Made a Decision (15)
“The Steps protect me from myself;
the
Traditions protect AA from me.”
All the Traditions dovetail nicely into one another, but none do so more than Traditions Ten, Eleven and Twelve, today's blog topic.
And while every tradition is important to the survival of AA, none are more so than Tradition Ten.
The very thought of misusing the tenth tradition has the power to frighten me.
Tradition Ten: Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Here's some history you should know, from the book Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, which offers the following information about The Washingtonian Society, a group once established to help alcoholics to recover:
"The Washingtonian Society, a movement among alcoholics which started in Baltimore ... [in the 1850s], almost discovered the answer to alcoholism.
At first the society was composed entirely of alcoholics trying to help one another. The early members foresaw that they should dedicate themselves to this one aim.
In many respects the Washingtonians were akin to A.A. Their membership passed the five hundred thousand mark.
Had they stuck to their one goal, they might have found the full answer. Instead, the Washingtonians permitted politicians and reformers, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic, to use the society for their own purposes.
Abolition of slavery, for example, was a stormy political issue then. Soon Washingtonian speakers violently and publicly took sides on this question.
Maybe the society could have survived the abolition controversy, but it did not have a chance from the moment it decided to reform all America's drinking habits. Some of the Washingtonians became temperance crusaders.
Within a very few years they had completely lost their effectiveness in helping alcoholics, and the society collapsed."
It's possible some of our very own ancestors died of our disease after the Washingtonian Society folded, giving our forebears nowhere to turn to for help.
Dr. Bob and Bill W. were very familiar with the history of the Washingtonian Society and its effectiveness in helping alcoholics. They were also familiar with how that organization crashed and burned.
They knew about the Oxford Group and its efforts to help alcoholics, too.
The Oxford Group was a Christian organization that taught the root of all problems were the personal problems of fear and selfishness.
The Oxford Group still reaches out today to alcoholics and addicts with its principles for recovery. AA's founders used and expanded upon those same principles in the writing of our own 12-steps.
So - as it recommends in our Big Book - our founders made use of what religion had to offer. They also reminded us of the dangers inherent in going outside our own sphere of knowledge by writing Tradition Ten.
Some Bullet Points for Tradition Ten
1. Individual members have every right to hold opinions on any subject, but sharing those opinions at the public level while identifying as a member of AA is an AA no-no.
2. No individual AA member is “the voice” of AA, either in meetings or in public (no matter how much that member might want to be).
3. Tradition Ten prevents our good ship of recovery from breaking up on the rocks the way the Washingtonian Society did.
Tradition Eleven: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
(My note: also on television and every form of social media).
There have been instances in AA’s history of celebrities getting sober in AA, bragging about their sobriety in public while giving all credit to AA, and then later to have a slip - sending them back to drinking (and more ugly headlines over their drunken antics).
Their actions have caused some still-suffering alcoholics to doubt AA’s effectiveness and to never reach out for its help.
Also, many of us non-celebrities are very like one of my own good friends in AA who often says in meetings: "When I got sober I wanted to become famous in an anonymous program."
Bullet Points for Tradition Eleven
1. While we may not be celebrities, we may still hunger for attention. Tradition Eleven reins in our eager egos.
2. We can certainly share our experience, strength and hope with friends, family, and those in need of our 12-step help. But we must keep our AA connection quiet on public platforms (newspapers, magazines, videos, personal Facebook pages, television, etc.) by not allowing ourselves to be filmed, photographed or identified by our surnames.
3. Social Media is of special concern for misuse of Tradition Eleven. I've actually had people post direct reference to my membership in AA on my Facebook page, breaking my anonymity without a moment's hesitation. Perhaps that old AA slogan "Think, Think, Think" should be shared more often?
4. Finally, while I personally believe more people today need to know that AA works in the long term to rehabilitate crazy alcoholics and turn them into productive, useful citizens - in doing so we must still always follow Tradition Eleven on every media platform.
We can share that important message of successful long-term sobriety because of AA, but must still protect our anonymity - and the anonymity of others - in the process.
Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, reminding us always to place principles before personalities.
One of the first things we learn in AA is there is a Higher Power in charge of the universe - and it isn't us.
We take no credit for our sobriety. We tried (and tried, and tried, and tried) to get sober and failed miserably until we "came to believe" there was a power greater than ourselves who could ... and would ... and did ... give us the gift of sobriety. (Even if, in early days, we merely saw that Higher Power as the collective wisdom found in our AA groups).
And we learn over time to rely on Tradition Twelve during those times when sticky problems develop within our home group. We don't get into shouting matches. We pause and remember to put the perfect principles of AA recovery before the desires of our imperfect personalities.
Alcoholics often have great enthusiasm and that’s a good thing when reaching out to another suffering alcoholic with the news they don’t have to drink again, that there is help at hand in AA. But …. (see the second bullet point for Tradition Eleven.)
Bullet Points for Tradition Twelve:
An alcoholic in recovery needs to check their ego at all times, especially so when they find themselves thinking “my way or the highway.”
“Attraction rather than promotion” is our goal.
The spiritual principles of AA are perfect. We are not.
When in doubt, don’t.
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