OKaysez

 

Made A Decision

(75)

                           Keeping AA Alive

When I'm now asked to do the main share in meetings I try to remember to point out to those there that I am no longer the future of AA - they are!

I already know what AA has given me and what it has to offer, even though it's still unfolding and delighting me with new information on a regular basis. 

I've studied the books, I work the steps, I sponsor others, have started many meetings, served in virtually every trusted servant capacity, have a home group, and have been "passing it on" now for more than four decades. 

But older members like myself eventually and inevitably depart for "that bigger meeting in the sky," so AA's youngsters (of all ages) need to step up if AA is to continue serving as the refuge for suffering alcoholics. 

By doing so, they'll also keep and protect their own safe harbor in the process. But to do so, they need to know what holds AA together.

AA's Traditions hold it together.

Passionately and argumentatively forged and hammered out by AA's earliest members, the Traditions protect AA from both outside influences and from ourselves. 

Our 12 & 12, which clearly outlines and explains every Tradition for us, offers this information about their inception: 

At one time . . . every A.A. group had many membership rules.  Everybody was scared witless that something or somebody would capsize the boat . . . The total list was a mile long. If all those rules had been in effect everywhere, nobody could have possibly joined A.A. at all . . .

 

The 12 & 12 also tells us:

Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are largely a band of ego-driven individuals. 

Children of chaos, we have definitely played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and, we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today.

Our Twelve Traditions give us the guidelines for our own group, other groups, and for our fellowship throughout the world. They outline our purpose as a society, establish our requirement for membership, and define our policies for public relations, finances, and so much more.

Originally drafted by Bill Wilson, these principles were refined by both our founders and early members. They were later accepted and endorsed in 1950 by the membership at large during an International Convention of AA in Cleveland, Ohio.

Many AA members, especially newcomers, don't give our Traditions much thought and are perfectly content to let others manage the business of their home group. And, when those others are grounded in the Traditions, putting plans, policies and principles into action, that's fine. 

But when a group's leader (or leaders) become controlling and power-driven, the survival of the group itself is then at risk. So all AA members, even its newer members, need to learn and put our Traditions into practice in our group - and in our lives.

Merely sometimes reading the Traditions in meetings isn't enough. They need to become part of our DNA, to become principles we apply in our groups and as guardrails in our own lives. 

There are in-person and zoom study groups offering the chance to study them with others. There are Tradition workshops available, too. Go find them! Learn something!

Applying the Traditions guarantees the equality of all AA members and the independence of all groups.  They are our fellowship's safety net; they protect and hold us together.

 And we must know our Traditions to keep them - to keep alive our three vital legacies of recovery, unity, and service. 

As one of our co-founders wrote in a long ago letter: "When it comes to survival for AA, nothing short of our very best will be good enough.”

Our "very best" requires us all to thoroughly ground ourselves in our Traditions.

Working the Steps protects our sobriety. Working the Traditions protects us all.