Although AA is supposed to be anonymous, why is there not a Sobriety Walk? There are cancer walks, Gay pride walks, domestic abuse walks, so why isn't there a sobriety walk for public awareness of the problem? There is a MADD organization. Why is there no walk celebrating sobriety or recovery? I think it is odd that a recovering abuser cannot have the opportunity to overcome addiction and join together for a walk that would bring awareness to the numbers effected by drugs and alcohol.

Recovery is a lifestyle change and society is linked to our lifestyle. Why not expose the white elephant in the room?

Just wondering.

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.

There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions.

AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes.

Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

Hi Conrad,
I know what AA is, and I guess I'm not anonymous ha ha.
I really don't care who knows, and maybe there are others who feel the same.
There is no shame in wanting to get better or to encourage others to do so.

they can,by all means,have a hundred Sobrietywalks as Individuals,just not in the name of AA!


1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

served the Fellowship well for over seventyfive years!

Of course. I just used AA as an example. Scratch AA. Just a simple sobriety walk.
I guess I am a little excited about being anti-drink. So many people get excited about getting drunk. I thought I would add a different spin to the mix.

First, congrats Ms. Golden Girl! ...My thinking on this is, "Why should it involve AA?"...If a Sobriety Walk is something you feel would bring a positive element to your journey by enhancing public awareness, why not start your own "Sobriety Walk" campaign by shakin the bushes in you community to see if there are others who feel as you do?...

Hi Leigh, sexy kitten
I don't want to tie AA to it. It was just a group with members. I know there are people who have felt ashamed about having an addiction. I have been on other websites and it is as if having an addiction is like having an STD. Nobody wants to know that person. We know better than anyone, we are not perfect, and we also know THEY are not perfect either.

this carried a powerful Lesson for those early AAs!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonian_movement

Washingtonians at their peak numbered in the tens of thousands, possibly as high as 600,000.[1] However, in the space of just a few years, this society all but disappeared because they became fragmented in their primary purpose, becoming involved with all manner of controversial social reforms including prohibition, sectarian religion, politics and abolition of slavery. It is believed that Abraham Lincoln attended and spoke at one of the great revivals, presumably not for treatment, but out of interest in various issues being discussed.[1]

The Washingtonians drifted away from their initial purpose of helping the individual alcoholic, and disagreements, infighting, and controversies over prohibition eventually destroyed the group. The Washingtonians became so thoroughly extinct that, some 50 years later in 1935 when William Griffith Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith joined together in forming Alcoholics Anonymous, neither of them had ever heard of the Washingtonians. In the late 1940s through 1950, AA formed and enacted its Twelve Traditions, principles which guard the AA groups from such pitfalls as befell the Washingtonians. The lesson learned from the demise of the Washingtonians was that AA needed to avoid outside, controversial, non-AA issues, thus establishing a tradition of Singleness of Purpose.

Ok Conrad,
I got it.
I will just write poetry about it. Just because I choose not to be anonymous does not reveal those I know.

I never hide anything critical about myself. I am an open book. Maybe because deep down inside I don't care what any one else thinks. I have wasted so much time caring.

Feck em Golden....It's their loss ...Perfect, what a boring little word!

xx

Yes, Feck em.

That is very admirable policy for AA and is probably why they are successful. I had a friend who was told to attend AA by the courts, so he was going to avoid some court sentence or probation.

How does AA feel about people who are there by court order?

P.s. He also really like it, and he said that AA itself was "addictive." I guess that's better than being addicted to a substance. He was addicted to the community.

Like I said before,as an Individual you are free to do as you please,provided you don't speak for the Fellowship!

you could re-read that 6th,10th,11th,and 12th Traditions!Right there in the 12and12!
Spells it out nicely!

I am not knocking AA. It works for a lot of people but not everyone who got sober is in AA or even belongs in AA. If there was sobriety walk and it was generalized, I would go or at least sponsor someone. I have had people say I was a binge drinker. At very far apart intervals and not very much alcohol at a time (maybe two bottles of girly flavored malt liquor at most i.e. Boone Farms) in one night, I feel I need alcohol out of my life. I have never been one of those do anything to get it. Wreck my life over it, etc. types. BUT I recognized early on before it became a problem that I had no business doing it. I have read the AA Big Book. I have attended meetings in LA with a boyfriend. I see commonalities between how the people I met started and where I COULD end up if I did not stop, so I stopped.

I never did drugs because a friend mine was a drug dealer. I think I have quoted him before. He said, "Drugs are for the weak and stupid .....and I don't mind exploiting them". He taught me drugs were NOT okay. And to only get stoned on known stuff with a known person for safety reasons if I was going to. I never did. And I know people don't like my harsh stance on weed but I had a freaking drug dealer friend who would NEVER EVER get high and drive. NOT calling anyone weak or stupid. Not saying ANYONE cannot smoke week or drink. Just saying I choose not to have it in my life.

I am sorry I even mentioned AA. This is not about AA since some have obtained sobriety, yes SOBRIETY without AA. This is about people who are happy to be sober.

Well for what it's worth, I am in the same boat with you and would walk with you.

so,you assume I an not happy to be sober?
I am aware that some people sober up without AA or some other 12-Step programs,but that wasn't the topic!

Hi Tea,
I am glad you get it. I have done Heart walks, Aides walks, Breast Cancer walks and never-yet suffered the disease, BUT, I support the lifestyle and awareness these people are walking for.

The topic was a sobriety walk. not an AA walk. My twisted logic: Gee if there are enough people to fill a meeting room a couple nights a week, there may be more than just me willing to crawl out of the woodwork to do a walk. The woodwork being their homes, not a meeting room.

Although AA is supposed to be anonymous, why is there not a Sobriety Walk?

ringing a bell?

anyway,I wish you a Happy 24!