"Giving Back"

Also known as Being Of Service. There's lots of ways. If you're new, you can be of service just by being at a meeting. If you've built up a little time, you can make coffee or take a Secretary or Literature position. If you've been coming around for awhile, you can take a Treasurer, GSR, or General Secretary spot. Having a service commitment is one of the pillars of my program and I stress the importance of it to all my sponsees.

One of the meetings I attend has a shortage right now of people willing and able to take higher-level service commitments. The meeting is well-attended, but as people get time, they either stop attending regularly or choose to not be of service, or both. I was talking with my sponsor about the situation and we had ourselves a few choice words of agreement about the subject.

If no one were of service, there would be no meetings. And the concept doesn't apply to just meeting-related positions, either. I hear people share about having finished their steps, and yet don't go on to that crucial part of, "...and now I'm available to sponsor others." What if my sponsor had gotten sober and said, "well, thanks all, that was great; see you around!" He wouldn't have been there for me when I needed a sponsor. Maybe I wouldn't even be sober today. Maybe he wouldn't either.

The best comment I've ever heard on this issue is what an old-timer said in an AA meeting once. She had over twenty years of sobriety under her belt, and yet still chaired meetings. She sponsored other women. She took the occasional Secretary gig. She said that she kept on being of service for a very simple reason: she owed. She owed a debt to the program that she could never--ever--fully repay. Being of service was the least she could do to try. The program had saved her life. The least she could do was give others the same chance.

Occasionally, someone will nominate me for a meeting Secretary position. I chuckle and then respectfully decline. I've been a Secretary many times; give someone with less time the chance to reap the rewards of this part of the program. If they try to insist, try to give me grief, then I go ahead and list my current service work out for them: I'm a Treasurer; I'm the area committee chair; I'm sponsoring three men who are actively working their steps. And oh yes, I do the newsletter for our area, too. Then I ask them what service they are currently doing. Their answer, more often than not, goes something like this: "Uhh... nothing."

I owe. I owe the program my life, maybe more figuratively than literally, but then again maybe not. The last time I had a really bad bout of depression, it was my friends in the program that held me up and kept me from drowning. I've learned things through working the program I never thought I could, not the least of which is that I Am Enough. For me, I continue to work the program, and part of that means continuing to be of service. I can't make anyone else be of service. I can't make any other sponsors make their sponsees be of service. But I tell all my sponsees how crucial it is. Because we owe. We wouldn't be here today, we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for those who had come before us giving back and showing us the way. Now that we're living clean and sober, it's our turn to do the same. It's our turn to help others.

To me, the fullest meaning of 'we only keep what we have by giving it away' is this: I was given a life through working this program that I never would have dreamed possible. That's a gift beyond measure. And the way I get to keep it is by helping others, and giving them a chance to have the same.