A Change in Perspective

I accidentally moved to San Diego about 6 months before the A.A. International Convention was held there. I say “accidentally” because I didn’t know anything about the convention coming when I decided to move there from Florida. I decided to take a new job there so I could volunteer in person for the non-profit energy group I’d been helping out for several years.

But I had exactly 5 years of sobriety at the time so it was the perfect moment to find out the actual size of the organization I’d joined – or should I say, “joined me,” since A.A. literally saved my life.

Along with many of my Florida friends, my first sponsor, Art, flew out from North Carolina. Together, we got to experience what it was like to hold hands in a stadium of 50,000 people and say the Lord’s Prayer after hearing how sobriety had changed the lives of all the speakers there.

We also got to discover what it was like to walk along San Diego’s Embarcadero waterfront, next to the Convention Center, surrounded by throngs of people wearing the lanyards and badges that identified them as fellow survivors.

Sitting on the cement wall or standing in line for coffee, you could start up a conversation with anyone, about anything, and get a big smile and a story and sometimes, even a big hug. It was as if there were no strangers anywhere – only friends you hadn’t met yet.

One evening, we boarded one of the many buses to head to the stadium for the big evening meeting. Our bus was filled to capacity – standing room only. However, just as it was along the waterfront, people were smiling and chatting enthusiastically.

Since it was rush hour, traffic was barely crawling along on the freeway, so the bus driver tried to take a shortcut down some surface streets – only to hit a dead end due to some new construction. “I am SO SORRY – I’ll try to get you there on time,” he announced to the passengers, as he struggled to back up and turn the bus around.

Many of us found it hard to stay standing during all this and wound up sitting on the laps of our fellow passengers, who just laughed along with us. “Hey, don’t worry, pal,” one of our number shouted out to the driver. “Whenever we get there, we’ll only be doing what we’re doing right now!” he said, and everyone laughed again, as the driver watched in the mirror with widening eyes.

Amazed at all of this, I turned to my sponsor and asked him, “Art, can you just imagine – what if the whole world was like this, all of the time?”

Art smiled and answered, “Well, I guess it would be like it says in the Lord’s Prayer?” I looked at him, puzzled, and he continued. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” he quoted. When I asked him how long that would take, Art replied, “I guess it takes just about as long as it takes for us to see the world the way God sees it.”

In his book of the same name, Chuck C. quotes Father Ed Dowling, Bill Wilson’s spiritual sponsor, as saying: “Sometimes, heaven is just a new pair of glasses.” If so, I guess Art hit the nail on the head way back then. If I want to experience heaven on earth, I need to change my perspective.