I have never been to an AA meeting before, and I had a completely different imagination of how a meeting takes place. I thought the meeting was held in a depressing state, dark, and everyone is sad/drunk. However, my experience was exactly the opposite of what I imagined. Even though this was the first AA meeting that I have attended, I feel like I have been attending AA all my life. The members are friendly, supportive, and not shy to express their proudness of being part of AA. When I first arrived at the church (the meeting I attended was at St. John's Lutheran Church, Sunnyvale) it was quiet, with almost no one in the meeting room. I did come early, but I assumed that there would not be a great crowd. I was quite surprised when in the end, the crowd tripled in size. The small room was full and everyone seems to know everyone. The crowd consisted of around 60 people, with the majority of older caucasian male. The walls of the room were decorated with the 12 steps and promises of AA. An elderly gentleman, presumably the president of this AA group, knocked a wooden hammer to the table. Everyone went silent and gave their attention to the president. The meeting then started. …show more content…
Before speaking, everyone had to say their name, followed with “and I am an alcoholic”, in which everyone else responded with “Hi, whoever their names were”. I thought it was interesting, since it emphasizes group support. After reading the 12 steps and promises, the president asks everyone about their sobriety milestones. There were several new members (within their first 30 days of sobriety), some with years under their belt (the most was a caucasian woman with 43 years of sobriety). Everyone celebrated the milestones of sobrieties, clapping and tapping the backs of those accomplishing these