Field Study of AA
On Wednesday March 15 and 22 I attended meetings of the Serentiy Group, a localmeeting group of Alcoholics Anonymous that were held at the CongregationalChurch in East Bridgewater. The meetings started around 8:00 pm and went untileach member was given the opportunity to speak, or to share their feelings in someway. There was a total of 15 people present, including myself and my companion. The group was primarily made up of males, there was one female aside from mycompanion and I. The age of the group members was pretty much middle age (late Before attending the meeting I was very apprehensive about going, for manyreasons. The main one was that I did not know what to expect. I was unsure ofwho was going to be there, if I would know anyone, or if anyone would know me. Ifelt as though I was going to be invading the privacy of those in attendance. Uponarrival at I felt very extremely uncomfortable for two reasons, the obvious agedifference, and the male to female ratio. The uneasiness passed quickly as themembers of the group welcomed us in, and made us feel as if we were a part of thegroup. I think that part of my initial nervousness was due to the fact that I did not
They took the idea of taking inventory on themselves very seriously. In this small group of individuals I found somewhat of a family structure. This surprised me considerably becauseI had expected the meeting to be full of negativity and pessimism. At eachmeeting they read about the fifth step and the fifth tradition. One belief that seemed to be held universally among all of the members of thegroup was that AA has one purpose. The one thing about thisgroup that surprised me the most was how openly they referred to themselves asdrunks. Once I met these people and began conversing with them I knew I waswrong. It seemed as though each person in the group gained astrong sense of who they were and what was important to them to survive. Once Iarrived I realized that they do not look any different than anyone else. The meetings and their lives seemed to revolve around them. Being a drunk is whateach and everyone of these people is, and in order for them to begin the recoveryprocess they need to first admit to themselves that they are indeed a drunk. Each memberof the group wanted to help themselves and anyone else who needed or desired it. They showed me that alcoholics areordinary people just like you and me, and what they need most of all is support andunderstanding. I think that I felt this way because of the negative stereotypes that areattached to being a drunk, and not what the positive effects of a group such asAlcoholics Anonymous could be. I believe that a group such as TheSerenity Group, would be extremely beneficial to those who had a problem withalcohol.
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Acceptance Essays
