If It's Not Broken, Don't Fix It

May 27. Hey friends, trying to stay cool tonight cuz its pretty hot & just a lil after mindnight thursday morning. Writing here daily helps keep me on track & I hope that someone benefits out there from the things I share. I was almost too tired to get on here tonight, but I am stubborn & there is still plenty of time for sleep. My Wednesday wasn't all that terrible, I started my day out at 7am with a friend. We met up with my best friend Tommy & even saw my cousin. After an all day excusion I came home & tried to get some rest. A short nap & a shower later to escape the heat & I was off to my monthly commitment to open a meeting in Scranton. The topic there was an important one & it's worth repeating.

When something isn't broken, it doesn't need fixing. In relationship to the meeting, this topic arouse in the terms of carrying the message. The ways in which the 12 Steps are presented from one alcoholic to another have been the same for 75 years. So has the message in regaurds to there being a lasting solution to the disease of alcoholism. Because of the number of courts, agencies, & rehabilitation centers constantly force feeding people into the 12 Step fellowships when they do not want to be there, the message & the way one alcoholic reaches another has changed & become challenging. In the past decades alcoholics & addicts found the fellowships because they had hit bottoms so low that they were finally convinced they had to do something different. When the message was heard & someone showed up to a meeting they were ready to embrace change & were not going through the motions like so many others who are forced there do often.

At tonight's meeting an old timer ephasized on how important it was that the message did not get watered down. I share that urgent view, because its that same message that has remained the same for 75 years that saved my life & gave me hope. As simple as it seems there is a whole book actually containing the "message" of recovery that can be shared with others, carrying the message requires learning it first. So many concerns come with people who actually have not yet hit their bottoms, but I have to remember that everything is at it should be.. in addition some of those people who hear the message when they are not yet ready to stop, later know where to turn when they are. In the end I suppose that tolerance & love wins over all and that keeping the message in tact as the founders made it is the primary objective after carrying it on to the next alcoholic. The message is not broken so lets not fix it just yet. So with this I will carry what little I know on to the next who will hear it... Good Night.. Good Morning,... <3 Jimmy