IT TAKES MANY COLORS TO MAKE A RAINBOW
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the latest post by Mortart on his blog Octogenarian:
"A guy who never met a Jew before." and, as the title suggests, it describes the breaking down of age old prejudices.
This brought to mind the journey that I have been taking for the past 17 years. In 1989 I attended my first AA meeting and I was devastated. I had absolutely nothing in common with this strange group of humanity.
I had always thought of myself as a liberal, well educated and non-prejudicial person. What more could they ask for? I was no longer a child and I, literally, couldn’t see where I could gain anything from these “misfits”. But, not to worry...Pinehurst is a wealthy community, and, if I chose carefully, I could attend only the “high class” meetings.
The only problem was that I was getting nowhere. Thankfully, I had a wise Sponsor who suggested that I reach out and try to find the similarities in my fellow members, rather than the differences. I started to attend “new-comer” meetings that were mainly made up of younger people and those of different races and religious leanings.
All of a sudden the world seemed to open up before me. I realized that I had been living in a vacuum…and a boring one at that. I became teachable and the more I listened and opened my heart the more I learned.
My friends today are a conglomeration of different races, and ethnicities. They range in age from 17 to 84 and not a day passes that I don’t learn something new from them. We share laughter and tears and the knowledge that we will be here for each other as we continue on our journey of sobriety.
Today I feel like I have a metaphorical rainbow that covers and protects me. It is made up of the melding of all these colorful characters that I almost didn’t let into my life.
posted by Ginnie at 4:19 PM
6 Comments:
Hi Ginnie,
I'm so intrigued by that organization. It seems to bring out such greatness in people.
You were very brave to extend yourself like that. I know what you mean about considering yourself liberated and then realizing that there's a long way to go.
My husband and I watched the movie "Crash" last night. It dissolved every bone in my proud, progressive, open-minded self. It uncovered all sorts of prejudices in my soul. We both walked away from it feeling so humbled. I strongly recommend it.
Awesome post, Ginnie! :) I remember my early days of sobriety during which I was court-ordered to attend AA meetings. I couldn't imagine how I could possibly relate to "a bunch of bums and losers". (Yikes, if that wasn't my racist, elitist mother's voice coming out, I don't know what is! LOL) The fact is that I learned more from that "bunch of bums and losers" in one year than I'd learned in 23 years of living in my cozy, untainted, middle-class world. It was my first taste of real community, community that didn't demand anything more of me than behaving like a decent human being and having a willingness to commit myself to honesty.
Oh, and I tried the "meetings in Bel Air" bit, too. Those people were far more screwed up than anyone I met at meetings in Watts!
Thailand Gal
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Ginnie,
Thanks for the comment on my blog. :) Just so you know, I have recommended yours to my sobriety support group (LifeRing Secular Recovery [LSR]). You have a gentleness and a graciousness to your sobriety message.
Thailand Gal
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Wonderful post, Ginnie. It truly is amazing what comes to us when we begin to just open up.
just discovered your blog. It's what I needed to read today. I'll be back...
I love this! I think our humanity is what bonds us and I love when it comes through where you least expect it. My father always told me about the wide range of all types that he would meet at AA meetings. We're all so much more alike than we are different.
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