Alcoholics Anonymous Tradition 10

Transcription

1 P a g e 1 My name is Reed M. and I am an alcoholic. My sobriety date is January 3, 2009 and my Home Group is the Georgetown, TX group in Georgetown, TX (District 22). I want to thank Jonathan for giving me the opportunity this afternoon to talk on the subject of Tradition 10. I hope that God has something for you today through leveraging my perspective on the topic. I also hope that everyone remembers Rule 62 and don t take me too seriously. Since we re discussing Opinions I will share a few of mine with you today and I m sure not everyone will agree, however I ask that you keep an open mind and see what God has in store for us. Most of what I will talk about today is taken from these sources: 12 Steps and 12 Traditions (12x12) The A.A. Grapevine Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age The book, THE FOUNDATION, PROGRESS AND PRINCIPLES OF THE WASHINGTON TEMPERANCE SOCIETY OF BALTIMORE, AND THE INFLUENCE IT HAS HAD ON THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES., 1842 by John Zug. Tradition 10 Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy. What does that mean? The long form says No AA group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, express any opinion on outside controversial issues particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.

2 P a g e 2 This Tradition is unusual in that it wasn t included because of what happened within AA in the early years, but because of what happened to another organization that was successful for a while in stopping people drinking, and then collapsed. The literature tells us of a 19th-century temperance movement called the Washingtonians. More than 100,000 people sobered up; some even say 600,000 in its height. However, giddy with success, it decided to turn its attention to other matters such as campaigning on the slavery issue and the temperance movement of the times. They changed their entire public appearance to suit audiences on one side of an issue. The process of trying to decide exactly what the Washingtonians stood for caused so much disunity that within two years, amidst the squabbling, the organization had destroyed itself. Most of those thousands drank again. Learning from this example, AA doesn t comment on any outside issue, and AA groups are asked not to form opinions on anything except those things that pertain to their own primary purpose or affect AA as a whole. In an A.A. Grapevine, article from September 1948, Bill W. states:..our A.A. Traditions are those attitudes and practices by which we may deserve, as a movement, a long life and a useful one. To this end, none could be more vital than our 10th Tradition, for it deals with the subject of controversy -- serious controversy. On the other side of the world, millions have not long since died in religious dissension. Other millions have died in political controversy. The end is not yet. Nearly everybody in the world has turned reformer. Each group, society and nation is saying to the other, "You must do as we say, or else". Political controversy and reform by compulsion has reached an all-time high. And eternal, seemingly, are the flames of religious dissension.

3 P a g e 3 It is my opinion that we address these controversies as we would with any other situation by practicing our spiritual principles in all our affairs. If I have a personal opinion on anything, inclusive of politics, outside issues, primary purpose, non-a.a. recovery solutions, etc., what is my true and honest motive in sharing that opinion with others? Page 60 of the Big Book states: The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. Now, my opinions are always based on what I feel is the correct or preferred side of the topic. My need to share those opinions with you is my ego needing to place myself in a position greater than that of you by being right or correct and therefor superior to you. This way of thinking is driven by the ego; by self-will and most often, I will engage in windy debates or arguments with other parties who take the opposite side of the topic because my ego (SELF) wants to be right or superior and I feel the need to save them from being wrong and suffering from the perceived consequences of their incorrect belief. Saving others based on my experience, this sound like a good motive. However, these debates (even if cordial in nature) are a type of collision with others and the book just told me that when I find myself in collision (argument, debate, or disagreements), am living based on self-will (even when my motives are good) and not by the principle of the program. If I am truly living this program on a daily basis, as a member, I should not be living on a selfish basis by taking sides on any debate or opinion, whether internal to my family or A.A. or in public; leaving that business to God to sort through as the chapter containing Step 3 suggests.

4 The 12&12 expresses the following belief from one of our members: P a g e 4 Practically never have I heard a heated political, or reform argument among A.A. members. So long as we don t argue these matters privately, it s a cinch we never shall publically. So that s it, right? This opinion would be great to apply if we were all perfect and all worked a program based on perfection or if we were all old timers in A.A. However, this will never be the case. We are human beings; we still want to be accepted by others and to fit in; we still have opinions and values; we still have the right to share our beliefs of that is our choice. I believe Bill W. expressed this well in the same 1948 Grapevine article where he stated: Being like other men and women, how can we expect to remain forever immune from these perils? Probably we shall not. At length, we must meet them all. We cannot flee from them, nor ought we try. If these challenges do come, we shall, I am sure, go out to meet them gladly and unafraid. That will be the acid test of our worth. Our best defense? This surely lies in the formation of a Tradition respecting serious controversy so powerful that neither the weakness of persons nor the strain and strife of our troubled times can harm Alcoholics Anonymous. We know that A.A. must continue to live, or else many of us and many of our brother alcoholics throughout the world will surely resume the hopeless journey to oblivion. That must never be. It is my opinion that, the moment we, as individuals or as a group, take a side in any matter of potential or real public issue, we immediately lose access to 100% of the potential or real alcoholics who reside on the opposing side. By so doing, we have failed in our primary purpose. They, in turn, label our opposing side (inclusive of A.A.); the collective ego makes us wrong and thus inferior and so they begin a campaign with others to make our position known. There is an author named Joe Girard who is in the Guinness Book of World Records for his-

5 P a g e 5 records as a salesman. He developed what is called the Rule of 250 which says that each of us has a direct line to 250 other people that we know and can influence and each of them, in turn know 250 and so on. Recent updates to this in a UK news article mention that it is possible that each person under 21 now has access and influence to over 500 people via social media such as Facebook. If our previously discussed scenario were to play out with the Rule of 250 in mind, we can see that it would be a matter of time before we lose access to thousands if not millions of potential or real alcoholics. The question can also shift to how we accidentally imply that we are speaking on behalf of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is a real concern. The 12 Traditions checklist ask this very question regarding Tradition 10: Do I breach this or any of its supporting Traditions in subtle, perhaps unconscious, ways? With social media in particular, we must be mindful of this and other Traditions. If we post pictures of ourselves and are not cautious of the A.A. symbol on a door or wall behind us; if we check-in at meetings noting or implying Alcoholics Anonymous, and we then proceed to post our personal opinions and debate political issues, etc., do we imply that we share or speak A.A. s opinion on that issue by our implied affiliation with A.A. as others see it on our social media page? When we tell our stories, do we unconsciously share our opinions on public issues and possibly imply that A.A. has an opinion? How many times have we heard an A.A. have an opinion on say, Religion, Institutions or even a certain other A.A. group or type of meeting during a talk? What about at an open conference or round-up where there are Non-members present? We must always be mindful of potential hidden messages when in a situation where we imply our affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous. Taking the middle ground of No Opinion ensures that we remain the neutral party which is open and available to everyone on either side of any debate or situation, weather within our beloved fellowship or in public.

6 P a g e 6 As a world-wide fellowship, we welcome any and all alcoholics into our doors that have a desire to stop drinking; we don t take sides for this purpose alone. In a 1976 Grapevine Article, a letter written by Bill W. notes the following: "I wish every AA could indelibly burn the history of the Washingtonians into his memory. It is an outstanding example of how, and how not, we ought to conduct ourselves. In a sense, Alcoholics Anonymous has never had a problem seriously threatening our overall unity. Yet I notice that some AAs are complacent enough to suppose we never shall." Bill also recalled the fate of the Washingtonians before 1,500 AAs gathered at the annual banquet in New York City on November 7, 1945, where he said - "In short, the Washingtonians went out to settle the world's affairs before they had learned to manage themselves. They had no capacity for minding their own business.... The negatives within them overthrew the positives. "That won't happen here, if we remember, publicly and privately, our own simple principles of honesty, tolerance, and humility, and that we live only by the Grace of God." Traditions! Words to remember! Thanks, Bill. Thank you, Washingtonians. And, thank you all here for the opportunity to serve Alcoholics Anonymous. Reed M.