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From: [email protected]
Category: Category 1
Date: 21 Jun 1999
Time: 02:21:59
Remote Name: ip185.atlanta14.ga.pub-ip.psi.net
Dear Fellow Members,
It takes courage to step out on faith, speak the unspeakable and write the unwritable. Some of it can't be done until you do it, with the miraculous power God gives to to carry our message as a recoverying addict, member of NA. When you do this selflessly, without thought of reward or what someone is going to say about it, you aquire a peculiar power: the power to tell the truth of your experience. Amazingly, just the way is works for you is of great value to others.
Much of what we enjoy in NA today was only a dream when the Basic Text was written. It took people with the courage of their convictions to stand up for what they knew to be true and start meetings where there were none. Courage to attend gatherings of addicts hundreds or thousands of miles from home. This newness and this courage is what vitalized NA and attracted hundreds of thousands of addict to our program. Would that all had stayed but we know many have never used again and many others are on a path that will lead them back to us. We know this because of our experience. No one has to tell us.
We hit a snag as a Fellowship when the idea that our freedom was circumscribed by our service structure. The structure was never meant to rule, censor, dictate or decide. Our Twelve Traditions give us ample information on how this works. Still, inertia and laziness accumulate in the quiter parts of our river and we get sandbars of those who will not think for themselves. When they are told nothing to do, they do nothing. Sometimes we get piles of brush that completely block off the flow until a dam is formed to allow the water of recovery to get deep enough to bust through and make a way for itself again.
Sometimes, it is sad to watch what others must go through and be able to do little to help, but twenty-four years of recovery has taught me to make myself available, not liable. I take care of my karma through my actions. Let them speak loudly for the love and gratitude NA has taught me. Among the many blessings of the NA program is the ability to let others go their way in peace. Afterall, there is room for many people to be right here and variety is healthy when it comes to people's opinion. Wisdom it knowing what to do and having it work out well without prior personal experience and so it can't be taught but has to be discovered person to person on a daily basis.
In Loving Service,
Bo S.