Civic Education in Jordan: Education in Nationalism

I went last Sunday to Trinity Episcopal Church. It was smaller group than I expected. I was surprised to find the atmosphere so vibrate and lively. At meeting everyone introduces with Hi and their name “my name is so and so and I am alcoholic “to themselves. I saw alcoholic people about my age. I do not know how well they know each other but everyone was friendly. Most shared their stories with ease, proud of their sobriety and second chance at life. Others related their story sprinkled with tears, struggle, heartbreak and defeat. This community, dedicated to the honest acceptance of life’s challenges, did not question its members’ motives or missteps. I talked to middle aged man about his struggles with alcohol. He works at local restaurant and he dropped from school freshman talked about his struggles with alcohol. When he was ten years old his parents got divorce.

Through his difficulty he experienced from his father. He was trying to avoid his stressful life that he had been with his family so he started to drink alcohol to escape from his loneliness and sadness. Also, he was drinking as to empress his friends at social gathering. To fill a void, he began looking for girlfriend on tender. He started chatting with new friend a fun, pretty, smart pre-med junior. He was asked if he wanted to meet and smoke and he was desperate for company but he shared the struggle with her and met up with her. He started a week long bender down the university party scene. He is overcome by intense waves of guilt and shame. He felt sad for losing this round of his battle. But instead of being sad, he decided to share his struggle story with the room with hoping that they can learn from each other experience so they can support each other and courage from the meeting and learn from it so they do not repeat the same mistakes. I was shocked of how people were the sheer strength it took to publicly battle one's demons. It was like mesmerized by the vulnerability, resilience and openness. It was uncommon for me to hear people talking about the depth of their depression, suicidal idestions and even attempts.

However, it seems odd to me. At the end of each story was expression of thanks “the greatest i got from the meeting is the gift of life”. It was like rebirth for everyone took place in this room. He said that he has been sober for 12 years and he decide each day not to have first drink so that he did not become the man he despise. AA were focusing on the important of being spiritually fit and practicing the steps of the program was signature of the meeting. Alcoholism is considering as a neurobiological disease with spiritual cure. This cure is not something you can swallow and let your body do the rest, unlike antibiotics. It is need the physical and psychological stamina to stay away from regression. AA’s life seems you riding a bike on mountain, so if you are not going up, you are going down. He said that he got a personal lesson. Irrespective of how big or small, celebration one's achievements. Each step taken in the right direction get you closer to your end goal. If people are quick about judging themselves harshly, they should apply to celebrate their successes, Valuing and welcoming the growth deserves to be recognized. Even if you had seen an acquaintance there, You need not ask them to protect your anonymity; they are there for the same, or similar, reasons. They will generally respect your privacy and you, in turn, should respect theirs.

Even I am not considering as alcoholic, however, i can talk about what was spoken about during the meeting. Whether it is the loss of loved one a difficult upbringing or challenging relationship, we are all recovering from something. I feel that the experiences of theirs serve as personal lessons. So everyone should have self-growth and development in their lives. It seems to that everyone in the room had struggling with addiction, made me think that strength does not come from the wining. From the struggle you develop the strengths and never giving up, that is true strength. Effectiveness t did attending a self-help meeting have on my stereotypes, that none of them alone, when I went there I felt like my first meeting and I was not sure what to expect. I felt like new kids at school. But these strangers were making effect to welcome me. Their past life and their past mistakes do not define who are they today. Looking back people who had struggle with alcohol in the past can see how the love, acceptance and support that they found at Alcoholics Anonymous could change their life to better Because they came from in resentful and anxious lifestyle and now they can have grateful and serene. Life is lived one day at a time. There is holiness in the present that cannot be found by looking back or ahead. Taking it one day a time teaches to you to live the moment and not to get overwhelmed by tomorrow or future. For alcoholic people that may struggle to abstain for a day or for their whole life, this is might makes their life manageable. AA believes that admitting mistakes and Learning about that they can improve by making searching and avoid fearless.

AA believes that admitting what were wrong in the past and practicing forgiveness to continuous their future life. Through past behavior, they can identity why they do and what they do and make changes to their life. they can let past go and think about growing into bright future by addressing fears and displeasures. The first step to restarting their life is giving their life higher power. Some people may think that addiction is addiction to alcohol is matter of willpower and sufferer is considering as weakness, However, Alcohol is like illness and could make impair mental capacities as well as body. Some people believes that spiritual experience through deep submission to god can overcome the weakness. Going through progress not perfection is the most important way to recovery. it should take a few steps to move forward. So if it is back to relapse, it better to not throw it all way and back on the wagon. All of people makes mistakes and forgiving themselves is the most important like forgiving each other. It seems like resentment of drinking poison and unhealthy way of thinking because it can make them more satisfactory, regarding AA meeting it is really important to clean themselves from resentment, in many cases they come from people, or institutions work. admit your wrong in all cases and work to influence the side of dissatisfaction of staying healthy. Regrading to AA meeting believe that the best way to help yourself is to help others. Some people think that AA is advice sections but AA is share seddion. So people can share their experiences without feeling fear of judgment and with people who can understand their each other situation was supersized that some people consider AA lost cause and disappointing but I think of it as opposite way as a helpful organization.