An immediate change, from night to day, from misconnection to connection, from resentment to love, after just two simple words. It amazes me every time it works, as if it’s a totally new concept. Why shouldn’t it work? How can two such simple words do such a powerful healing?
Among many other gifts, SA hands me the most wonderful toolkit to use in recovery. The essential tools are meetings and telephone calls, working the Steps and Traditions, and contact with God as I understand Him. A daily contract for sobriety and a gratitude list are two other important tools. I generally use them only once a day. There is one tool, however, which I estimate I use 20 to 30 times every day and night. That is prayer.
I have now been released from prison and am very happy to be back to my SA group in Kansas City again. I now have 26 months’ sobriety and it feels great to have a choice of whether I want to act out or not (which I don’t want to today), and remembering that it’s for today only. Tomorrow will be today when it comes and I will ask my Higher Power (God) to help me stay sober for that day only.
I received the materials you sent last month and I wanted to write and thank you for sending them. Does SA have something like a Pen Pal Program between those in SA? It would help if I had someone from SA on the outside to help me get started in the fellowship in these early months.
