These are some stories submitted by people in the area sharing their experience strength and hope. They have been included here for your enjoyment and do not reflect any views or opinions of the Intergroup Office. If you would like to submit a story please e-mail us. In case you missed some, please view our archive of stories.

After attending a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, this member was saddened. He was dismayed at the misguided motives for attendance at the meeting. This person cried over the travesty that occurred. The New Guy got away.

This is not a piece about the injustice done to the newcomer. Really, it is the dichotomy of Alcoholics Anonymous that this piece is about. The new guy getting away hurts me far more than it will ever hurt him. This is about having to give it away in order to keep it, and what that saying actually means.

It is my hope that I remember the pledge.

The Responsibility Pledge that is posted in many meeting halls has somehow become hidden among the other mottos and phrases. I have taken those words for granted. Somewhere along the way the fellowship itself, that I have thrived on and felt at home in, has blinded me to the true principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have become too comfortable with the relationships that I have established. I have, at times, thought that this is enough, and have forgotten to look for those who are newcomers. I am too comfortable visiting and fellowshipping with the friends that I have established.

I too cry at the irresponsibility that has become the norm in the meetings that have helped to save my life. My tears don’t fall just because this irresponsibility may dramatically hurt a newcomer; this is only a part of my sadness. I cry because this irresponsibility may be my own demise. I may die as a result of my lack of helpfulness.

I am responsible… When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help. I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.

For many years I have heard that, “The newcomer is the most important person in the room.”

I have misunderstood this. I have always thought that this meant that the newcomer was important because they were finally getting the help that they needed. That they were important because they were reminding me that 24 hours was what really counted; 24 hours is really what any of us have. I thought that they were here to remind me how close that I am to the next drink.

I only understood a half-truth. What the whole truth is is that the newcomer is the most important person in a meeting because the newcomer keeps me sober. The newcomer does not keep me sober simply by his or her presence in a meeting; the newcomer keeps me sober by being a prospect that I work with. The newcomer is a prospect that I share my experience, strength and hope with so that I don’t die of active alcoholism. The newcomer is my medicine. The newcomer has come to a meeting to save my life, to be my medicine, to keep me from that compulsion to drink by allowing me an opportunity to carry the message. I am blessed to have a newcomer right there, easily accessible, to work with.

The Big Book tells me that “practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics.” This intensive work may be the only way that I will stay sober. There may come a time when I am only able to preserve my immunity through my work with the newcomer.

I should be fighting other members over the opportunity to work with the newcomer. The newcomer should be overwhelmed with offers of sponsorship and help on the 12 steps. The New Guy should never “get away.”

This is why the newcomer is the most important person in the room. He or she is the most important person in the room because my sobriety is contingent on my working with them. My immunity is contingent on intensive work with another alcoholic.

It was pointed out to me that if there were no more newcomers in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous that I would have to resort to finding them. I would have to go to hospitals, institutions, churches, jails… I would have to go out and seek out an alcoholic to talk with so that I would stay sober. That is the way that it was in the beginning.

I have it easy. I have it so easy. At any hour, over 1500 times a week in this area, there are meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. I can go to any of these meetings, find a New Guy, and ensure immunity from drinking. If there is a possibility that I may at any time have a compulsion to drink, I can attend a meeting and work with a newcomer. I do not have to go to all of the hard work of finding one.

The newcomer is the most important person in the room at any AA meeting because the newcomer SAVES MY LIFE today. I hope that I will always remember this and keep this foremost in my mind. This is why I am responsible. It is a responsibility that at first reads like a pledge to be helpful, a benefit to the New Guy. Actually, it is being responsible to ME, my family, my friends, my employer, and Alcoholics Anonymous – to all of the people who count on me today and need for me to be sober.

I read once that Bill W.’s greatest hope was that he was a strong link in the chain of Alcoholics Anonymous. I am blessed with AA. I have been given the gift of recovery and life today because of Alcoholics Anonymous. I too want to be the strong link in this chain.

I am responsible… When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help. I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.

-Anonymous