The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous - Assignment Example

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics AnonymousAttending a 12-step meeting is a unique experience of my life. I have heard my friends and people in general raising their reservations and fears over their expectations from the meeting. In this paper, I have shared my experience to ease their curiosity. Before attending this meeting, some thoughts I had included; I would be in the company of helpful alcoholics, I would be recognized as an alcoholic, I would have to share my addiction to alcohol with others, I would have to pray and join a cult, and I might find people who know me there.

My first meeting took place on a Saturday afternoon. As I entered the place, I found people sitting and standing randomly. I grabbed a chair near the window and saw people; some saying hello, some stopping, and some just keeping to themselves. The meeting commenced as the chairperson read the Preamble, and led the prayer. Different members read brief literature of AA afterwards. In this Step Meeting of 10 minutes, I sat and listened to the “steps”. My curiosity about the AA thing was increasing.

The chairperson declared the step that would be discussed. I was so surprised to see that the attendants of the meeting were unashamed apparently that I cannot really recall what step that was. After reading the step chapter from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, the attendants were asked if they had any previous experience related to the step and if any of them would take that as an opportunity to share it with others. The most interesting part of the whole meeting was to watch others narrate their personal experiences and struggles with alcohol and drawing their relation with the step under discussion.

People started talking during the meeting. They started off by telling their name and status as alcoholics to each other. One after another, every attendant stood up, said his name, narrated his story, received audience’s applauds and settled down. “In simplest form, the AA program operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or her own problem drinking, describes the sobriety he or she has found in AA, and invites the newcomer to join the informal Fellowship” (alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk, 2014).

Of all the different sorts of manifestations, I found that the most prominent causes of alcohol dependency were sociological and psychological. From the attendants’ experiences, I was able to conclude that a vast majority of the alcohol dependents came from broken families and experienced psychological issues from early childhood, which led them to joining bad company and ultimately to alcoholism. “Persons learn about drunkenness what their societies import to them, and comporting themselves in consonance with these understandings, they become living confirmations of their society’s teachings” (Edgerton cited in Gladwell, 2010).

All attendants seemed to know when the meeting would end and as everybody was done sharing his/her experiences with alcohol, the chairperson asked about any announcements related to AA. She then said that the time to say prayers had reached, so she requested everybody to stand up and form a large circle holding each other’s hand to say the prayers. The meeting came to its end with the end of the prayer. The attendants of the meeting now moved all about the place, in groups of two and three, to lend a social air to the meeting.

A group of people reached me and tried to ask me different sorts of questions about myself and alcoholism. I resolved to deter from answering directly and rather chose to quickly leave the place after the meeting was over. While I was driving back home, I had mixed feelings of awe, fear, and relief but regardless of everything, I cherished that unique experience because I had never had been to such a place where all the alcoholics would gather up. References:alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk. (2014).

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Retrieved from http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/About-AA/The-12-Steps-of-AA. Gladwell, M. (2010, Feb. 15). Annals of Anthropology: Drinking Games. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/15/100215fa_fact_gladwell.