I attended an open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in my neighborhood; officially called the olive branch meeting. The meeting, proposed with speaker and debate, lasted ninety minutes. Reference was made to the Great Book, but it seemed that the speaker was the only one in possession of the Book. To my surprise, a fellow Liberty University student was there in the same capacity as me, however she was enrolled in a different class. We sat together. After arriving at the meeting, Tom H., the apparent leader of the meeting, approached, introduced himself to me, and asked if I was a student. I don't know if I resisted or it was the notebook in my hand that betrayed me. There were eighteen people in attendance, which I thought was a pretty large group. There were nine women and nine men. The meeting began with a moment of silence and the prayer of serenity. The Serenity Prayer was first adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 when it appeared in the New York Herald-Tribune Newspaper, and reads: “God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference” (AA World Services, 2014). The purpose seemed to be support. All the members seemed to genuinely support each other. Those present were of all creeds and colors, Caucasians, African Americans and Native Americans, but they all agreed: sobriety. I thought the speaker would be a professional guest. The speaker (on the podium) for this group was one of the members, Dawn. He told his story for about thirty minutes, then chose a topic and each person spoke briefly about the topic from their seat. If one didn't feel compelled to share, they could simply identify themselves as an alcoholic and move on to... center of paper... Lord's Prayer. That was a surprise too. I was also surprised that sobriety tokens were offered at the beginning of the meeting. No one took one, but that could mean no one had reached a particular milestone. I enjoyed the meeting I attended very much. The stories told by members took on courage and strength. Alcoholics Anonymous appears to be an effective form of treatment for alcohol addiction. This group, and I imagine most groups, showed love, care and concern for every person. They all expressed their love for God and determination to stay sober. Yoko reminded me that addiction is not subjective. It can affect anyone at any age. A gentleman, James, is approaching his three month anniversary of sobriety after being an alcoholic for 45 years! God bless him and all the members of the Olive Branch Alcoholics Anonymous group. I learned a lot.