A special thank you to this group for calling the Central Office the day after “Dear Abby” to give us the number of their answering service for use in the anticipated flood of letters. We appreciate this responsible act.
“After reading a recent ‘Dear Abby’ column, I was stunned to realize that the ‘sex addict’ portrayed almost chronicled my own troubled existence. Although married and a father, I find myself constantly struggling to come to grips with my almost insatiable sexual desire—achieving masturbatorial release with all forms of pornography—video, pictorial and the written word.… Please consider this perverse preamble as my cry for help to forever wipe myself clean of these unnatural yearnings.”
We are asking that all groups and individuals note that the SA logo is now trademarked and is being registered with the U.S. Trademark Office in Washington, D.C. This move was necessitated by the fact that the SA logo was being picked up and misused (it actually appeared in a newspaper cartoon!).
Now I’m dealing with another problem…a spouse who is antagonistic to SA, SLAA, AA, or any other Twelve-Step program because of the references to “higher power,” a feeling that the program doesn’t reflect Christian values, and (probably most important of all) her own fears of having to face the fact that I am, indeed, just like the people she read about in the material from the various groups, addicted to sex and lust.
The conference was wonderful. Approximately 178 attended. The first business meeting that I attended December 1983, there were 15 of us there. Five of us were in attendance in SLC. I truly recommend these conferences for loners as a way of connecting to others in the program and to the program as a whole.
Our continued thanks to Ruth P., who sends us the following news from West Germany and translates the German newsletter for us.
…We are still having some difficulty, however, with members who accepted the bottom line sobriety definition but continue acting out in other ways. This is particularly so with voyeuristic aspects of their disease as well as concerning relationship preoccupations.
I’ve only been in the program about 15 months and continue to be amazed at the difference it makes in my life. I think the greatest thing is the friends in the group, and the continued support. Ours is a good group, some growing going on here. The toughest part of this work remains turning my life and will over to God as I understand God. A day at a time.
Enclosed is a check for the support of SA and in appreciation for being left on your mailing list. I have been sober for 18 months. My marriage of 28 years is slowly getting better. I like myself more and I am beginning to experience some peace within myself. I believe that God is working his purposes for His creatures through SA in a marvelous way.
Some notices found on the bulletin board of the Klinik at Bad Herrenalb, West Germany, where Roy held the workshops last November:
