Cowboy Share: Stay in the Herd
It was an early morning AA meeting on the West Coast. A stranger walked in, a genuine cowboy. He was tall and lanky wearing blue denim jeans and a canvas jacket, which complemented the cowboy boots perfectly. A belt buckle that might have caused injury if he bent over quickly and a cowboy hat completed the picture.
He was in town for a funeral and wanted to catch a meeting.
We sat down and started the meeting. We read ‘How It Works’ and asked for topics.
Another unfamiliar face raised his hand, “I am just coming back,” he said.
“I stopped attending meetings, lost my program and went back out. So I am starting again.
“I don’t know if that is a topic, but that’s my problem. Thanks.”
What a great subject for a morning AA meeting. As we went around the room, the guys shared about the importance of the Program and meetings in our lives, the cunning, baffling power of alcohol, and the Fellowship’s value in staying sober. One fellow mentioned the importance of ‘staying in the middle of the herd.’
Then our visiting cowboy was asked to share.
He pushed his hat back and began, “I am a rancher. I watch my cattle and how they work together as a herd. There is a structure and purpose to a herd.
“Predators are cunning; they want access to the young calves. They are easy pickings. So the cattle put the young in the middle of the herd. Predators must get past the big bulls and angry mothers on the perimeter to get to that easy meat.
“But some of the young think they can go it alone; they drift to the edge of the herd and then away from the herd. Or a spunky youngster wants to go it alone. Well, they usually come to a bad end.
“The older cattle know this and try to keep the young in the middle of the herd. They will push a young one back and nudge them with their shoulders and horns. If the young one is determined, he can resist this and get away. But the old bulls and protective mothers have a role to play, and they do it.
“AA is like a herd, and booze is our predator. We need old-timers, strong bulls and protective mothers to protect the new AAs and those wounded and weakened by life; John Barleycorn has to get past this perimeter to the easy meat. And we have to watch the newcomers and sometimes nudge the young AAs back into the herd.
“For a rancher, referring to AA as a herd carries much meaning. There is a structure and purpose to a herd of cattle and our AA herd. Thanks.”
It was a real-life visualization of an old AA saying, ‘stay in the herd.’ The AA herd has a structure and a purpose, and we all have a role to play.
