Intergroups Unity Committee Active Again
In a message from the Unity Group chairperson, Dennis H:

Larry O shared about being a very young child in a family, where, when a family cold would afflict all the children at the same time, at bedtime all the children were coughing and keeping each other awake, they were given a hot toddy to calm their coughing. Larry would continue coughing until he got a second toddy, alcoholic behavior already. Later on, he used to hear people sharing that they had crossed that line into alcoholism at some point; he figures he crossed it somewhere between his mother's womb and the doctor's hands. He shared other drinking experiences that did not deter him from showing up for work the next day; adding a new dimension to the concept of on the job absenteeism. Although he stopped drinking for long periods, because of realizations that his drinking was a problem, but he always started again. Finally he came into AA and he couldn't face the first step. He told this fellow Jim, that he didn't like the fact that he was an alcoholic. Jim told him you "don't have to like it to accept it". That was exactly what he needed to hear at that moment, and he thinks that was God doing for him what he could not do himself. 

Chet H from Hummelstown shared what it was like and his experience of 57 years of sobriety practicing the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are not going to reveal the details of his humorous and emotional message in deference to his right to practice 'these principles' as he has been taught and practiced them for these many years. Chet has always made the point that if you haven't seen Chet H, then you haven't heard Chet H, because his talks have never been recorded. This is a matter of principle by which his exercise of anonymity as" the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions",  protects him from the temptation of pride in his own importance as a carrier of a message. The danger to him is, if some speakers have a better message than others, then he must be pretty special, if his message is being recorded. It is a matter of maintaining our humility he believes. If you'd like to hear his message, watch for an opportunity at another event where he may speak in the future, because you can't get the tape. 

Patti O was told that the most important commitment in AA is coffee maker, and her experience has verified that. When she got the commitment she was given the coffee pot and a can of coffee. She knew nothing about coffee making, but next week she came in to the meeting early, filled the pot with water, and dumped the coffee in the basket. It was a long time before she heard the pot make that perk noise and it seemed to perk really slowly, but finally people started coming in and filling their cups and sitting down. Gradually people were taking less and less, and filling it with water. No one complained, but after the speaker was done, the secretary said that coffee maker was such an important job, they were assigning Patti an assistant. Next week she filled the pot with water, and delegated to her assistant putting the coffee in. He took out a scoop and measured the coffee. He didn't tell her what to do, he showed her. Do you see the magic in that? And that is the way Alcoholics Anonymous has been teaching her for more than 30 years, we have shown her what to do.  
    Every night before she goes to bed she prays this prayer: "God, please have people treat me tomorrow, exactly the way I treated them today." She asserts it's amazing how that has altered the way she drives on the freeway, and every other aspect of her life.

Sunday morning's spiritual talk by Don M from Louisville was inspiring but disappointing, because it marked the end of a wonderful weekend experience. Don told us he suffers from a disease of perception; what he thinks is going on is not necessarily what is actually going on. He has resolved this difficulty over the last thirty years of recovery through a realization that it doesn't matter what he thinks he knows, the only thing that matters is what he does. For example, he can know that he is absolutely too tired and certainly too important to have to attend that stupid meeting this evening, just so long as what he does, is attend that meeting. If he had depended on what he thinks, feels, and knows to keep him sober, he would have gotten drunk again thirty years ago, and it's unlikely that he'd have survived that. It's pretty amazing that he survived long enough to get here, but that is the miracle of this program. 

    It is difficult here to capture the messages of the people who shared their experiences in recovery with such wit and humor, because space is so limited here. Six hours of sharing would take much more space than we wish to try to write down, and certainly, a lot more that you'd wish to read. 

The dry drunk's 8th step
make a list of all people we have harmed
and ask God to remove them

12 Concepts Illustrated
From the publication Concepts Illustrated, The Sobriety News will publish the Concept each month, which corresponds to the number of the month, because we so seldom are exposed to these very important concepts of relationships, whether it be between levels of the AA organization, other employees we work with or members of a family.

Concept IX

Good service leaders, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are at all levels indispensable for our future functioning and safety. The primary world service leadership once exercised by the founders of A. A. must necessarily be assumed by the Trustees of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.

"No matter how carefully we design our service structure of principles and relationships, no matter how well we apportion authority and responsibility, the operating results of our structure can be no better than the personal performance of those who must man it and make it work. Good leadership cannot function well in a poorly designed structure....Weak leadership can hardly function at all, even in the best of structures."
    Due to A. A.'s principle of rotation, furnishing our service structure with able and willing workers has to be a continuous effort. The base of the service structure—and the source of our leadership—is the General Service Representative. The G.S.R. is the service leader for his or her group, the indispensable link between the group and A. A. as-a-whole. Together the G.S.R.s are A. A.'s group conscience—and together, in their areas, they elect the area committee members and ultimately the delegates and the area's candidates for trustee. Groups who have not named G.S.R.s should be encouraged to do so. And as the G.S.R.s meet in area assemblies, care and dedication are required. Personal ambitions should be cast aside; feuds and controversies forgotten. "Who are the best qualified people?" should be the thought of all.

"No society can function well without able leadership in all its levels, and A. A. can be no exception. Fortunately, our Society is blessed with any amount of real leadership—the active people of today and the potential leaders of tomorrow as each new generation of able members swarms in. We have an abundance of men and women whose dedication, stability, vision, and special skills make them capable of dealing with every possible service assignment. We have only to seek these folks out and trust them to serve us.

"A leader in A. A. service is therefore a man (or woman) who can personally put principles, plans and policies into such dedicated and effective action that the rest of us want to back him and help him with his job.

"Good leadership will also remember that a fine plan or idea can come from anybody, anywhere. Consequently, good leadership will often discard its own cherished plans for others that are better, and it will give credit to the source.

"Good leadership never passes the buck. Once assured that it has; or can, obtain sufficient general backing, it freely takes decisions and puts them into action forthwith, provided of course that such actions be within the framework of its defined authority and responsibility.

"Another qualification for leadership is 'give and take,' the ability to compromise cheerfully whenever a proper compromise can cause a situation to progress in what appears to be the right direction.... We cannot, however, compromise always. Now and then, it is truly necessary to stick flat-footed to one's convictions about an issue until it is settled.

"Our leaders do not drive by mandate, they lead by example. We say to them, 'Act for us, but do not boss us.'"

Printed by permission of A. A. World Service

There are no strangers in AA
just friends we have never met

Moving fast is not necessarily
the same thing as going somewhere 

Joe not wanting to pay  $1000 for a parrot, asks the storekeeper how much the 3rd parrot cost.  The shopkeeper replies $2000.  Joe is incredulous and asks what the parrot does for $2000.  I've never really seen him do anything but the other two call him sponsor.

Faith is our greatest gift
sharing it with others is our greatest responsibility  

A new meeting will be starting on Wednesday, September 6th in Middletown, called the Into Action Group.  The meeting will be held @ the Evan. United Methodist Church at 157 E. Water St. (Water & Spruce) from 7:00PM-8:30PM.  It is an open speaker meeting.  The format is two 10 minute speakers followed by a 10 minute break, and then a main speaker. 

The Pine Street noon meetings on Tuesday will be a Step meeting and Thursday will be a speaker meeting. The meetings of M-W-F remain unchanged. Monday- Step, Wednesday Discussion, and Friday is Big Book. All are closed, non-smoking at the Boyd Center, 234 South Street.

AA delivers everything alcohol promised

August Intergroup Meeting
Kristen opened the meeting with the serenity prayer. The Dept of Veterans Affairs had asked for our assistance in an assessment of unmet needs of veterans. Bill C volunteered to attend a meeting with them on August 10th. The Dauphin Clubhouse, a psych-social services organization, a subsidiary of Phil-Haven, asked that we donate books for homebound peers. The request was tabled for vote in September. Sobriety News requested that groups inform Jim of group activities for the calendar of events, and also that group members contribute reports about events their group conducts for the newsletter. Both men's and women's prison meetings for Cumberland and Dauphin Counties are going well, Dauphin women could use more volunteers, but several women have stepped forward, which has helped a lot. Kevin B resigned a co-chair and Kim from the Middletown Groups volunteered to take his place.  Expenses for the month of July were  $1383.80, including a literature order of $627. The treasury balance was $1042.38 plus a prudent reserve of $2000.

Donations
The addresses for group mailings of local contributions are as follows.   

Eastern PA General Service Area 59                    General Service Office
1112 Silver Maple Dr.                                           Box #459
Clarks Summit , PA 18411                                     Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163

Pearl of the Month  
"Faith without works is dead...Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past.  We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.  If we haven't the will to do this, we ask until it comes.  Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol"
The Big Book, page 76

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?

Tony F., Corona del Mar, Ca. AA GV 4/99

There is a big difference between
"saying what you do"
and "doing what you say"

1938    Board trustee Frank Amos arranged a meeting between Bill W and Eugene Exman (Religious editor of Harper Brothers).  Exman offered Bill a $1,500 advance on the rights to the book.  The Alcoholic Foundation Board urged acceptance of the offer.  Instead Hank P and Bill formed Works Publishing Co. and sold stock at @ $25 par value.  600 shares were issued.  Hank and Bill each received 200 shares, 200 shares were sold to others.  Later, 30 shares of preferred stock, at $100 par value were sold.  To mollify the board, it was decided that the author's royalty (which would ordinarily be Bill's) could go to the Alcoholic Foundation.  Encouraged by Dr. Silkworth, Charles Towns loaned Hank and Bill $2,500 for the book.  It was later increased to $4,000.