Thirty Somethings

I gave a talk recently to a group of recovering addicts.  It was on meditation, as in the Eleventh Step of the Twelve Step Program.  The vast majority were over forty years old.  At my church and nearby downtown churches, there are recovery meetings.  The majority of those people are under forty.  They are the twenty and thirty "somethings," as the media seems to lump them together.  Why are not they at a talk on meditation?  Besides the thought that I might be a complete bore or ignoramus, I believe that generally, the focus on meditation as a needed and daily practice comes after one has checked off or done their bucket list.  The focus for the young is career or job, finding a partner,  family, making a life in new surroundings, moving, and generally trying stuff to figure out who they are or want to be.  They try some meditation, but it is not really a focus in which they seek much depth or fulfillment.  Fulfillment  is more sort in these other things which they can now focus on sober.  When we get older, "we done this, done that."  We discovered or sensed some deeper self that cannot be filled up with the old bucket list.  Partners, family, homes, careers, friends, do not feed this deeper center.  Bill Wilson was no youngster when he wrote "The Big Book."  Dr. Bob was a successful doctor, with home, family and friends.  Both Bill and Bob knew it was not enough.  Sobriety in the deepest sense takes time, including biological time.  My clock is ticking.  Gotta meditate.