Mmm. What's this got to do with you being white?

The injustice isn't in your assailants skin colour, is it?

The coppers just let a junkie ride all over you, flap his fists about and call you names... and then ride away. It is unlikely anything will change in his behaviour, because there has been no intervention. He will quite likely continue using, and abusing... because he can. Recidicism is one of the worlds leading contributors to crime, because offendors not only repeat their own offensive behaviours, they teach others that they too can do the same!

I agree with the idea that revenue raising is more important in the justice system than providing effective social control. Unfortunately that's something us Aussie's have known since the days of the first fleet. We had a country to build. Things get kinda lost in the "big picture" when they have big projects on. I guess they have other things to do now... like try and...oh I dunno...bomb a bit another country or something...things like that.

I spent some time travelling with the showgrounds in my teens and early 20's. The rules were very different there. It was a community of individuals with a common mission. You NEVER stole or misbehaved in public, and the behaviour (while often appearing riotous) was always respectful within the ranks - because the consequences were severe. We may have all got around like scruffs, drank heaps and appeared noisy etc., but the code of conduct was very clear. Anyone seen behaving in the way you just mentioned, would be taken behind the vans and given a good head banging. If you were unable to make direct amends, by means of apology or restitution, or heaven forbid - continued to act offensively, you were kicked out. The carnies cared about how they were interpreted in each town. Their presentation (or how it was interpreted) was valued. They would laugh when folks called us grubs or "misfits" or whatever, but social control was very strong - we could not rob, fight, rape etc. Just not on. It meant social rejection and expulsion. Can't be a much clearer form of social control, than that, I figure.

As our communities deteriorate - so does our social control. It is a sad fact. We end up with all these individuals saying "I don't care about you" or "I don't care what you say" and they just plain stop caring about themselves and their place in the community. Why would they... when they just don't have to. 

Ironically, the next closest example I can give you of such a community - that exists with it's own clear independant ethics and morals, is prison. The prisoners mentality is a very strong one, and the rules they learn from their 'own kind' are much more effective than those taught by any warden or judge in a fuzzy wig. These ethics and morals exist in AA too, but not everyone wants them, or thinks they need them - so some groups are stronger than others, for that reason maybe?

What is this 'new policy' exactly?

I'm not happy my mates been bounced on. If he runs into you again, you tell him you're mate said he should get a real bike.

First and foremost, I am a drunk who doesn't drink today.

Everything else I am and have, has only come about because I got sober and have stayed sober. It just gets easier to think - it's not such a brain strain once life has a chance to clear up a bit. You start to see things for what they are.

Admission: I did read the dictionary from back to front during a detox in Sydney. Not much else to do when ya can't speak properly and nothing anyone else says makes sense... and ya just feel sick and stupid. I also read the bible... that's where I learned lots of folks see things totally differently. John and Mark were part of the same things, but told totally different stories. I still wonder who gets the royalties on those books...

Amanda  good post  -- went to a meeting last nite discussed the benifits of being sober--

 money came up,  yes this is nice but i have some,  how about serenity?? thats what i got a little of, but still want more.The program allowed me to look at myself and figure out I'm the only person I can change.  If i keep one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow i'll piss all over today!!!

Like I said.. folks see things differently.

I see absolutely nothing negative about what Stan and I were discussing. The way I see it, he has just moved through a situation that was likely to leave him feeling heaps of very normal and somewhat volatile emotions. (The temptation to pop the guy in the nose would still have entered my head, even in recovery. What I do with those thoughts shows whether I'm progressing or not. You did well, Stan!) In friendship he has talked about what happened, his feelings, his wishes and regrets. Then he came to a place of acceptance - where he became grateful that the bike wasn't a harley, that he's still here to laugh for another day, and he is not simply the victim of one bit of the box, instead we are all part of the bigger picture. I call that progress.

We continue to question things in life - that is life. We will never have all the answers.

Amanda - I suggest you stop pointing out others "dry drunken-ness" and focus on your own sobriety. It's hard for us drunks to recover anything, without it. You have absolutely no idea about what I or anyone else on this board has acheived in sobriety and what we have recovered. You do not know our goals, and have no idea of our personal inventories - so how do you profess to know how fearless we are, or what courage we have shown?

Rick - I referred to money when talking to Stan because he is an accountant. I've learned you don't get much conversation from a butcher if you start raving on about vegetarianism. If anyone could answer the question, then I figured he could. When our questions are answered we have peace. There is an uncomfortableness inside me when folks start prattling on about religion and particularly religious organisations. It is not a part of my understanding of God. In fact, I think the whole formation of religious organisations goes directly against the wishes of the God of my understanding. The power that pulls us all together is not one of division - it does not exist within the perimeters of architecture, and it is definately not money driven.

The answers for me don't come from lightning bolts and booming voices from the heavens... they come from asking and waiting for the answer. I have spent many enjoyable mornings (and some frustrating ones) in meditation, only to get up, go out into the world and have a person, sign, book or even TV show provide the answer I was seeking. That doesn't reflect the quality of my meditation, it reflects my willingness to receive the answers and accept serenity into my life, and this has improved over time. I no longer spend my life searching for something I have always possessed, or acting like I have been robbed of something that instead I simply chose to ignore.

We don't need to search or strive for serenity, we have it the moment we accept it. The prayer simply reminds us to accept it.

I was given a Big Book when I first entered AA. For the next 5 years, I bought and distributed at least 100 of the pocket versions. I never hesitated to do this because I knew I was contributing to AA. When I relocated to the bush, I bumped into someone who wanted one. I no longer had access to the pocket versions, so I gave her my personal copy, complete with all the notes, thoughts and scribbles, of the two previous owners and me. We are all still sober. I felt a bit sad and a bit scared, but this was the first time someone had actually asked me outright if they could have MY book. It seemed right. I have since bought another "little big book" for me.

All the bibles I have encountered have always cost money - they are not given as gifts, like our Big Book. The royalties are rarely even in support of a church - they go back to clever publishers. I find that relevant. Religious organisations do not help us stop drinking and stay stopped- if they did we would send alkies to church. We send alkies to AA, because it has something churches don't. AA is NOT a church. AA does not divide and pass judgement on ANYONE. The countless people who have left because they think it IS a church, are our responsibility. When alkies STOP PREACHING and just get real with each other, we can all recover.

Rick -I enjoy your postings and have probably become a bit lazy - because I rarely open that "little big book" nowdays. Yes, I know we cannot rest upon our laurels. I can say I am familiar with it though. My work with it and others has been worthwhile. I would not be a sober member of AA, had I not applied myself to it - for me, it was a must do. For some - other alkies are enough. My partner is 10 years sober. He's never read it. Today, I am happy to think about the aspects posted here on the board. Life has moved beyond the daily struggle for understanding of myself and others. I no longer have to search the lives of others to make sense of my own.

Stan - they can piss on our parade all they want. Doesn't matter one iota once you've stood up in front of other alkies and admitted to pissing and crapping yourself in the "good old days". Ya just kinda learn to dance in it.

*poppin my umbrella in Mary Poppins fashion and attempting a yodel*