Oh dear, now I have gone and shown you a picture of me! Just kidding, that's Doris Day.
Yesterday someone left a comment suggesting that my blog was "didactic" and someone else (Pammie) said she didn't know what that meant, but it sounded nasty.
At the risk of being accused of being didactic, I will use my own third grader language to give a basic definition of the word:
1. Teaching, instructing.
2. Preaching, moralizing.
Take your pick. I think the commenter meant to suggest the second meaning though. The commenter also asked if I thought AA was the only thing that worked or if I thought other things worked.
I have thought about the question. I don't know if other approaches to long term sobriety work, I can say from personal experience that I haven't seen much evidence that they do. But I may just not know. It really isn't any of my business.
I know that I agree with Dr. Carl Jung - that the only hope an alcoholic has is a spiritual experience. I know that there are places to get a spiritual experience other than AA, but I know that there is not a price tag attached at those other places. The idea that you can spend $10,000 or more to go somewhere and have a spiritual experience is something that I think is ludicrous. It really is none of my business though.
Unless one of those places steals my blog or wants me to advertise them. Then it becomes my right - yes, I said right - to put my foot down and say NO.
This is my blog. This is not a government agency. This blog is not a democracy. It is mine. I have a mission here. I talk about being a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I am just one of many. I don't have it perfect, I just plug along, day after day, staying sober one day at a time. Some people want what I have, some don't. That is OK.
I don't feel the need to present a "balanced view" of other approaches. I write about what has worked for me and a couple million other alcoholics. That approach is AA.
There is bountiful other information out there. Feel free to find it.
But I won't be presenting it. And if that is didactic, so be it. I can definitely live with that. Especially if I get to look like Doris Day while I am doing it.
15 comments:
I enjoy a good discussion with differing opinions. It makes for good information exchange. I didn't realize until today that there is such a divisiveness in AA between the MOTR and the Big Book adherents. I guess that I did know there was divisiveness but not at the level that I have read on a few blogs. I am glad that you send a message and state your purpose and what you believe without rancor. I think that being straightforward is a good thing.
Doris Day! Please, please, don't eat the daisies, don't eat the daisies etc I will be humming Doris Day songs for the next 24 hours.
You're not didactic at all. I am extremelty didactic on the only way to make perfect pasta, but when to comes to AA I can only say what has worked for me.
Even in the blog world, especially in the blog world, every day is not a Doris Day!
I like Doris Day.
She could be very didactic with Rock Hudson, I seem to recall.
I love it when I learn a new word. Bet I forget what it means by the end of the week though.
You COULD be Doris Day...add some funky eyeglasses, and I've read here that sometimes you put on heels instead of running shoes!
@Syd, what is MOTR? Because I am proud to be a Big Book adherent (down here we call them Thumpers).
Kim from sAn Antonio
What the heck is MOTR?
Methods Of The Relapsers?
I "get" you, Mary. That's why I read you.
I think you share lots of EXPERIENCE, so perhaps we won't make any of the mistakes you've made. I think you've shared in the past the STRENGTH it took to get sober, stay sober, and to this day to remain sober through what life throws at us.
Then you show us HOPE by the way you live. There's hope in having a good life. Or even a GREAT life.
I thank you for ALL your tales, your musings on life in the real world and in AA.
I know what didactic is and if you were, I wouldn't bother reading you. Please just keep writing as you always do.
If that person considers you didactic, then let them read elsewhere...this is not homework or required reading...sheesh!
I loved that show as a kid. I've seen some of the Doris Day movies as well.
Carry on, Mary Christine!
Like any good writer, you write about what you know. After over 26 years of sobriety, you most assuredly know a lot.
Didactic is quite the $10 word! Imagine the user felt quite proud of him/herself using it but evidently not so proud as to attach a name. Anonymous indeed.
Thanks for your blog. You do so much good with it and it has become one of my healthy habits.
I think you should go for the positive here and decide that the person was using definition 1.
Because, I am newly sober (five months and two days, not that I'm counting) and that's why I read this blog.
Jackie
Got no quarrel from here. I just sneak in here and steal one of my daily morning medications.
Since I'm here, I WILL say "Thank You", MC.
Taking a stand on what you think is right is not didactic. Or perhaps better said, if that is didactic then being didactic is a virtue.
I enjoy and benefit from your blog. Thank you for your thoughtful work.
Like several other commenters, I had never heard the term MOTR AA. Looking it up on the web it looks like it means the cafeteria style pop-AA that claims that all you have to do is 'don't drink and go to meetings'. You are right in asserting that the program is much, much deeper than that.
I've only recently started reading your blog and find it helpful. I'm much earlier on in my journey and consider it a resource. I don't find the tone didactic, but I am still making my way through the 1800+ posts :-). Keep writing.
MOTR - Middle of the road?
I am so glad you have always decided to leave your blog up and keep on blogging. You gave me information I needed to understand my own alcoholism, seek recovery through AA, and courage to attend f2f meetings.
Thank you. The internet world needs AA people like you telling us the things we need to know. I think you are the embodiment of 'attraction not promotion'.
What is MOTR?
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