I notice that many anti-steppers and even authors of research papers pretend that Alcoholics Anonymous members (us pro-steppers, if you will) claim to
have someone at AA who waves a wand that magically makes someone stop
drinking. This has never been claimed at any meeting I have been to --
and I have been to thousands of them.
This particular expectation of AA -- that it somehow makes everyone
who enters its rooms sober by some kind of sorcery -- is not one that the program pretends to have. I have heard countless times that "AA is a simple program, but it is not an easy program."
Amazing cures is not how the real
world works.
It is up to the individual alcoholic to work the AA program. It is sad that many
choose not to work it (or, for that matter, try anything else to get
clean and sober).
Ever since I entered the rooms, I have been told time and time again
that many, if not most, people won't make it. And, it gets worse: There
is nothing out there more effective than AA. Nothing. (My source for this assertion is the Cochrane review of 12-step
programs).
