Constant Thought of Others

In the June 1978 Grapevine there was an article called "Will We Squander Our Inheritance?" In this article, the writer expressed his concern that only a small percent of our members are doing the majority of the Twelfth Step work. He mentioned that he had gotten sober when Alcoholics Anonymous was relatively young, and that he had been exposed to a form of sobriety that taught action as the magic word, that in AA each one of us can take part in the group's primary purpose. This had been true for me. My sponsor had me picking up drunks off the sidewalk at three weeks and told me that I never turn down a request from AA. This was right in line with another statement he made, namely that if I was to live and grow in the likeness of my Creator, I must put sobriety first. To put this more plainly he referred me to the top of page 20 in the Big Book, which states, "Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs."