Our Common Bonds

A FEW YEARS ago, I was asked to speak at a prison located outside the city where I lived. Though I had been in AA for a number of years and had told my story at many hospital groups and psychiatric clinics, carrying the message to a correctional facility was something I had never done or even thought about. My first reactions to the request were: "I have absolutely nothing in common with convicts--my father was a hard-nosed, law-and-order-at-all-costs Irish cop. With a heavy hand, I was taught to respect all of the man-made laws from 'no loitering' to 'no littering'!"