“These books came from the world. We want to get them back out to the world.”
Hello from AHCAB. I want to take this article to share a consideration coming from our committee which might be a little different than what your district may have thought about the 6,000 books we received from MDC 20 months ago.
It is clear now that the books came to us “from the world,” meaning that an organization, a county corrections department outside of AA, thought they were important enough to buy in bulk to distribute to alcoholics still suffering. The 6,000 are the remainder of a load of thousands of more books initially purchased by that department. As we intercepted their trip to the dump, our AA Traditions tell us that we might best keep with their initial purpose: to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. How do we do that?
Well, it is possible that a district might think the best way to do this is to have the books available for free at their meetings (when we have meetings again). But to quote from Bill W. in AA Comes of Age, pg 82,” …alcoholism is a quest for survival in which the good is sometimes the enemy of the best, and that only the best can bring the true good.”
What about the alcoholic who hasn’t yet found herself in our meetings? Is there a family member of an alcoholic out there who needs to read our instructions on how to contact AA? How would he find us?
Your district may have members who cannot afford books. But if there are sponsors who can buy a book for a newcomer, doesn’t that better sup-port GSO and AA as a whole than giving out free books which could go to someone who hasn’t yet found us?
Does your District have a jail, libraries, parole offices, union halls, corner book boxes for free book exchange, a hospital or clinic or Mexican consulate, a book van, a Goodwill store, a homeless shelter or food bank? Might the books find alcoholics who suffer in places you haven’t yet imagined? Could these books save lives? Area Committees for CPC, PI, Corrections, Treatment and Bridging the Gap are here to help you just for the asking.
These are the questions we want to put before the Area before we re-convene in March. What are your thoughts? How might your Higher Power fire your collective imagination? Let us know!