September 2010

By Jake H.

This Tuesday morning Rabbi Medwin made a reference to the story of the director and his show in AA’s Big Book. The story goes that there is a man who is attempting to direct a play and is having much difficulty in doing so. As hard as he tries the show is not like the one he has in his head. He thinks that if everything was just this way or just that way the show would be perfect. No matter how much he tries to control everything and everybody it comes off a disaster. She ended the story with the idea that if the the actor would just accept that he is not in control that he would be more successful in his production.

Throughout my life I have had the problems as the director. I always thought if this person would just do that or if my parents let me do that my life would be perfect. As much as I tried to influence and control others to fit what I wanted the more and more miserable I became. I was unaware that acceptance was the key to most of my misery; all I needed to do was accept the fact that I was not in control. This is something that every person in the rooms of AA have trouble with at one point or another. It is one of the key aspects of sobriety. It is so easy for an alcoholic to get caught in the “if onlys” making it much easier to either stay in active in or return to active alcoholism.