Many years ago, a much beloved old-timer (I'll call him "Tommy") was chairing a meeting of a group in which several members were facing some critical life circumstances. A couple of these affected folks were very active in "service positions" that they honestly couldn't perform during the height of their respective challenges. For them being unable, at that point, to carry out their fellowship responsibilities was like adding insult to injury.
Tommy, now sharing his ES&H on powerlessness in conjunction with service "positions", bowed his head for a moment while he weighed this dilemma. As he raised his head, he slowly took in a deep breath. He scanned the room, appearing to take mental stock of newcomers and established members alike. Another few moments of silence passed as he closed his eyes, and again slowly drew a long, deep breath.
He looked around the room again, this time in a loving and reassured manner. He nodded as if acknowledging some message transmitted only to him. Tommy then got a special gleam in his eye, as was his habit when he'd struck upon something akin to gold. Thank goodness he shared it with the rest of us.
"Who here in this GROUP has a service position?" Tommy asked, already knowing. "Raise your hands, folks. Raise 'em high." Hands started drifting upwards, some more enthusiastically than the others.
"Ok, good. Keep 'em up there. Now, who in this meeting has any sort of service position outside of this group?" About a half-dozen hands joined those already raised. The gleam in Tommy's eyes was now accompanied by an emerging grin he was trying to suppress. The wily old coot wasn't quite finished.
Arms began to droop as Tommy wrangled the message he'd received into physical manifestation. "Don't you let those hands down yet- and if you don't know what "yet" means, it's You're Eligible Too!" He scanned our faces again. Some of us had begun to smile because we knew he was about to deliver his coup de grâce.
"Now, you kids who don't have your hands up, this is your YET. These guys getting sore arms may have 'service positions', but they're just like you. Why? Because what we do here ain't all about earning fellowship Brownie points. It's about being here for our brothers and sisters. Sometimes the way any of us can be of service is by letting our family be of service to us- and that goes for all you 'service junkies' too!" Tommy paused momentarily, letting the message take root.
"Ok. By now some of your arms might be tired enough to where you can't throw a punch at me for making you keep your hands raised for so long." Tommy heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. It was met with appreciative laughter. "Alright, lower 'em. One last thing though, before we wrap up this discussion. It's a question. Will everyone here who is willing to be 'of service' please stand up?"
Every seat was devoid of a fanny.
Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness. We who are about recovery are about being Of Service because it's essential to HOW it works.
