Tuesday, June 02, 2009

It's Serious to Me, okay?...

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There I was, minding my own business, writing my next installment on the "Who Ya Gonna Call?" blog posts.

And then..... somebody made fun of AA on their Twitter feed by writing the following:

"Love this. So-and-So just saw @YarnHarlot 's "At Knit's End" in a used bookshop. In the RECOVERY section. Right under the AA books."

Okay. I didn't take it well.

I admit it, I took offense. Call me too sensitive--- but I took offense grandly. I took offense because the person who made fun of AA did it because they obviously don't take AA very seriously.

What? Do they think AA is a damn joke? Do they think it's a catch-all organization for bumbling alcoholics who make occasional fools of themselves by putting lampshades on their heads while dancing the rhumba at Christmas parties?

Well..... let me educate this person....

AA is an organization born out of DESPERATION. It was born out of the desperation of dying people--- people who were dying agonizing deaths, and who were also killing their precious families along with them, all because of the demon named ALCOHOL, a horrible, destructive substance which is addictive to certain genetically inclined people.

And I say "genetically inclined" because it seems to be a condition which is born into some people against their will, burdening them for a long, hideous lifetime of obsession with the damnable substance alcohol, a condition for which the afflicted person would literally give their left arm (and leg, and perhaps another arm) to be rid of....but unfortunately cannot rid themselves of it. It seems to be something that an afflicted person cannot escape without either dying or being killed in a... vehicle accident or agonizing death of terminal liver failure... (as I witnessed during my own father's death in a Round Rock hospital in Austin, Texas....)

But....some of these wretched people attend one particular organization....an organization they hope beyond hope that will help them.... AA. They attend in the faint, almost unimaginable hopes of controlling said demon ALCOHOL---and they do it out of sheer desperation. This desperation gives them the stupid hope that they can STOP drinking. They dumbly HOPE DAMN BAD that this organization, AA, WILL actually WORK for them! (Is "dumbly" a word? It sure feels like it is when you're an alcoholic!) And let me tell you, going the AA way is not a step undertaken lightly---NO, it is NOT a step taken lightly. Because following the program of AA is a difficult, tedious, unpleasant, constant and arduous ongoing task (an AGGRAVATINGLY DIFFICULT and almost undo-able) process taken in the faint glimmer of hope of of helping them control that HORRIBLE, DEMONIC, IRRESTISTABLE THING CALLED ALCOHOL. God, AA is their literal lifeline to anything faintly resembling hope.....at least it is for me....

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Okay, that is all. I am done ranting about the person who ridiculed AA.

And all I have to say to the person (said person who seems to be in a somewhat prolonged bad mood because she sillily (is 'sillily' a word?) allowed some idgity, childish, totally idiotic immature people to piss her off) is this: EAT SOME CHOCOLATE, ALREADY!---YOU HAVE SOME DADGUM READERS WHO ARE IN DAMN RECOVERY!!....

Okay, I'm done...sigh....

(Got that, Yarn Harlot?)

I will now resume my blog posting series on "Who Ya Gonna Call?".....

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think the poster was making any comment at all about AA. I think the comment had to do with the people in a used bookstore putting a book titled "Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much" in the Recovery section.

Bo... said...

okay....I admit I've perhaps reacted a little too strongly...

Stephanie said...

Hi there. Stephanie/Yarn Harlot here.

I think you've misread the twitter completely. The person was actually on your side, pointing out that it is ridiculous to put a humour book about knitting to much in the recovery section, alongside the AA books, since AA is (as you have noted) actual recovery and my book is a silly little humour book about knitting too much.

The comment was on how stupid it was to consider my book "recovery" when it clearly isn't.

There's no slight here towards AA, at all, and I'm having trouble following how putting a knitting book in the wrong place can be an insult to AA, but I can see that this is a sensitive topic for you. Respectfully, I think you missed the boat on this one, but yup.

I got it.

Bo... said...

It's not the fact that it was put there by mistake---it was what I perceived as your cavalier, almost disdainful, attitude that it would be misplaced there of all places.

Sorry if my rant seems unbalanced (which, of course, I am) but I don't like it when AA is ridiculed in any way. It's like making fun of the Bible or something.

danielle said...

I dont read into that comment as being derogotory - but then, I am not emotionally involved with AA. Now that that is said - that is what blogs are for - to get things off your chest! Now that is is off your chest, let it go, and go on about your day and your life dear Bo!

rams said...

Still not getting it. She found it ridiculous that a humor book (whose title is a parody of "For Women Who Do Too Much) was shelved in Recovery by some idiot. Looks to me like that puts her on your side, taking recovery seriously. Then she says she's on your side, in case that point wasn't clear. There's not a breath of ridicule at Recovery; if anyone's getting insulted here it should be me, as an ex-bookstore-employee, since that's the person at fault.

Actually, I think we're all agreeing -- just at the top of our voices. Chocolate all round.

Bo... said...

I may have over reacted. I have sent an apology for the misunderstanding. As Fred always says, I need to "tone things down"...

Unknown said...

Oh Bo! You're allowed to overreact, and that's why we love you! We wouldn't be reading your blog if we didn't believe it at all. However you also know when you do overreact and when apologies are needed. The Twitter and your blog post both made me grin (because the post was most certainly "you" Bo). And you're right when you say "It's Serious to Me".

Duckie

Maggie said...

I'm lost, missed the comments..but AA is the difference to having a life and a family or at least the chance to rebuild for many people..both the person with the alchol addiction and the ones who love and suffer for them...
I,too, take some comments and things far too seriously...some things will always hit hard--even when no blow was intended...love you even on your raving days...

AuntWie said...

I'm glad you've calmed down a little. Ridiculing AA is, for sure, "a hangin' offense," but Stephanie would never do that. I've been reading her stuff for years, and she just wouldn't. And the poster, I'm sure, was ridiculing the bookstore employee who saw the word "harlot" and made some pretty silly assumptions - about harlots, alcoholics, and knitters all at the same time.

I don't know how I would have survived the first few years of sobriety without AA, coffee and knitting. There is no way to overstate AA's importance in my life, so I absolutely understand your sensitivity on the subject. But I'll tell ya, Bo, sometimes ya just gotta let the idiots be idiots, and shrug it off. Take care of yourself.

Bo... said...

THANK YOU, you guys!!! You have no idea how much you make me feel better after a... well...awkward moment!!! REALLY! Thank you! I truly do love YH---and I'm sorry for the misunderstanding...

Unknown said...

A blog is meant to be a place where you can rant. Whether it is formal, informative, justified, etc. You have the freedom to think in words. I would have acted in the same way if I saw something that I was even remotely attached to in some way. But there is that moment of hesitation needed when you re-assess the situation and find the balance in your emotion. Best of luck to you.

Lia Nord said...

It's definitely understandable that you got upset, thinking that someone was treating AA flippantly. I never understood how difficult alcoholism and chemical dependencies were until recently--thought it was all a matter of self-control and weak- willedness (is that a word?). I have two good friends, people I've known for years (one of them since he was 2, and he's 30 now and still alive by some miracle, the other a highly respected professional). I still can't really understand--who can, who hasn't actually gone through it--but I do now know how terribly hard it is on the people involved and their families and loved ones, and it's not "just" a matter of control. Rant on as much as you like--it makes people aware of things they weren't aware of before. It's your blog, and it's an issue you feel strongly about!