oops...

I took down an article that I published earlier this week. It was clearly a mistake on my part to have posted it here.

It was a message that opened up a potentially negative perspective of portions of the AA general service structure.

I don't think the opinions I expressed were wrong, the perspectives misleading, or that it is even inappropriate to have discussions critical of AA - to the contrary, I think many more folks need to get involved with and participate in some probably very difficult conversations about our AA organization. In my opinion, if we don't have those difficult conversations, AA as we know it won't exist for the next generation of alcoholic working their way to the doors of our meetings and groups.

...and, that may or may not be a bad thing. I should hope this incarnation of AA would exist only as long as it serves God's purposes - not one day longer...

But, after I posted that article, I realized that this blog was not the place to have that conversation. I was inspired to post that article after I'd participated for a few days in the part of the web that I store bookmarked in a folder I call AA- (AA minus) - those parts of the web where detractors who feel AA should be abolished, exposed, and reviled share their information on the dirt we have in our closet. Yes, I believe AA has closets and dirt.

So, I wrote and posted a relatively innocuous article that simply posed a seed for a question. I was sort of proud of what I said and the restraint with which it was said. A couple of people commented on it.

Then, I realized it was a mistake to post that here. That is not the purpose if this blog - to open up that dialog.

So, that of course, opened up a couple of different questions:

1. What then, exactly, is the purpose of this blog?
2. Where, if anywhere, should this dialog that I feel is so very necessary (for AA to survive) happen?

After a few days of reflection, the best I can say is that I don't know the answer to either one, exactly. And that, I suppose, is the purpose of this article and, maybe, this whole blog. This is one small person's struggle toward "...truth, justice, and the American way..." - how, in fact, I "practice these principles in all my affairs"...

Mary, who just posted her 1,400th article, has assured me both in comments and articles she's written that she sometimes struggles with "purpose" in her blog offerings. I'm somewhat less than a 1/10th of the way there.

...so, as much as I still hate it, what they told me in early sobriety remains true today - I guess "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be for right now"...

I love AA, the life it's given me and the challenges it's laid before me...

...I just pray God's strength to get me there...