Well, I have been back from Romania for several weeks, and I am still trying to process everything I experienced there. Romania is a culture in transition, and it is very obvious that the Church leadership is very interested in meeting the new needs of the community.
Addictions are a big concern, but they look at the issue differently than we do in the West. I learned this from trying to teach.
I will spend more time getting into how the Romanians understand addiction, which is not incompatible with the 12 Steps, but they actually take for granted the Big Book's suggestion that even non-addicts can benefit from the Steps. They reverse the idea: the general treatment of the Passions which all humanity suffers from naturally embraces the treatment of addiction.
Now, there are some other issues they don't quite grasp: declining a drink is an insult in Romania and I had to find another strategy for dealing with anxious hosts wonder why I wasn't gulping down their glasses of 'parts cleaner' (a liquor called Ţuica, usually made from plums, but also just about anything that ferments). There were a couple of times I had three or four glasses, full to the brim, sitting around me while I tried to finish my meal under the concerned stares of my hosts.
Over the next few weeks, I hope to unpack some of my mental luggage from this trip.
Addictions are a big concern, but they look at the issue differently than we do in the West. I learned this from trying to teach.
I will spend more time getting into how the Romanians understand addiction, which is not incompatible with the 12 Steps, but they actually take for granted the Big Book's suggestion that even non-addicts can benefit from the Steps. They reverse the idea: the general treatment of the Passions which all humanity suffers from naturally embraces the treatment of addiction.
Now, there are some other issues they don't quite grasp: declining a drink is an insult in Romania and I had to find another strategy for dealing with anxious hosts wonder why I wasn't gulping down their glasses of 'parts cleaner' (a liquor called Ţuica, usually made from plums, but also just about anything that ferments). There were a couple of times I had three or four glasses, full to the brim, sitting around me while I tried to finish my meal under the concerned stares of my hosts.
Over the next few weeks, I hope to unpack some of my mental luggage from this trip.
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