Who’s your sponsor?

There seem to be as many views on sponsorship as there are views on a Higher Power. And the opinions on these matters run a parallel range of extremes, from warm-and-fuzzy friend to wrathful tyrant. In meetings I have heard people recount with visible glee the fury and condemnation their sponsors hurl at them. “And then he said, ‘You moron! You did that in the Third Step!’” Perhaps this model of sponsorship seeks to duplicate early childhood experiences at the hands of gruff-but-innocuous parents. Other people share stories of selfless sponsors with unparalleled devotion to their sponsees—helping to bury the dog’s ashes; attending birthing classes.