Outside Issues

Having opinions on outside issues was one of my top forms of insanity. Learning to just listen and be present for others was a major step into the sanity of recovery. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. Taste of Lifeline. Overeaters Anonymous, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

I learned to avoid outside issue conversations
before I got to Recovery to be honest,
it’s my predisposition. I don’t enjoy…
have never revelled in…standing up for issues
when others disagree. It’s called people-pleasing
and counts as a character defect!
But add to that my profession prohibited
expressing my opinion on any subject
under the sun, the moon, or dusk or dawn
that could ever possibly come up on the job.
I never found such a topic in decades on the job!
But Tradition Ten directs, “Overeaters Anonymous
has no opinion on outside issues;
hence the OA name ought never
be drawn into public controversy.”
Without having need to express
an opinion I learned how jarring
a breach of the Tradition could be.
Attending a 2008 meeting where I was a stranger
as well as a relative newcomer to O.A.
a woman said that after the meeting
she was leaving for a neighboring State
to campaign for a presidential candidate
I could not imagine supporting.
these dozen years later I know
I can never ever interject such a fact
in a meeting! I am O.A. and I owe that
to each person in the Rooms of Recovery!