by Bill M.
It had never really pierced my consciousness that legions of suffering alcoholics had found safety and comfort and sobriety in the virtual rooms of AA. … Exploring the whole AA-through-Zoom concept led me to a person who told me he had never met his sponsor face-to-face. Say what? I had just gotten used to the idea that the AA message could be beautifully carried and shared through Zoom, but this seemed more than I could accept.
One of the things I love about our program is the occasional, sometimes not-so-gentle, whack on the side of the head that tells me I’m stuck in old thinking. Not necessarily bad thinking, just stodgy traditionalism. I got one of those taps a while back and it opened my eyes and heart to what is turning out to be a wonderful thing.
I was at a meeting when a woman introduced herself as being there for the first time. She said it was her first in-person meeting ever and she had been sober for over three years. She had found the “rooms” during the pandemic. I asked her later if this was her first meeting ever, and she said, “Oh, no. I’ve been doing four or five Zoom meetings a week since I got sober.” All through the pandemic, I couldn’t wait for my in-person meetings to start again because that was my intimate experience with AA and recovery.
It had never really pierced my consciousness that legions of suffering alcoholics had found safety and comfort and sobriety in the virtual rooms of AA. My emotional reaction to that was, “Those poor people, they’ve missed out on so much!” After some contemplation, I was able to see this as one more case of me superimposing my view of AA and what “right” recovery should be. Whack!
Exploring the whole AA-through-Zoom concept (someone called it the Two-Dimensional Fellowship) led me to a person who told me he had never met his sponsor face-to-face. Say what? Yes, they had a very effective, personal, fulfilling, and virtual sponsor/sponsee relationship. I had just gotten used to the idea that the AA message could be beautifully carried and shared through Zoom, but this seemed more than I could accept. Through the lens of my experience, I just could not see it working. My problem was not with reality, but with my lens. It was time to practice acceptance and humility.
As if I needed proof that God has a sense of humor, one of the men I sponsor told me he was moving out of state. We had been meeting weekly for a year and were hitting on all cylinders. I was really saddened to hear his news. I suggested (based on what I had been taught) that when he got to his new home, he should find a local sponsor. He just grinned and said, “Why can’t we meet by Zoom?” Whack!
It’s been over a year now, and we are still hitting on all cylinders. I feel the same joyful anticipation and fulfillment as I did when we were meeting in person. Sponsorship in two dimensions is working for us. The last sentence of the Foreword to the Fourth Edition of the Big Book says, “Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.” New communication technologies, for me, don’t diminish the power and simplicity of one alcoholic working with another.
Bill M.’s Home Group is BYOBook, 9 am, Saturdays, at Faith Lutheran Church in Castro Valley. Hybrid Meeting – Zoom Code is 871-0897-4652. Passcode is 110619.
