I was looking for an Avatar that kinda sorta demonstrated the alcoholic personality and there it was right in my back yard.  I call this bird "Cockarooster" because he is soooo cocky starting his crowing early in the morning and trying to get the feral chickens in the neighborhood to gather around him.  He knows and shows his colors and time to time will stretch and peck a hen into line.  When I fixate on his many colors I admirer my HP's artistry deeply and then remind myself "I am not such as this guy" I refuse to be a Cocka-rooster.  He is glamorous though isn't he?   I won't tell him you said so.   LOL   (((hugs))) 

We have tons of these guys strutting around town...all different shade and colors.

 The chicken in polynesia is a moa. In AoNZ moa were a large flightless bird, bigger than an ostrich!

  -now extinct. ... 

This is a foot bone. grandkids took it to school, to show the teacher...

 after that escapade I plan to re-bury it.

I  didn't think the emu sized flightless variety were in NZ David and moa is also the Hawaiian for chicken and for rooster moa kane but what the hell its still an alcoholic right?  LOL  Often times when I want and need to exercise gratitude and ease of spirit I look around me at what my HP puts right in front of me and the pain of alcoholism and drug addiction slips off into another place.   (((hugs))) 

mamalioness wrote:

---

I wonder, Jerry and David are the Hawaiian and Maori peoples languages kinda similiar??? is origins Polynesian??? I am fascinated by both peoples....My dream has always been to visit HI, AU, and NZ....I can't ever afford it, so I watch docus and movies depicting my "dream places".....

---

 The closest I heard to Maori [on you tube] was from Rapanui- Easter Island. They are Mama, they are all the same people- right across the Pacific!

My DNA shows a small link to Polynesia- but that might be about the people they tested for the study- explorers and traders. Either way, though, there is a link!

AoNZ is by far the biggest Polynesian Nation... and our people have made great gains- against the negative statistics... as you now i joined them long ago, before it was popular. They began to seek answers to alcoholism and addiction; famiiy dislocation and dysfunction. Not in a romantic airy-fairy way... but practical.

Our word ~Aroha~ resonates right across the Pacific... ... and to you too...!!! ...

 I had my DNA checked and low and behold, my sire's people came from RU to FR and GER where it was easier to make a living and my Dam is IRE/BRIT...so I am quite a mix..I got tired of guessing so had DNA checked...People keep telling me how Russian I look, LOL, now I know why......

And Oh yea, this movie, Once were warriors depicted the Maori's on the dole and drinking, it angered me to see these beautiful proud people, some of whom, going that way...Glad that answers are being sought for this...the American Indians have struggled with a similar state, I guess the Aborigines in AU, have had their trials too....wouldn't it be nice if the WHOLE WORLD was into recovery/12 steps?? We would not see the bullying, controlling, ego driven predation man does to his fellows...maybe we were all sorta "lucky"  we got driven to a place where we can at least SEE normal/healthy and hopefully live it......Thank you David for sharing this.....HUGS ...

 My Maori uncle served his country well, along with his 4 brothers- sergeant and officers. When my uncle hung himself in his garage I crossed the line and never came back.

 I certainly respect the world i left behind, I don't agree with a lot that was said- and done. What is happening now, is good. Far too late for many... but better late than never.

 Aroha mai... ...

(((A4l))) I love your mana your spirit and if we lived closer together we would probably hang out a lot.  I am A`ole koko born outside of the blood of na kanaka maoli and like David are most normally attached including beliefs and language and loyalty yes there are many similarities.  I have lived in the Samoas and my closest friends are Polynesian.  I had a Kupunahine a Hawaiian woman who offered to take me and direct my life when I didn't want to move to the u.s. as my family did and then I came back leaving my family of origin there.  Still the disease has no prejudices in it 6000 years plus of existence and that is before the life of the Christ as religious sects know.  Many of the deeply spiritual events in my life are centered in this culture and continue on a daily basis.

I try not to be a rooster of any kind.  A 12th step doesn't crow it speaks from the center of our experiences as I was taught by the kupuna of Al-Anon who saved my sanity and my life and then  taught me how to carry on the healing.  I have met a few roosters in program...mostly AA and not enough to make me leave.  

I was nurtured by na wahine, the hens of the program and I pray often for their peace of mind and serenity.  May Akua walk with you 24/7 as Akua does with me.   (((hugs))) 

My Welsh uncle died at the same time- in the same way. I witnessed the devastation of the family. My uncle was a navy man- joined at age 15. I always say !E Tu! Stand tall, whoever we are!

I respect that in everyone. ...

 Hey a41...I 1000% agree with what you are saying...so sad how pervasive this disease is....in Russia (my ancestral place on sire's side) when they had the recession, the gov't was worried about "home made vodka" like the old bathtub gin mills during prohibition....so the gov't forbade the liquor manufacturers to raise the price of "healthy" vodka and put out harsh punishments for anyone caught making their own "stuff".....i guess its better to destroy oneself on "good" booze rather than home made stuff.....

Wow, Jerry and David, I am fascinated by your shares....your love for your culture...

My Alkie mom wanted to be an indian so bad, she lied to us kids and said we were....My take was  "I make me whatever my blood is"  but deep inside, I wanted to know how i got this ultra thick strawberrie blonde hair and my cement hard teeth and other characteristics, like the ivory skin and "slavic" sort of looks...My sponsor and best friend in my whole life told me  "Rosie--I swear you are Russian...get your DNA checked"  at first I didn't want to..Maybe I was afraid I would catch "mother dearest" in another lie???.....However, I wanted to know so i got my DNA checked

Imagine my shock...ZERO native blood....RU/E. EU blood from him....IRE/BRIT blood on her side....NOT a shred of native in me, but I always felt for them and what happened to them...I lived in OK as a child and played with the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Creek kids and they teased me about my ,strawberrie blonde hair and ivory skin...now I know where it comes from, LOL.

But ya know??? at first I was kinda bummed out when I found out I was not native american, because their philosophy was so spot on to me.....but i am OK with it because I am STILL me...Free to take what I want and free to leave what I don't want...embrace what philosophy I want, It doesn't matter what blood I have coursing through my veins....

Whether I am a messed up EU/RU or whatever, I am still messed up and need my recovery....Been kinda down on me of late...all the unwanted energy coming at me since Dec. has left me fragile...easily angered...fearful of "whats coming at me next???"  I'm mentally and emotionally/spiritually worn out....AND very sad, not depressed, but sad/grieving

 a41, I just want to say  "glad to get to know something about you"  Do you live in NZ??? I am in Dallas area, TX...is ok..I don't buy into their religious stuff, but thats OK, if it works for them?? great!! It never worked for me...Here is kind of a mixed bag of LOTS of nationalities and I love learning about them...Other people and their cultures always interested me...Everyone here is a teacher and everyone here is a student...I try to go with the intent to learn rather than to know......sometimes i fail miserably but tomorrow is another "go at life" chance so I can re-set adn start again

Getting back to Jerry's topic-the alcoholic character- In AA, as I see it the golden land past sobriety is emotional sobriety.

In Alanon, I assume, past the poor me's and the pity party is much the same thing...?

Getting there is the tough part. Life was tough enough. The hard part is easy peasy- or ought to be- letting go... ...

 Hey David, at first I thought references to emotional sobriety was like "whaaaat is that???" now i see that the isms in my thinking, are only manageable..like an alcoholic, i am no different....stinking thinking, all of it , save for the drinking....I still do the pity thing, but I catch it and i do something, even if it is the next very step in caring for me...like taking life once little chunk at a time...ODAT is when I am good.....sometimes its OMAT....one minute at a time....lately its been OMAT or maybe OHAT (hour) and letting go still stings, i still think of it , at times when I am down, is being defeated...beaten.......on a good day, I just don't fight the things I cannot control...quit trying to manage the unmanageable.....

  a41...

Mama... I was the oldest of 5. I would never consider going round the stinking thinking. Straight through the middle for me!

Getting a hold of my own takes a little time... but it is a saving grace; healing, in other words, to know I am not alone... ...

hey a41...your chicken recipe sounds DEEElicious......I do a similiar dish with my chicken

I used to have chickens and I would humanely kill the hens when they couldn't lay anymore, and eat them.......that was Looong time ago when I had property...now I buy the chicken in a good store, LOL.

I put it in a crock pot...cook for about 4-5 hours with onions, seasonings, salt, pepper and when its all done, and falling off the bones, stir some sour creme in it....YUMMMM i do it with wings when i am having company....they love it.....its called  "chicken puprakosh" (spelling)  an EA European dish....

Interesting way the post came about eh?  Now I know a couple other ways of preparing and eating chicken and haven't once thought of killing the cockarooster which is a royal pain in the butt at 330 AM.  The genealogy info I love because of my own background and rearing and the information about 1st nations peoples have a very definite mark on me and their stories have influenced my understanding deeply especially their experiences regarding the "Creator Father" which I am so very comfortable with.

At my earliest Home Group; the Monday Night College Church of Christ Al-Anon Family Group we had a procedure where the members volunteered service for the next weeks meeting.  We had a guy, John, who chose to close the meeting with the closing prayer.  The next week I was at the meeting and standing with John at the close and he told me with alarm that he could not close the meeting because he was not Christian and didn't know the Lord's Prayer.  Not wanting to enable I suggested he close it the way he knew how and he responded to the group that he was a Black Foot Indian.  Have any one here ever heard a Black Foot Indian man talk to his Creator Father?  

I continue to feel the spirituality and gratitude even thinking about that night.  Mahalo John and John's Creator Father.  I felt like I was standing face to face with his HP as they spoke.   AWESOME!!   ((((hugs))))       Chicken Skin!!