May 30
Someone We Admire
A member we admire gives advice with warmth and conviction. Their recovery has helped us, so it is natural to give their words weight. We may also find ourselves accepting opinions on matters far beyond the experience they shared with us. Gratitude slowly becomes a reason to set our own judgment aside.
Respect can survive a careful question. A sponsor or elder remains a person, with limits to what they know and a life different from ours. We can value their spiritual experience without making them the authority on every relationship, livelihood, or practical concern. The same freedom belongs to them when others admire us. A fellowship guided by principles has less need to turn its helpful people into exceptional beings. We are able to receive what someone offers more honestly when we do not require them to know everything. Their humanity need not diminish the help already given.
Where has admiration made me less willing to use my own judgment?
A trusted person is still a person.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Two.