Throw me a brick!

Melanie has a lens that claims Alcoholics Anonymous has only a 5% retention rate. I don't doubt her research and she's offering an alternative to the traditional A.A. style 12 step recovery. But the five percent rate doesn't surprise me. I was pretty active in network marketing for a couple of years and quite successful by MLM standards (I know it seems like I just changed gears here, but stick with me). In that industry there's about a 5% retention rate and among the few who do hang in there are some who are fabulously wealthy. I once held one such successful person's bonus check for one month and stared at an amount in excess of $103,000. What does this have to do with addiction and recovery? It illustrates that succeeding at anything that requires really hard work, discipline, tenacity and patience is beyond the reach of many people in western culture. We've grown out of hearty pioneer, trailblazing stock into a nation of whining, litigious, self-serving babies who care first and foremost for self and consider others only if it suits us. That's a harsh assessment and I'm sure plenty of you will argue that we're a charitable, kind, industrious folk that lead the world in all the really important categories. That's a nice sentiment, but I fear we are watching that society fade into the sunset. Have you ever wondered what might happen to our charitable spirit if tomorrow all tax deductions were eliminated? How many hospitals would get built if no one could have their name (or that of their sainted wife, husband, mother, etc.) emblazoned across it?

Why do only 5% of addicts successfully navigate sobriety? Maybe it's because there are a whole lot of people standing on the ship of our culture chucking bricks at those of us who are drowning in the sea of self-doubt, fear, and addiction. Mary Pipher's amazing book, Reviving Ophelia uncovers the impact of our culture just on adolescent girls. Multiply that by nearly every people group and I'm amazed that even five percent find recovery. Alcohol, sex, drugs, litigation and personal irresponsibility are relentlessly sold to us. Our addictive natures absorb all this and give us permission to stay locked in the prison created to protect us from real life. At the same time, real life is what we are dying to experience.

I thank God for recovery and the strength to stay in it. I give him all the credit because, as the first step tells me, I am powerless over my addictions and my life had become unmanageable when I was the one in charge.