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by
D. Paul
Gra un~e
On May 8, 1976, 52 prominent people
met in Washington, D.
C.,
to announce to
the press and the world: "We are recov–
ered alcoholics." Dubbed "Operation
Understanding," the media event was
sponsored by the National Counci/ on
Alcoholism to dispel the myth that alco–
holism doesn 't happen to "ni
ce"
people
and to reduce the moral stigma that
cripples efforts to successfully treat the
di sease. " Operation Understanding "
also underscored the fact that people
ALCOHOLISM
torecovery
can recover from a/coholism and that
there are resources and agencies that
can he/p alcoholics resume - or enjoy
for the first time - normal, happy, suc–
cessfu/lives without alcohol.
To
find out
what resources exist on a local leve/ to
help the alcoholic achieve sobriety, we
sent a contributing editor into the com–
munity of Pasadena, California. Here is
his report.
W
hile 500,000 alcoho lics in Southern Califor–
nia were making the rounds of the bars, ca–
eening
in
cars on the freeways, or nu rsing their
bo ttles at home on the evening of August 25, 1976. 200
plus happy, gra teful, recovered a lcoho lics we re ce le–
brating the 35th anniversary of the South Pasadena–
San Marino chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous and
their own sobriety. They were a living testimony th at
a lcoholism can be overcome.
Alcoholics Anonymous is the most successful mo–
da lity of treatment fo r a lcoho lism in ex istence today. It
began in 1935 when two alcoholics discove red they
could strengthen their sobriety by sha ring their cxpcri–
ences and helping others sutrering from a lcoholism.
Today AA has grown to 22,000 loca l chapters in 92
co untries. An estimated one million peopl e participate
in AA - more than found in all o ther modalities of
treatment combined .
AA Steps and Traditions
On the fty leaf of their litera ture AA describes itse lf as
"a fellowship of meo a nd women who sha re their
experience, strength , and hope with each other that
they may solve their common problem and help others
to recover from alcoholism. " AA is nonsectarian a nd
nonpolitical. It neither endorses nor opposes any
causes.
The key lo the indi vidua l alcoholic's success is the
"Twelve Steps" of AA, and the key to AA 's s uccess as
an organiza tion is its "Twelve Tradit ions."
The "Twelve Steps," read a t the sta rt o f every AA
meeting. sta rts as follows:
• We admilled we were powerless over alcohol - that
our li ves had become unmanageable.
• Carne to believe that a Powe r grea ter than ourselves
could restare us to sa nity.
• Made a decision to turn our will a nd our lives over
to the ca re ofGod
as we understood Him .
• Made a searching a nd fearlcss mora l inventory of
ourselves.
The "Twelve Traditions" tha t govern th e fellowship
as a whole include such points as:
• T he only requireinent for AA membcrship is a desire
to stop drinking.
• An AA group ought never endo rse, finance, o r lend
the AA name to any rela ted facility or outside enter–
prise.
• Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting.
declining outside contributions.
• Alcoholics Anonymous should remain fo rever non–
professiona l, but our service centers may cmploy spe–
cia l workers .
• Anonymity is the spiritua l found a tion of our tradi–
tions, ever reminding us to place principies befare
personalities. ( In respect of that tradition, only initials
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