PO Box 1980

A comment in the January issue of the Grapevine concerning sponsorship and a "new brand of AA" disturbs me deeply, and I feel compelled to relate my feelings on both topics. I'm one of those newcomer "old AA types," because I realize I owe my sobriety to the fact that my sponsor and my group took a special interest in me and were willing to share this great gift with me. I fought, and rebelled at every turn, because drinking liquor and taking pills for twelve years had made me feel small, and very weak. A loving God, I discovered first in my sponsor and second in my group conscience, slowly began to relieve me of all those feelings. Neither my sponsor nor my group put any undue stress on me. They neither demanded nor expected anything from me except a desire to stop drinking. My alcoholism had me full of guilt and failure, but these are the very things that melted away when I accepted the tender loving care of a tough sponsor and an "old AA" group.