I'll Take Myself Too Damn Seriously If I Damn Want To

Rule:  A regulating principle.
Regulation: To control or direct according to rule, principle, or law.
(Ed. Note:  I like how "rule" has regulation in its definition and "regulation" has rule in its definition.  Pretty gutless, in my opinion.)

Rule 62    "Don't Take yourself too damn seriously."  This Rule - found in Tradition Four in Alcoholics Anonymous - has a pretty funny origin and certainly a very instructive one.  In the early days of AA a group of well-meaning but misguided members thought about building a big AA clubhouse that would combine treatment, financial help, and an venue for socializing.  The whole project blew up when they put together an initial list of "rules" to guide its operation.  Yep.  61 of them.  THAT shelved the project and gave birth to our famous Rule 62.

It's interesting that in our society everyone hates rules and regulations . . . except for the ones that benefit an individual directly.  THEN it's a good rule and/or regulation.  It makes sense.  Everything would fall apart without it.  It's in everyone's best interest.  When I point out the exceptions, the flaws, how almost every rule and regulation comes at the expense of someone else I either get a blank stare or an impassioned argument.  And I find that those of us who benefit the most from all our rules and regulations seem to be able to pick out the few that are inconvenient and blow them up into monstrous monsters while blithely tootling along, protected and enriched by the good ones.

Jesus, suck it up a little.  We live in a society - a very free society that allows us to do almost everything we want but not everything we want.  I learned all of this Me Versus us stuff in AA.  The Steps are suggested - I don't have to do them if I don't want but my success is at risk if I don't.  And, The Traditions aren't chiseled in stone, either, as long as we're not injuring other groups or AA as a whole, but most of us would be upset if I plopped down a boom box in a meeting and started blasting Sabbath's "Into The Void."  It doesn't say I can't do that anywhere in the literature but the rule that prevents it is a good one.  My behavior is regulated and my freedom is curtailed, thank god.  I don't have to listen or pay attention, I can show up late or leave early, I can talk at every meeting long after the timer goes off, and I can go to the bathroom when someone irritating starts to drone on and on - tons of freedom - but I have to behave in a way that keeps our society functioning.

I'm finding The Solution in the Zoom meeting format.  It's not exactly what I want but it's a good substitute.  I'm attending meetings in far off locales, including getting to sit in on some that are held in places where I lived in the past.  I'm getting to ask old friends to chair a Friday Step meeting where I'm the temporary internet secretary.  And I'm getting to a meeting every day.

That's a pretty good solution.