Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting Experience Essay

I decided to attend a meeting based first (and almost solely) on convenience of the location. So I decided to attend a meeting right here in Batavia. The â€Å"Batavia 12 & 12† at the Holy Trinity Church down on 6th & Wood St. They hold meeting on Mondays around 11:00am. The main focus is to follow the 12 steps in order and work on them in a more traditional fashion. They do have the big book, but follow it more in a step by step focus. However karma decided to rear its head and make it a Closed Meeting, meaning that it is not as open to the public to sit on and they only allow members who are coming with a problem related to alcohol. So at first I was turned away but, I was lucky enough to know a person (local firefighter) who attends the church, and talked the host into letting me sit in on a meeting. So with the awkwardness of getting into the door out of the way, it was time for the meeting. Obviously due to the location itself, it came as no surprise that the meeting cons isted of roughly around 15-20 people, including the person in charge of the meeting and myself. All the chairs were set up like a classroom. I will be honest; the atmosphere of the meeting was actually much more mono-tone than I was lead to believe. Not that an A.A. meeting is always upbeat or depressing but, it seems like this was a mix between. Some were drinking their coffee, others just sitting and fiddling with their hands. One man however, seemed to be uncomfortable with me. I guessed it was because I was the newcomer to the meeting, and the youngest looking guy in the room. He kept staring at me and glancing at me from his chair at the front. Then the meeting got underway. Everyone started with a sort of, hello and how are you, type of thing. Everyone went around saying their name, how long they have been attending the meetings and, something interesting related to how they have been working on staying sober. One man briefly talked about how he almost broke his sober strike at a local party, another was a bit worried that with Halloween coming up, how he would be able to stay away from temptation. Most everyone see med to have a similar type of intro, which in retrospect would explain for the less than stellar atmosphere. Then the gentlemen who had been staring at me spoke up as they were beginning to discuss the step they were currently working on with their group, Step 6 if I recall. He wished to draw attention as to why I was not called on to speak up, and introduce myself like the rest. Although the host attempted to specify, I decided to take the opportunity to just speak up myself. I explained that I was not here as an alcoholic seeking to get help, but that I was a student at the University up the hill. Immediately he asked what business I had attending this closed meeting and I explained why I was here and my Major of study and the details of the assignment. Everyone else seemed to find the assignment interesting and was ok with my presence; one gentleman welcomed me to this â€Å"enriching† experience. However the aforementioned man obviously did not wish to be, as he put it, â€Å"spied on† by a student. (I say ‘student’ but his wording was a bit ruder) At this point I did not say much more, as everyone else started to try and calm the gentleman down and another pulled him aside, talked to him for a minute, then everyone sat back down and basically continued the meeting at normal. One thing of note, as they began discussing Step 6, o ne thing that was thrown in by some of the attendees, was the concept that God, should be able to help remove not just the defects of character towards oneself, but towards others. To me this meant that one should be able to act nice towards others despite any preconceived notions of flaws. At the end of the meeting, as I was walking out, the same gentleman who seemed to have issues with my presence stopped me as I was out the door and pulled me aside. At first I was prepping myself for some sort of tongue lashing but, instead was greeted with an apology, and he explained that he was having some â€Å"issues with his own sobriety†, that the â€Å"week was just off† for him. I told him I understand, wished him luck with his program and went on my merry way. Overall the meeting was what I expected, on the part of how they discussed God and his involvement of the Steps, and the general behavior of most of the group, as I have come to understand it at least. However, I think from this experience I have gained a crucial piece of information that, although I was aware of it, had no real first hand understanding of it; People fear judgment from those who are designed to judge them. A simple statement, and in many respects obvious but, what I mean is that people tend to fear judgment from those who should not judge them, and expect criticism and judgment rom those who are meant to. Anyone who has succumbed to alcoholism or drug use, knows what to expect from their immediate peers, but I was not expecting how much they would, or in the case of the gentleman I encountered, fear someone who is making a career of judging them. This  experience has helped me better understand why some many in recovery wish for anonymity, or try to get help from people they know, or are quick to stop recovery if they are feeling looked down upon. I can see more clearly now why we as helping professionals must do everything in our power to not put judgment or criticism on those who are in need of help.​

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

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Political Ideology and MNEs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Democracy In The Network Age Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Day Care Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Auditing - Madoff Securities Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Auditing - Madoff Securities - Research Paper Example Bernard Madoff had been able to dupe thousands of investors across the world through the famous Ponzi scheme (The Wall Street Journal, 2009). The company had been keeping its investment strategies secrets for years which already hinted at the fact that there is something significantly wrong going on behind the closed doors of Madoff Securities in the Wall Street. A proper investigation of how a company can give such abnormally high returns to its investors for years may have exposed the Ponzi scheme earlier. One of the main reasons why the Ponzi scheme had not been detected from external sources is that the high returns from the financial schemes offered by Madoff Securities incited greed among the general people which often made them invest blindly in these schemes. Also, the oversight on the part of the regulators of the capital markets added to the factor of Ponzi scheme going undetected for years. For a firm which has invested in Madoff Securities, the materiality of the investments made by the company in Madoff Securities should be evaluated and established by the auditors of the investing firm. Also, the nature and amount of transactions should have been evaluated carefully. There would be associated risks of the possibility of material misstatement of the company being reported in the consolidated financial statements and the financial reports of the company. The auditors should also evaluate the risk assessment capabilities of the investing firm and take steps to detect any fraudulent reporting of the investing company in their financial reports caused by the investments in Madoff Securities. The key audit procedures included in the Audit Sections should be followed in this case. These would include a calculation of the fair value of the investments, performance of analytical procedures, inspection of the supporting documentations done for subsequent settlement or realiza tion of the investments

Suburban Sprawl (Environmental Issue) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Suburban Sprawl (Environmental Issue) - Essay Example These hazards being talked about refer not to only to body health issues but a rapid jump in mental health issues, prompting the former vice president of the U.S Al Gore to comment that the urban spread is like â€Å"cookie-cutter monster.†(Brooking Inst, 1998). While supporters of urban lifestyles contend â€Å"consumers prefer lower density neighborhoods and that sprawl does not necessarily increase traffic.† (Moore, Henderson, 1998). Nevertheless there is evidence that urban sprawl is one of the primary contributing factors to the specter of inner city degeneration. By pulling economic resources out of communities that are already existing and diffusing it into new and unconnected developments away from the current core, older communities get neglected and are led to ruin. These new developments are subsidized heavily to create newer roads, water and sewer infrastructure, new schools and enhanced spending on police and fire protection. While urban spread directly inf luences new lawns using ever more water and the use of chemical fertilizers as well as pesticides, it displaces native plants, which have not needed constant watering. It could be concluded that Sprawl wastes tax payers’ money With the population of the world exceeding 6 billion already and progressing toward doubling by the 22nd century, it is estimated that 95% of the new inhabitants of the planet earth will be living in urban areas. When compared to the fact that only 15% of the world lived in urban areas as recently as 1990, the task to manage urban sprawl is both vital and urgent. If not the exponential growth in urban dwellers combined with Socio-economical, geopolitical factors, with the certainty of limited land availability and in -efficient planning is certain to create cities that devour land used for other purposes historically directly influencing equally important aspects such as food security. Combating urban sprawl has two major forms of endeavor both, which i nclude detailed planning. â€Å"The first, the French/British/European tradition, considers urban planning a matter of public health and focuses on strong land- use regulation, public-sector investment, and civic design. The second tradition, born in North America, focuses on zoning and subdivision regulations within a context of strong private property rights† (Calthorpe, 2001)). Peter Calthorpe a New Urbanism thinker and architect illustrates the differences in these two styles by flavoring the European model a more ecological model and the North American planning model a more mechanically motivated model. The European model appears to be the antecedent to the concept called smart growth, and the other of developing efficiencies through zoning. The search for solutions to urban sprawl has given birth to various special-interest groups that promote a concept termed SMART growth at all levels federal, state, and local government. This might look nostalgic with a promotion of return to the city lifestyles of the last two centuries. Living in smaller apartments or smaller land plots with the emphasis on limiting transportation to bicycles or simply walking. Smart growth can be defined as the prevention of urban sprawl through meticulous planning with associated restriction to