Step Six: Wherever And Whenever

The entrance to the building, which housed our Area's office, was firmly shuttered. Now I would be unable to hold the bimonthly meeting I had scheduled as the editor of the Area newsletter. In the personal way that I can take things, I saw this barrier to entering the building as another sign that my Area didn't want me. Two months before, at our biennial elections, I had stood for three positions--delegate, alternate delegate, and Area chair. But the Area had other preferences for those officer positions. Stymied in my ambition to climb the general service ladder and ascend to delegate, I quickly made myself available to serve on one of the Area's numerous standing committees. In that way I could remain in the hunt for what Bill W. had once called the "golden prize." "You have to be in it to win it," as one of our Area members likes to say. In our Area, the chair-elect is responsible for appointing standing committee chairs, and often those who make themselves available to become Area officers are given consideration for committee positions.