iction to alcohol, which brought them together. The outlook andattitude of these people was very optimistic. This surprised me considerably becauseI had expected the meeting to be full of negativity and pessimism. The warmwelcome that this group gave me showed me how much that they do care and howwilling they are to help others afflicted with alcoholism. The one thing about thisgroup that surprised me the most was how openly they referred to themselves asdrunks. I had always thought that it would be an insult or degrading to a recoveringalcoholic to call them a drunk. I realized that I was wrong. Being a drunk is whateach and everyone of these people is, and in order for them to begin the recoveryprocess they need to first admit to themselves that they are indeed a drunk.One belief that seemed to be held universally among all of the members of thegroup was that AA has one purpose. That purpose is to help alcoholics deal withtheir addiction to alcohol. An AA meeting is where you go to discuss the effects ofalcohol on you, it is not time to air your dirty laundry about problems with othersubstances. If you want or need help coping with your addiction to alcohol, AA is asolution, if you want help with other addictions, AA is not a solution. Each memberof the group wanted to help themselves and anyone else who needed or desired it. The group strongly believed in the 12 steps, focusing heavily on the fourth and fifthsteps as being the bridge to true recovery, saying that the recovery process beganonce you crossed the bridge. It seemed as though each person in the group gained astrong sense of who they were and what was important to them to survive. I wasgiven the impression that they had an idea of how important they are to themselvesand their family and how important alcohol was to them. One major concept that came up throughout both meetings was the idea ofone day at a time. It was this idea that helped each of them to beco...
