Things My Sponsors Taught Me

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From the Book
Things My Sponsors Taught ME
By Paul H.


On Not Wanting to Go on a Twelfth Step Call

Someone was there for you; where would you be if they hadn’t been?

We know where we’d be – probably dead. But A.A. cautions us against thinking of a Twelfth Step call as a debt that must be paid. First, if it were a debt, we could pay it off by making one or two calls, which denies the true purpose of such a call. Second, we should not go from a sense of obligation; rather, we should to and talk about ourselves and answer a few questions. We might do a little persuasion, but we aren’t trained counselors – we’re drunks who have learned (at least for a while) to live without drinking.

And yet, we’d have been in a hell of a mess, to put it mildly, if there hadn’t been someone there for us. We really can’t afford, if we have a healthy conscience, to fail to answer the call whenever we can. Yes, it’s okay to refuse to go on a call – you won’t be kicked out of A.A. But for your sobriety’s sake, your excuse had better be real strong. My sponsor told me he almost refused to go on a Twelfth Step call because he was super-tired. He went anyway, and found that the pigeon was his sponsor’s only son!

Please feel free to share your Experience, Strength, and Hope