Sanctimonious Seaweed

Our AWOL political activist returned today.  She showed up late wearing a cap supporting her candidate and sat in the back row.  She's not dumb by any means - I'm sure the late arrival was strategic, making it very difficult to remind her of how inappropriate her actions were.   Of course, as luck would have it, I was sitting directly across from her.  I had to angle my chair a bit so I wasn't forced to look at her confrontational ass.

Vindictive:  Having or showing a strong or unreasonable desire for revenge.

That is a gloves-off kind of word.  Here's another one:

Resentment:  Bitter indignation at believing one has been treated unfairly.

Here's a quote from the Alcoholics Anonymous literature: "Never forget that resentment is a deadly hazard to an alcoholic."

And another:   "But with an alcoholic whose hope is with the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave."

And then one more, the Big One:  "Resentment is the Number One offender.  It destroys more alcoholics than anything else."

How about a dip back into definition mode?  

Destroy:  To ruin as by tearing to shreds; to damage something, especially in a violent way, so that it can no longer be used or no longer exists.

Big, unequivocal words, definitive words, words that leave no room for nuance or interpretation, words suggesting - no stating factually - how dangerous resentment is to sobriety and peace of mind.

One more from our literature: "Therefore we think that our indignation is justified and reasonable - that our resentments are of the 'right kind.' "  Oh, boy, maybe my nickname should be Sanctimonious Stevie.

OK, I lied.  One more: "Few people have been more victimized by resentments than we alcoholics."

I think that what struck me the most was the utter brazenness of her move.  It was a metaphorical "Fuck You!" directed at the group.  One of our women members approached her afterwards and asked if she could speak with her for a moment.  "Not if it's about the cap," she shot back.  She also  had the audacity to base her reasoning on a misrepresentation of Tradition Three which states that the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.  No mention of Tradition One - One!  The first Tradition!  It comes first! - which reminds us that the group is more important than the individual.  No referencing Tradition Four and its suggestion that "A group ought not do anything which would greatly injure A.A. as a whole."  At our inception groups took firm stances on abolition, religion, association with private enterprises like hospitals and clubs.  At one point an alcohol manufacturer approached A.A. with an offer to become a spokesperson for "responsible drinking."  On its surface honorable enough.  The underlying rot would have been that we'd be associated with an ongoing alcohol concern.  These Tradtions didn't come about easily.  We were tearing ourselves apart with issues like this and needed to take action to make sure we didn't fly apart at the seams.