Delegate Sharing
ASC – Long Beach – December 10, 2023
Good morning. My name is Mitchell and I am an alcoholic.
On November 2, 2023, the Pacific Region Delegates were joined by Reilly K., the Pacific Region Trustee, to ask questions about the minutes of the October Trustees Meeting. The minutes have been translated to Spanish (my thanks to the Communications Committee and the Translation Team! Thank you, Ivan G.!). The English and Spanish reports are on the MSCA 09 website, under “General Service Office (GSO) – Pacific Regional Trustee Reports”.
In November I received the third quarter Group Contributions to GSB which are on the website under “Area 09 Information – Finances.” Please check the MSCA 09 website under “General Service Office (GSO)” and click on the What’s New link. GSO has a rotating list of messages for members that Area 09 shares through MailChimp but you can scroll through and read at any time.
On December 7 the incoming Panel 74 delegate-elects were invited to the monthly Pacific Region Delegates online call. Panel 74 Delegates were welcomed to the group and Panel 72 and 73 members bid farewell to the rotating Panel 72 delegates. On the call were the PRAASA 2024 Chair Ken M. and Area 07 past-Delegate Jennifer B. to give an update on planning for PRAASA. Jennifer recommended reserving a hotel room now as the block of rooms held for PRAASA is shrinking. Panel 74 Delegates were given instructions on what to prepare for their participation from the stage and deadlines for documents were shared.
Proposed Agenda Items have not been shared with Delegates as yet but may be forthcoming this week. To have all materials available in English, Spanish, and French early sharing of agenda topics was held back until all three language versions were ready for use. I brought print copies of the 73rd General Service Conference today for you to take back to your groups and to share with incoming GSRs. The final reports for each year’s General Service Conference include all the talks by Trustees, the highlights shared by first-year delegates, the actions of all Agenda Items and whether the items were approved, declined to consider, or returned to The Trustee’s Committees for those Agenda Committees for further consideration. At the 73rd GSC four new Trustees were elected; in January half of all current delegates will rotate out and be replaced by Panel 74 Delegates. I wish Alex to have her own experience. It will be different than my experience, which was different from Ed’s or Jesus’ or Cesar’s. There are interesting topics in the Proposed Agenda Items, and I look forward to learning about the topics from the background materials, which will be distributed starting February 15, 2024, and participating in sharing my home group conscience with the District, who will share with Alex at the Area 09 Pre-Conference. The 74th GSC will be held a week earlier than last year so all A.A. members will need to be ready to help their groups with agenda topics and gather the group conscience.
As I am in the final days of Panel 72 I have been reflecting on my time in General Service and am grateful for the kindness and sharing from Area 09 members. We may not agree on topics. There are issues complicated and still unresolved that we work with, but the Big Book offers me guidance on how to address these issues. If there is something I am uncomfortable about or bothers me, then the problem is with me. That is the good news, since I have the opportunity to address the problem, I have with me and take the next indicated action. Sometimes the indicated action is to wait and be patient. For the problems I cannot change, there can be acceptance. For problems that could be addressed by action, is that my responsibility and do I have authority to act. Perhaps I can help those in General Service who are better matched with authority and responsibility to take on projects and I may contribute my energy, skills, and support to the work before us.
I carry notebooks with me to write down notes, dates, addresses and phones numbers. But also to sketch and for deep thoughts. I have a prayer from Thomas Merton in the back of my pocketbooks that I read on days when answers to problems seem slow to show themselves.
The Merton Prayer
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
“The Merton Prayer” from Thoughts in Solitude Copyright © 1956, 1958 by The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani. Used by permission of Farrar Straus Giroux.
Our literature carries the message of a solution to my problem. As an alcoholic, my problem is lack of power. Alcohol is but a symptom, and other manifestations of my alcoholism rise up when I am troubled or fearful. But the literature offers guidance and a measure of peace. I remember that the pamphlets were written for me to read so I can understand my fellow A.A. members from their stories. In my service experience I found that I value the work of the General Service Office to create and distribute literature and to help coordinate services, but that all A.A. is local – face-to-face, knee-to-knee, screen-to-screen, and in the literature.
I also have a Grapevine snippet that I keep in the notebook to remind myself of the difference between my will and acceptance.
Acceptance isn’t necessarily approval.
Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.
Don’t get resentful of a resentful person.
Every problem has a lifespan that only God knows.
It’s hard to keep an open mind with an open mouth.
Feed your faith and starve your doubt.
Self-esteem is a matter of discipline.
Complaining is not an action step.
Gratitude is the aristocrat of virtues.
Red M., Indianapolis Indiana – Distilled Spirits – October 1999
https://www.aagrapevine.org/magazine/1999/oct/distilled-spirits-0
This report will likely be my final Delegate’s Bulletin Board post, so thanks for this opportunity to serve Area 09!
Honored to be of Service!
Mitchell B., MSCA 09 Panel 72 delegate
Cell: (949) 278-8263
Email: msca09delegate@gmail.com