On Wednesday March 15 and 22 I attended meetings of the Serentiy Group, a local meeting group of Alcoholics Anonymous that were held at the Congregational Church in East Bridgewater. The meetings started around 8:00 pm and went untileach member was given the opportunity to speak, or to share their feelings in someway. There was a total of 15 people present, including myself and my companion. The group was primarily made up of males, there was one female aside from mycompanion and I. The age of the group members was pretty much middle age (late30s to 50s).Before attending the meeting I was very apprehensive about going, for manyreasons. The main one was that I did not know what to expect. I was unsure ofwho was going to be there, if I would know anyone, or if anyone would know me. Ifelt as though I was going to be invading the privacy of those in attendance. Uponarrival at I felt very extremely uncomfortable for two reasons, the obvious agedifference, and the male to female ratio. The uneasiness passed quickly as themembers of the group welcomed us in, and made us feel as if we were a part of thegroup. I think that part of my initial nervousness was due to the fact that I did notknow what to expect, I was unsure as to what a drunk would look like. Once Iarrived I realized that they do not look any different than anyone else. My initial impression was that the meeting would be very depressing, a bunch of drunks sittingaround telling stories about how alcohol ruined their lives feeling sorry forthemselves. Once I met these people and began conversing with them I knew I waswrong. I think that I felt this way because of the negative stereotypes that areattached to being a drunk, and not what the positive effects of a group such asAlcoholics Anonymous could be.In this small group of individuals I found somewhat of a family structure. These people cared not only about themselves, but each other as well. They allshared their add...
