[Businessmtg] The Last Hurrah Before the Curtain Falls

[Steve Rankin]

Hi folks,

 

I spent a couple of hours on the road this afternoon, which always gives me
an opportunity to think about what's going on in the various parts of my
world.  Much of today's mind dance was to the tune of the GEA Districting.
Specifically about how the Task Force recommendation would likely impact ASP
and our representation in the GEA.  

 

What we know is that the GEA wants to delineate districts by following
criteria in this order of precedence:

 

1.	UTC Time Zone.
2.	No district shall have more than 20 groups including groups that do
not currently have GS.
3.	Platform
4.	Language

 

Next, we know that the GEA Districting Task Force intends to apply this UTC
chart when assigning groups to districts.

  Click on this link <http://tinyurl.com/5n89hdk6>  to view chart.   

   http://tinyurl.com/5n89hdk6 

 

Next, we know that the recommendation includes placing all of the 24/7
groups into the 5am to 11:45am EST time slot.  Recall that this UTC time
slot is when the non-24/7 meetings start.

FWIW, 

   5am to 11:45am EST equals

   4am to 10:45am CST equals

   3am to   9:45am MST equals

   2am to   8:45am PST.

   In other words, this UTC block of time starts at 2am in the West and ends
at Noon in the East of the US.  

Please note that this time slot includes 7 hours of the 24-hour day; almost
30% of the 24-hour day.

 

Next, we know the 17  24/7 groups are only a minority of the 64 groups
assigned to this time slot.  The obvious result is that District meetings
for this our district would most likely occur during the hours of the
majority of the meetings in the district.  This leads to district meetings
beginning somewhere between 2am and 11am for ASPs GR.  Not too bad for an
ASP GR on the East Coast, but pretty much sucks for a GR that lives on the
West Coast.

 

The other facet of this time slot we should recognize is that Al-Anon
meetings that start in the middle of the night (USA time) are generally on
the other side of the planet.  And very likely speak another language.  

 

Now, factor in the GEAs plan to limit districts to 20 groups max.  That
means the 64 groups currently in the O-Dark-Thirty time zone would be split
in to 4 districts of 16 groups each.  Applying the 57% without GRs means 9
groups with a GR in each district.  Then factor in the 26% are 24/7 groups
and we have 2 GRs from a 24/7 group and 7 GRs from some other group from the
other side of the planet.  OK, I'll grant that my guestimates might not work
out exactly as I've figured, but given that we haven't been provided any
better information, we don't have any reason to think it will be far off.

 

Once again, the bottom line . . . the 24/7 groups, specifically the email
meetings such as ASP will have little, if any legitimate representation in
our district, which equates to even less in the GEA.  

 

Does that bode well for the email meetings?  I think not.  

 

Last, but definitely not least, my responsibility is to my group first.
Just like I need to take care of myself before I take care of others, I need
to take care of my group before I try to take care of the District or Area.
As an officer on the Steering Committee of ASP, my responsibility is to ASP.
It is not my job to take care of the Area, or the District - that job
belongs to the leadership of those service entities.  

 

Love and SERENITY,

Steve