12 Step Programs have been around now for decades. First it was AA, then NA, then Overeaters Anonymous, MA, CA, SAA, and the list continues to grow. 12 Step organizations are kept free and on a volunteer basis, with a focus on one suffering person, carrying the message and helping another person who suffers. For NA, the first 25 years they were were created and active, they had to have "jack Rabbit" meetings, jumping from one place to another, so that meetings were not held in a regularly occuring place. Why? Because where ever two addicts gather, it was called congregating, and it was a crime, and the meeting could be raided, and people trying to recover, arrested. Today, many 12 step organizations have world conventions, so that people all over the world can see that one person suffering the same disease, and working 12 steps, and taking suggestions and directions - works! Resources are available in most areas, if you know someone who is suffering, you can call 411 and ask for a listing or check to see if 211 is in service in your area. 211 is the 911 of social services and addresses all kinds of needs.<
11/29/03
Looking back - I see me-
Head hung in utter despair.
Me fallen down on,
And on my knees.
My eyes cast downward-
Burning to cry.
My shoulders were rounded by my grief.
My dreams were shattered and strewn,
Right where they died.
My heart so broken
I begged God, Just let me die!
Left with just my run down old ride,
And some ill fitting clothes-
I was broken and beaten-
By the very life I had chosen.
And man, I gotta tell ya -
I was nobodys rose.
Then I found some serenity.
And serenity found me!
Today, life is better.
And if you ask, Ill tell you, Im fine.
But I got a long way to go,
And I do it like this
I surrender every day.
And I do it
Just For Today.

Deborah Coss

Deborah Coss, has been writting since 8 years old, getting published off and on since 15, and finally realized her child hood dream, of carrying press credentials, working for womanmotorist.com. A diverse writer, publishnig several business type sites, she now publishes her own site, 1kindthing.com, creates some fine arts, and loves photography, commenting she is a social portraiture photographer and prefers the medium of black and white. In art, she has a very constructionist attitude, and enjoys making masks, and other 3 dimensional objects. On a personal side, she survived an extremly violent childhood, some serious trauma, including being crushed by a car at age 3 and half. Thus, her site 1kindthing.com, tells of overcoming hardships, in her many styles of writing. She is a baby boomer, raised in Southern California, bi-lingual in Spanish, descened from French, German, English and American Indian bloodlines. Coss finds words fun, and communication an art.