PO Box 1980

I've been reading the Grapevine for about seven years and think that September's is one of the very strongest issues I've ever seen. Collectively the articles present many of the major issues that our Fellowship is going to have to grapple with in the next two decades. My theory is that a number of megatrends are going to converge in that time and in order for AA to remain viable it must be prepared to operate and to be attractive to alcoholics in a cultural environment quite different from ours of the '90s and very different from that of the '30s. Some of these trends are the empowerment of women, the struggle of race relations, and the maturation of the Baby Boom generation; advances in the scientific understanding of alcoholism and AA's relations to the medical and treatment industries; the coming reformation of popular religion; the influences of mass media, pop culture, and post-literate education; as well as the maturation and institutionalization of AA itself. I'm pleased that "AA in the '90s" covers at least half of these issues. Petulant cries of "Keep it simple, stupid" are surely not what's needed and, if they become AA's dominant voice, will only insure that we go the way of countless other, defunct mythologies. Our essential mission is simple, but it must be carried out in an increasingly complex and improbable world. To pretend that our members (and potential members) have the same backgrounds and needs as twenty-five or fifty years ago is to invite failure. So, I salute the Grapevine's efforts to spur AA's self-examination and informed group conscience.