Climbing on the wagon much more than transportation to the next drunk

There's nothing anonymous about Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) on a reserve. About noon the next day everybody
pretty much knows what was said and who said it.
Gossip is relished and if the truth gets stretched
somewhat in the retelling then it just makes a good
story even better.
       Despite the large ears and long tongues, it must be
recognized that the AA fellowship has helped a lot of
people over a lot of years. There was a time when
alcoholism was regarded as incurable. Alcoholics
simply died without hope. It took two remarkable
individuals to support one another in their sobriety.
Together they managed through the common bond of
alcoholism and the desire to maintain sobriety to
create a path leading to a life of sobriety and
ongoing recovery. This path became the fellowship of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
       I remember attending my first AA meeting. I was like
a whipped dog with my tail between my legs. I was in
misery and here were all these people laughing and
joking. I was shocked and annoyed. Life was so unfair
and here were my fellow drunks having a good time when
they should be sharing my misery.
       A cynic may say climbing on the wagon is just
transportation to the next drunk. I found, however, AA
works if I made it work. Deceased Senator David Knight
used to come up to me, touch my coat and ask me if I
was still dry. My sponsor would tell me life was hard
drunk or sober so I'd better get on with living the
way it is rather than mourning it for what it should
be. People would say "One day at a time", "Easy Does
It" and my favorite "The more you say poor me the
sooner you'll say pour me another one." It was like
there was this ball bearing rolling around in my
alcoholic pickled mind that would make contact every
once in a while and form an insightful thought. It
took a year before my mind cleared.
       I remember many years ago in Thompson Manitoba, my
boss offered me full pay if I would go into treatment
for twenty-eight days. I refused to even consider I
had an Alcohol problem so I quit on the spot.
Alcoholism made me a liar. I could even lie to myself
and believe it. People knew I was an Alcoholic long
before I could admit it to myself.  Two very definite
signs of acute alcoholism are drinking alone and
blackouts. I did both.
       Twenty-six years of sobriety later I still can't
dance sober but I can enjoy life.
       I have noticed it is from the margins that new
streams of emotional healing appear. Two alcoholics
helped one another and in their doing so laid the
foundation of a fellowship that would help countless
others world wide. There are other examples
       The treatment of post traumatic stress disorder owes
a big debt to veterans returning from the Vietnam. The
American military did not want to recognize or treat
the mental wounds experienced by veterans. Emotional
pain leading to suicide, addictions and violence was
seen as a moral flaw distant from the intense
battlefield experience. The military accepted physical
wounds but could not accept emotional wounds. Again
the hopeful healing response came from within. The
veterans themselves developed their own group therapy
to meet their own needs. Only when the administration
saw the success of these groups did the military
accept and adopt the veteran's own therapy.
        Colonization has had an impact on every Indian
family. In the same manner as the origin of AA and the
Vietnam veteran's search for healing, the Aboriginal
people are finding new hope from within. Sharing
Circles, ceremonies and renewal from within each
person and each community are` creating hope.  People
love to gossip but in the sharing, people are also
talking about those remarkable individuals who are
walking a healing journey. One leads and others will
follow.