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NA Message Board -> Narcotics Anonymous Message Board -> The Rock Tumbler
Post Info TOPIC: The Rock Tumbler
dan h


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The Rock Tumbler
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OK, here's a story that's relevant:

I remember as a small child traveling with my parents through the deep south. This was a time before the Interstate highway system was built and everyone traveled the two and four lane highways. often through the back country. I remember there were these roadside stands at peoples houses where they sold souvenirs, cold drinks, fresh produce, and the like. There was always a table covered with polished rocks that were also for sale. They were absolutely beautiful and irresistible to a child! Much later in life, I had the priviledge of learning how they are made.

There is nothing special about them at the start. They come in every shape and color imaginable. Some start out as plain gravel, some as rounded creek stones, some as just broken pieces. They are polished in a rock tumbler. Here is how it works: First, you take a portion of these common rocks appropriate to the size of your tumbler and dump them in. Then you just turn it on and walk away. The tumbler is a round bin that turns kind of like a clothes dryer, but very slowly. It does all the work. As it turns, the rocks tumble inside, rolling over one another, rubbing against one another, inexorably crunching, abrading, and grinding against one another. Slowly the drum turns, and the rocks tumble, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. In this process, they scrape, chip, and rub against one another, removing each others sharp edges, smoothing out each others rough spots, and polishing away imperfections. They make noise, too. They complain as the are jostled and bumped, scraped and filed, ground and worn.  At some point, a fine grit is added. This gives them their high gloss shine.

At the end of the cycle, they are finally ready. You dump them out and then you see it- they appear to be GEMS. Absolutely perfect, polished, and gleaming, they bear little resemblance to the rough stones you started with. What you now have is the very ESSENCE of these rocks. Their perfection and beauty is quite obvious. 

Now, here's the relevant part. These stones represent US! We are dumped together into this Fellowship. Our literature even says that "We are, by nature, strong willed, self-centered people, who are THRUST together in Narcotics Anonymous." (my caps)  As we continue to come together in our meetings and on this message board, we jostle and rub one another the wrong way, we irritate one another and we complain about how badly we are being treated and how unfair it all is, But in the process, we are having our sharp edges removed, our rough spots smoothed and our imperfections polished away. And what is being revealed is our essence, the very ESSENCE of who we are SUPPOSED to be.   

So, the next time you find yourself getting irrritated with another member, here or in a face to face meeting, remember this little story. Try to find some gratitude for your Higher Power for going to all the trouble to bring you to this place so that the ESSENCE of who you are can be revealed, and so that your inner beauty can shine forth and be admired by everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to read, I'll keep coming.



-- Edited by dan h at 00:50, 2008-09-29

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kitizzy


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That is a really good analogy Dan. The very disease that is sitting on the sidelines waiting to kill us, is the very same thing that makes us so special.

Addicts are amazing people. The NA fellowship is a prime example of how amazing they can be. It doesn't matter where you came from. You come in, take advice, and work the steps and at the end of it everyone shines. The light and serenity in the rooms is what keeps bringing me back.



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BigV


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I like that Dan since i'm a rock hound sorta and got the  gold fever really bad I am out there in the streams and rivers most weekend that I can get out, in the winter i'm out more when work slows.

4 weeks ago I found a piece of rock while dredging, it was a gorgious green color with green marbling in one end and it looked just like jade. Most of the rock was rough it had tumbled for probably thousands of years through the currents and that one end with the jade is so soft and smooth I decided to keep the stone and investigate.

Well  it's probably not jade but something called Serpentine which is quite common but this one piece  because its so polished and marbled is something unique it would make a nice piece of jewerly but only the one end of the stone is good enough for that and this is where I make my analogy.

We're not perfect we have our good sides and our bad sides, the bad sides need polishing biggrin

Heres a picture of the stone.

https://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/dredgfool/DSCF1389.jpgDSCF1389.jpg

-- Edited by BigV at 14:09, 2008-09-28

-- Edited by BigV at 14:12, 2008-09-28

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AnthonyG


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was wondering where my brains were vin, give it back !

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BigV


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AnthonyG wrote:

was wondering where my brains were vin, give it back !



 NOPE your brains gonna get some poiliching done on it, I may have to break off a few spots though and disgaurd the damaged areas LMAOaww



-- Edited by BigV at 11:58, 2008-09-30

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peachz


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excellent analogy Dan!

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