Tradition2

Tradition Two

“For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”

WHERE does A.A. get its direction? Who runs it? This, too, is a puzzler for every friend and newcomer. When told that our Society has no president having authority to gov ern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, no board of directors who can cast an erring mem ber into outer darkness, when indeed no A.A. can give an other a directive and enforce obedience, our friends gasp and exclaim, “This simply can’t be. There must be an angle somewhere.” These practical folk then read Tradition Two, and learn that the sole authority in A.A. is a loving God as He may express Himself in the group conscience. They dubiously ask an experienced A.A. member if this really works. The member, sane to all appearances, immediately answers, “Yes! It defi nitely does.” The friends mutter that this looks vague, nebulous, pretty naive to them. Then they commence to watch us with speculative eyes, pick up a

fragment of A.A. history, and soon have the solid facts. What are these facts of A.A. life which brought us to this apparently impractical principle?

John Doe, a good A.A., moves—let us say—to Middle town, U.S.A. Alone now, he refl ects that he may not be able

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TRADITION TWO 133

to stay sober, or even alive, unless he passes on to other alcoholics what was so freely given him. He feels a spiri tual and ethical compulsion, because hundreds may be suf fering within reach of his help. Then, too, he misses his home group. He needs other alcoholics as much as they need him. He visits preachers, doctors, editors, policemen, and bartenders …with the result that Middletown now has a group, and he is the founder.

Being the founder, he is at fi rst the boss. Who else could be? Very soon, though, his assumed authority to run ev erything begins to be shared with the fi rst alcoholics he has helped. At this moment, the benign dictator becomes the chairman of a committee composed of his friends. These are the growing group’s hierarchy of service—self-appoint ed, of course, because there is no other way. In a matter of months, A.A. booms in Middletown.

The founder and his friends channel spirituality to new comers, hire halls, make hospital arrangements, and entreat their wives to brew gallons of coffee. Being on the human side, the founder and his friends may bask a little in glory. They say to one another, “Perhaps it would be a good idea if we continue to keep a fi rm hand on A.A. in this town. After all, we are experienced. Besides, look at all the good we’ve done these drunks. They should be grateful!” True, found ers and their friends are sometimes wiser and more humble than this. But more often at this stage they are not.

Growing pains now beset the group. Panhandlers pan handle. Lonely hearts pine. Problems descend like an av alanche. Still more important, murmurs are heard in the body politic, which swell into a loud cry: “Do these old-

134 TRADITION TWO

timers think they can run this group forever? Let’s have

This is the first part of the entry.