Sobriety News
June 2004

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

    The Sobriety News is a publication of the Harrisburg Area Intergroup of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is written, edited, and read by AA members, and those interested in the AA program of recovery from the disease of alcoholism, linking one alcoholic to another.
     Our desperation to find relief from the bondage of alcoholism has led us to this program as a new "design for living". Many members utilize meetings, sponsorship, self examination, amends, prayer, meditation, AA literature, service to fellow alcoholics, and many other tools to maintain their recovery. This publication is intended as one more tool to live a life of recovery. Because each AA member has an individual way of working this program, divergent views to recovery, within the concept of the Program of Alcoholics Anonymous, are welcome. An effort is made to print all viewpoints in this forum. Articles are not intended to be statements of AA policy, nor does publication of any article imply endorsement by AA or the Harrisburg Area Intergroup.

June Calendar of Events*

LOOKING AHEAD*

* Look for more information about these events in Sobriety News.
 ** See links page for flyer

To links and current events

Your Help for the Calendar of Events

A complete Calendar of Events depends on our active members contributing information about their coming events, participation of Intergroups in surrounding Districts, and our ability to gather information. We feel it is worth trying. Let us know what you think. Often, we miss opportunities within the fellowship because the message didn't get out. We all want to carry the message to other alcoholics. This will be one more way we can accomplish that.

OUR FACE IS CHANGING

    Sobriety News is updated during the course of the month, so events can be added to the Calendar. You may, therefore, find it helpful or informative to check back to the website periodically to see what has been added.
    The HAI index page has links to flyers of coming events, or you can click on the AA blue button above. Did you know that the links page also has links to other AA websites and to back issues of Sobriety News? Also there is a link to the Meeting Schedule (or click the coin at right) so you can print out the schedule (if you can access Microsoft Word) on a single sheet of 8 1/2X11 paper. This schedule is current with the latest information available. If you see an error, or information for your meeting has been changed, the schedule will be updated if you notify us at aa@aaharrisburg.org, or if you notify an Intergroup Officer,  or mail the info to HAI, Fellowship House, 1251 S. 19th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17105. This current schedule can be duplicated for group purposes from this link or by clicking on the chip at the right.
    Flyers will be added as they become available and removed when an event passes. If you are looking at this on the Internet, you will see that many of the insert pictures are links you can click on to get added information or flyers. Keep checking.
    The above suggested service opportunity to bring internet information back to the group could also be broadened to include flyers, and current meeting schedules. The printed schedules and flyers will still be available but may continue to have their current disadvantages too.

19th Street Dances in full swing again...

19th Street Dances start with a bang! Quite a few people came for the first regular dance at 19th Street in a long time. The new DJs, from the 521 Club in Lancaster, were great, despite playing the Electric Slide. The dance floor was full of sober people, from Harrisburg, Lancaster, and beyond. Now we don't have to travel to Lancaster to dance at a sober club. The few dollars it cost to get in were well worth the hours of dancing and fellowship. I hope to see you there! If continued interest warrants, the 19th Street Activities Committee plans to continue this dance the first Friday of each month from 8:30 till midnight.

19th Annual HAI Picnic

Mark your calendar for Saturday August 14th so you remember the HAI 19th Annual Picnic at New Cumberland Borough Park. Get your tickets from your Intergroup Rep before August 5 so that a barbeque chicken will be waiting for you. There will be games for the kids, and for the adults. The doings begin at noon and clean up at 6:00PM. Bring dessert or salad if you'd like. Tickets will be available from your Intergroup Rep for $5.00 (Children are free). Barbeque chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers will be proffered. There will be an open discussion meeting at about 4:00PM. Bring a comfortable chair if you don't enjoy picnic benches. This is always a fun affair.

 

ACTS OF RECOVERY

The Acts of Recovery in the Harrisburg Area was held on May 22, 2004, at the Presbyterian Church of Middletown. As is the custom, there were four great inspirational speakers surrounding a light lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

Jill N, from the Fourth Dimension Group in York, started things off by sharing on her topic of "Clear Cut Directions". Jill reported that yesterday a girl gave her $60 and asked that she pay a bill for her because she would be working late. Jill did that favor, but later thought 'Call the Fire Department cause you just got burnt' was the way it used to be. She realized that today she has a job, and an employer that likes her, trusts her at work by herself, counting their money. She has relationships with people she loves and who love her. What a change; she didn't used to know what a principle was, no less how to practice them. In ten years of rapidly deteriorating quality of life ending in a succession of rehabs and prison stints, she finally got to that jumping off point. She had thought anything worth doing was worth over-doing. She was out of options and became willing to follow a girl she really didn't like, who really didn't want to help her, either, but it was what both had to do to survive and recover. And that is how Jill got to be standing up there telling God's story, and her part in it.

After a short break, Seth D, also from the 4th Dimension, addressed "The Humanly Impossible". He told how after 35 days in a rehab, stark raving sober, with 20 dollars to his name, he was at an AA meeting where he saw these people sitting comfortably in chairs, and realized that's what he wanted. That's what he had always wanted, was to be comfortable in his own skin, and that's what alcohol had done. After the meeting a guy gave him a Big Book and told him that he never had to wake up feeling the way he felt this morning, ever again, if he followed the directions in this book. He asked the fellow to sponsor him and they worked the steps together. He started helping others as he was shown, and they would rob his apartment. One time he took a Big Book to a detox for a guy who'd robbed him two days before, and looking at the guy, he figured that fellow was the one who'd gotten the raw deal. He doesn't believe God turns the lights green for him when he's late, nor gave him his wonderful girlfriend (God's not a pimp), nor does He give him a pay raise. What happens is he shows up and does a little more that what's asked of him, and his employer insists on giving him more money. What God does, is makes it possible for him to show up.

A free light lunch of Bar-B-Que & chips was available from 2:15 till 2:45. Promptly at 2:45, Joanne F from Baltimore shared about some of those principles we talk about, "Love and Tolerance". Joanne had a night waitress job because it was the only job she could get. She would drink all day, sleep real fast and go to work all night. She worked with another waitress who was a drunk (she knows, she used to drink with her). This waitress ended up going to Spring Grove, (in 1972 they didn't take you to a RE-HAB, they took you to a NUT-HOUSE) and when she got out she went to AA. They say you may be the only copy of the Big Book a drunk ever reads; they were right about that, because she read her friend and the change in her real clear. This waitress and her boyfriend took Joanne to AA meetings every night. They said a lot of mean things to her there like: sit down, shut up, listen, if you knew anything you wouldn't be here. They told her things like, 'if you don't take a drink, you can't get drunk, but if you want to get sober you have to work Steps 2 through 12'. She made a committment to herself that she would work the steps and live the AA Program the rest of her life. She left this parting shot - "Winners do what they have to, Losers do what they want to".

"The Road to Happy Destiny" was the subject of Ross McI, from Emmitsburg, MD. who had the audience rolling in laughter with his humorous delivery. Ross said someone gave him bad advice at AA; they said AA is like a smorgasbord, you can take what you like and leave the rest. If that's working for you, congratulations, it didn't work for him. Once he asked a cabby what he knew about the place where the Serenity Prayer card on his dashboard had come from. The cabby ended taking Ross home and sharing with him what it was like, what happened and what it was like now. He asked if he could use the phone to call his wife to tell her he'd be late for dinner. Ross said he'd done enough already, but the cabby said he didn't understand, he wasn't doing it for Ross, he was doing it for himself. Ross made it to an AA meeting that night. In AA he was told God helps those who can't help themselves; that the miracle over alcohol had already happened on June 10, 1935. The first 100 men and women wrote how it happened in a book in 1939. All Ross had to do was make a decision of whether he would take part in the miracle that has already happened.

Hope to see each of you at the June 12 York ACTS or at a future mini-conference of the Acts of Recovery.

P R I D E = Personal Recovery Involves Deflating Ego.

 

New Meetings and Changes

WE NEED UR SUPPORT!

Custom Smiley

The Joy of Living Group is up and meeting at the Fellowship House every Wednesday night at 6pm. We need support and we are looking for volunteers for secretary. Anyone wishing to secretary this meeting may contact Janice at the Wednesday night meeting.  
                         

It has been noted that the Spirituality Group which used to meet at 18th and State Sts has not been meeting, and has been removed from the schedule.

The change in Fellowship House hours has caused the Late Night Meeting to relocate from Fellowship House to a new meeting place. The meetings will be each evening, Mon - Fri at 11:15; Sat at 12 (midnight); and Sunday at 11:00PM. The new location is the Parkside Cafe 2009 State Street.

19th Street is starting it's monthly dances again. They will be on the first Saturday of the month unless there may be something else going on at the Fellowship House. Adult admissions cost $5.00. It should be a great time for all. Any questions or directions to the Fellowship House at 1251 So. 19th St. Harrisburg, call Bill P. at 215-8377.

The Mid-City Group, which is the oldest continuous meeting group in the City, is in need of support. The location is on Vine Street, which is the last left off Front Street before Paxton St and the 83 ramp. They meet:
Tues 7:30PM – Mid City Group – St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, River & Vine Sts – "CD,NS"
Thurs 7:30PM – Mid City Group – St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, River & Vine Sts – "CD,NS"
Sat 7:30PM – Mid City Group – St. Paul’s United Meth. Church, River & Vine Sts – "OD,NS"

The Millersburg meeting has revived and has been returned to the meeting schedule. The Millersburg Area Group will meet Mondays at 7:30PM, at the New Life Center on Center Street in Millersburg. Welcome back.

Please support the Friday night Women's meeting at the Dauphin County Prison.  For more information, please contact Sondra D. at 566-7666.

 

AA is like an adjustable wrench
it fits almost any nut.

 

Pearl of the Month (submitted by Charlotte F., from the Big Book, Into Action page 76)

We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable.  Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable?  Can He now take them all - every one?  If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.

June Speakers 

The 19th Street speakers for the month of June: June 4, Dick T from Elizabethtown; June 11, Randy M from 19th Street; June 18, Terry T from Mt. Joy, and June 25 is Anniversary Night. The Hershey Group's Speaker for June 5 will be Kathlene K from the Hershey Group, and July 3 will be Ed H from Attitude Adjustment. The 8:00PM Bridge Street Speakers will be: June 6, Jon G from Happy Destiny; June 13, Jim S from There's More To Life; June 20, Julius L from West Shore Area; and June 27, LeeAnn C from Out of the Dark. The speakers at the Middletown Survivors 7:00PM meeting on Thursday June 17 and 24 will be those celebrating anniversaries.

Anecdotage 

A Parable
On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.

Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds, and put better furniture in the large building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifesaving crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decoration, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick and some of them had different color of skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that seacoast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

-by Theodore Wedel-

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Contributions are made to Food For Thought by recovering alcoholics who have this outlet to share feelings and opinions about living in recovery. The material included does not necessarily express the views of Harrisburg Area Intergroup, or Alcoholics Anonymous. It is simply an opportunity for recovering alcoholics to express thoughts they would like to share. Why not share something of yourself with our readers?

The following is the second part of a three part presentation of interest prepared in pamphlet form by Bill C and the HAI Archives Committee.

(CONTINUED)
Deep-seated resentments

    Despite his failure to follow through after his vital visit with Bill, Ebby still seemed to feel he was not recognized adequately for his contribution to the start of AA.
    His employer for many years in Texas said that Ebby, kind of thought the world owed him a living, to a certain extent. He thought he never got the recognition that he should have had. That stuck in his craw for years.
    Another AA who had known Ebby in Texas said that, "Ebby held a deep resentment for Bill, Dr. Bob, and others, because he felt he was more the founder of what was to become AA than anyone else." In the author’s opinion, this resentment may be the reason for his repeated "slips" in the program.
    Ebby also had the idea that he needed the right woman and an ideal job in order to stay sober. The implication is that if he didn’t have the perfect woman and the perfect job, he couldn’t stay sober.
    And he didn’t stay sober.
    AA members know that sobriety has to be sought without any conditions, that we have to be ‘willing to go to any length to get it’ and that "half measures availed us nothing."
    Some of Ebby’s own letters bring to mind Lois’s observation noted earlier, that Ebby seemed to be "around" AA, but never really in it.
    Typical correspondence from AA members devotes substantial discussion to the AA program and the application of the Twelve Steps to their own lives. Ebby’s letters avoid these topics and are significant for what they don’t say.
    In 1954, Bill wrote that Ebby now "shows more signs of really joining AA than ever before." The implication is that Ebby had shown less commitment to the AA program before then, but even at that time, there were still substantial doubts about his sincerity.
    Earlier, in 1947, Ebby’s sister-in-law received a letter from him, and she wrote back suggesting that the answer to his problems was to devote himself to helping others and then continued:
    "But as I read your letter this thought is far from your mind and you are again concerned with the petty and material affairs of your surroundings and the bickerings and by-plays of your associates, with the thought still deep in your mind that you have been persecuted and discriminated against by others, while the real facts might well be that it is your own ego that is at fault."
    Ebby drifted in and out of sobriety, and in and out of AA, with many AA members trying to help him regain a more stable sobriety.
    The person who was ultimately successful was Searcy W., who had established a hospital for alcoholics in Texas. Early in 1953, Searcy had asked Bill what he would like to see happen in AA, and Bill said, "I would like for Ebby to have a chance to sober up in your clinic." Several months later, it came to pass, and after a short slip in 1954, Ebby remained sober for seven years.
    In 1961, Ebby’s girlfriend died and the next day Ebby got drunk. He apparently still believed that his sobriety was conditional on having the right woman, and now she was gone.
    Ebby moved back to New York and lived for the next two years at several places, one of which was at his brother Ken’s home in Delmar, a suburb of Albany. He had emphysema—the same dis-ease that caused Bill’s death—and was in poor health, his weight having dropped from 170 to 120 pounds.
    Ebby eventually came to Margaret and Mickey McPike’s farm outside Ballston Spa, New York, in May, 1964, and it was under their loving care that he finished the final two years of his life, dying sober on May 2l, 1966.
    While at the McPike farm, Ebby never even attempted to get something to drink, although he also never attended AA meetings. Still, AA visitors were frequent and AA principles were in constant evidence, permeating the entire atmosphere at the farm.
    Dr. Bob said that the AA program boiled down to love and service and that was the essence of Margaret and Mickey McPike, who helped more than four thousand persons to recover from alcoholism.
    Ebby was one of them.
    AA’s agree that no matter what happens to them, the most important thing is to not pick up that first "sucker drink."
    It is said in the rooms, "If you do what we did, you’ll get what we got."
    Ebby was unable, for whatever reasons, to put the AA program of action into his life on a regular basis.
    All of his life, Ebby was overshadowed by the recognition and success of his father and grandfather and, in his own generation, by the accomplishments and respect given to his older brothers.
    This may have developed in him a sense of ‘never good enough" so familiar to alcoholics. It is also likely that his privileged childhood accentuated the sense of self-importance and self-focus that the AA program requires us to deflate at depth.
    If Ebby had been recognized as the founder of the AA program, it would have given him respect and recognition far surpassing anyone in his family.
    After Bill received the message of recovery from Ebby, he devoted the rest of his life to helping other alcoholics.
    If Ebby had been willing and able to take similar actions of love and service, he would have been a co-founder with Bill Wilson. But he would not, or could not, do the day-to-day work with others needed to bring AA into a concrete reality.
    Rather than realistically looking at his own shortcomings in establishing AA, Ebby wallowed in resentments, the greatest obstacle to sobriety and the number one killer of alcoholics.
    Perhaps Bill was thinking of the example of his sponsor, Ebby, when he wrote the many strong statements in the "Big Book" condemning resentments. For whatever the reasons, Ebby never seemed to give himself completely to the simple program of Alcoholics Anonymous.
    There are many others who achieve periods of sobriety yet relapse from time to time. They are not to be condemned, but welcomed back into the Fellowship. Their experience is a lesson to others that alcohol as an enemy is indeed cunning, baffling and powerful. If anyone might be inclined to feel smug or superior, he or she should be grateful that they have not gotten that bad—yet.
    If there is a higher power, then by implication there is a lower power. And the lower power can never win—unless we give up. Despite many slips, Ebby never completely gave in to the lower power and always came back.
    He ran the race, he kept the faith, and eventually died sober. Ebby deserves to be honored for carrying the message of spiritual recovery to Bill and for acting as his sponsor. Whatever Ebby’s problem may have been with sobriety, Bill was always grateful to him— as we all should be.
    Bill said, in "The Language of the Heart, "Ebby had been enabled to bring me the gift of grace because he could reach me at depth through the language of the heart. He had pushed ajar that great gate through which all in AA have since passed to find their freedom under God."

Service to another Alcoholic
Bob B has assumed the duties of managing the office and getting our answering service running smoothly. He will certainly appreciate your help in assuring that the hand of AA is there for the struggling alcoholic, or the traveler who needs meeting information. Why not give Bob a call at 838-9117 to offer a helping hand or volunteer to identify changes that could benefit users at both ends of the line? Central Office needs phone volunteers to handle the phone during the day to help reduce the burden on the cell phone volunteer.  Please consider also being available to respond to 12 Step calls for rides to meetings. This is half of the nature of our Primary Purpose as laid out in the AA Preamble.

Traditions Checklist*

TRADITION SIX: An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
  1. Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise money to endow several AA beds in our local hospital?
  2. Is it good for a group to go out and lease a small building?
  3. Are all the officers and members of our local club for AAs familiar with "Guidelines on Clubs" (which is available free from GSO)?
  4. Should the secretary of our group serve on the mayor's advisory committee on alcoholism?
  5. Some alcoholics will stay around AA only if we have a TV and card room. If this is what is required to carry the message to them, should we have these facilities?

*The Traditions Checklist Questions were originally published in the AA Grapevine in conjunction with a series on the Twelve Traditions that began in November 1969, and ran through September 1971. Sobriety News prints the Checklist for the number of the month that corresponds to the number of the Tradition that it deals with, because of the prohibitive length of all twelve. It is important that we be aware of the Twelve Traditions in our lives of recovery, because they help assure that AA will continue to be here for us, and for others who want it.
Printed by permission. THE AA GRAPEVINE INC., PO BOX 1980, GRAND CENTRAL STATION, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10163-1980

This-n-That

Don't forget the Harrisburg Area Intergroup meeting Thursday June 3rd, at 6:45pm, and the District 36 General Service Rep meeting on Monday June 14th, at 6:30; both meetings need your support. The Intergroup Bookstore is still open for business following the HAI meeting and on Saturday mornings from 10:00 till 11:15 for Groups to restock their literature cabinets with books and pamphlets.

 

BUT THERE ARE MANY MEN WHO WANT TO STOP, AND WITH THEM YOU CAN GO FAR.  YOUR UNDERSTANDING TREATMENT OF THEIR CASES WILL PAY DIVIDENDS.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.141-

May Intergroup Meeting
(no smoking please)

Albert D opened the meeting with the serenity prayer. Jean B resigned the Co-Chair officer job for personal reasons, and neither the Treasurer nor Secretary were able to be there. An Election of officers was conducted to replace all three and motions were carried to elect Harold R as Co-Chair, Ally W as Secretary, and Keven C as Treasurer. Kathie P accepted the job as Activities Chair.

The State Hospital was covered in  May by Middletown,  TMTL will visit in June, and The Way Out will be there in July. Cell Phone assignments: May- The Way Out; June - There's More To Life; July - West Shore Area, and August - 19th Street. The Big Book Study Group will host the meeting at Gaudenzia Adolescent Center through May, June and July. Attending the February meeting were: _____________. Was your group represented?

SOBRIETY NEWS is published monthly, and is usually available on the website the Tuesday night before the first Thursday of each month, so paper copies can be distributed to Reps at the Intergroup meeting. You can locate this newsletter, as well as lots of other stuff that would interest members of groups belonging to the Harrisburg Area Intergroup, at http://www.aaharrisburg.org

INTERNET SOBRIETY NEWS SUBSCRIPTIONS
 Sobriety News is e-mailed monthly to free subscribers who have indicated a desire to receive it. You may indicate a wish to be added to the mailing list by clicking on Subscribe  and then clicking on send. There is no charge for this service. It is normally mailed the Tuesday before the first Thursday of the month by BCC (blind copy) to protect the anonymity of recipients. You need to notify us if you change e-mail addresses, and you may not receive it, if your computer or internet service provider screens out mail that does not have your name in the To: box.

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