The Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting At The Shepherd Of The...

The Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, otherwise simply known as the â€Å"Golden Key Group AA meeting,† that I attended was held on Saturday, November 8th, in Whittier, California, at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran church. To be more exact, it was held in a classroom located at the back of the church property, far from the twinkling, multicolored lights of the chapel in the front. The classroom was overfilled, with many people standing outside, leaning their heads in to listen. Chairs were offered to women and those who were ill, and one woman cradled her infant daughter, walking back and forth down the external hall. The huddled masses of people were squeezed together in a room with dim fluorescent lighting, with a great deal of them clutching onto Starbucks cups and thumbing their key chains, anxious to leave. The smell of cheap perfume and cologne wafted into the air, covering the unmistakable hints of vodka, beer, tequila. The mood was overwhelmingly reverent, and I couldn’t decide if it was more out of fear or genuine respect. Greetings were exchanged between regulars, cigarettes were smoked and crushed and smoked again, and a small box of cookies remained on the table, unopened. No one wanted cookies. Everyone wanted a drink. To put it frankly, the scene was depressing, and on more than a few levels. For me, it was the fact that I’d attended AA meetings in my youth with my father, who was an alcoholic. The overwhelming emptiness of the scene reminded me of those times,