Money, Money, Money

I recently sat with a man I sponsor after a meeting because of what I watched him do during the meeting.

You see this man is fairly well off financially. He travels at his own will, dines out regularly drives an expensive car and has the clothes to go with it all. When the seventh tradition was observed he took out his “roll” of money a placed one dollar in the basket. I asked is that all? He nodded to say yes.

Well, I gave him quite a lecture about the importance of being generous to the basket when it is passed!

The Archway Change!!

The very next time at a meeting with him – he looked at me, smiled and promptly dropped five dollars in.

Unless we are financially strapped are we still putting one lousy dollar in the basket which with today’s inflation is next to nothing. By the way, make sure we drink the coffee! Meanwhile, some AA’s become angry when a local group can no longer afford to buy coffee or worse literature.

What is my usual contribution to the basket when it is passed? So many of us get our lives back together because of AA and expect so much from AA, yet become so stingy when it comes to the seventh tradition. We go on vacations buy things some even get dressed up for our meetings, yet the basket is not given the attention it needs.

The Seventh Tradition

How much money is the local group giving back to inter-group or is it more concerned about having an anniversary party and putting the groups basked money towards that.

So many groups are poor not because they choose to be that way but because when the basket it passed we behave as members as if we were poor.

Perhaps we should think about all the literature that needs to be printed and the meeting lists needed to be printed in order to carry the message. Perhaps we can reach a bit deeper into our pockets when the basket is passed and teach the folks we sponsor to do the same and give back.

Let’s think about it and do something about it. Dig a little deeper. AA is the last house on the block for so many of us.

Blessings,
Peter Marinelli

“Chop wood, Carry water”