MY
THOUGHTS ON TRADITION NINE
Tradition
9
"A.A.,
as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service
boards or committees directly responsible to those they
serve."
By not being highly organized, 12 step
groups keep the emphasis on true fellowship and the focus on
their primary purpose that is to stay sober and help other
alcoholics to achieve sobriety
Remembering tradition 2 states
"For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority
a loving God as He may express Himself in our group
conscience."
Our groups ought never be organized
but we may create service boards or committees directly
responsible to those they serve they are our trusted servants
Who serve by election from our groups
conscience past on to our General Service Representative to take
to our district on down the line to the General Service Office
In 12 step rooms no one has authority
the groups are a "fellowship of equals." Decisions are
made by the group as a whole creating this atmosphere of
"true fellowship" 12 step groups insure that even the
newest members can quickly gain a feeling of
"belonging."
The most important person that walks
into a group of AA is the newcomer without them we will surely
die as a whole if we try to organize them they will flee
After all their life is already
unmanageable how can we show them how to become a recovering AA
who will be responsible for reaching out to the still suffering
alcoholic?
Steering Committees where old timers
in the group who didn't have an on-the-surface commitment such as
coffee maker, chairman, literature, secretary etc they were the
voice that carried the message with experience strength and hope
to help the group stay focused on the principles and traditions
They would share their knowledge at a
meeting or sometimes one on one to let a person know why the
traditions were so important and if not followed could harm or
relapse a newcomer's sobriety. Later on most steering
committees were replace by group business meetings where the real
group conscience took over
The years of experience in AA of those
who keep coming back is where the value is of what works in AA
and what does not all those years of seeing things proven over
and over again If all the old timers have left and a group is in
trouble GSO would send a GSR to help restructure the group
Today there are many groups where the
long timers have left steering committees have been replaced by
the groups conscience today some new members are taking
commitments too soon Such as a person with under a year being a
GSR and going back out because they got right into the politics
of AA rather than personal recovery and had no foundation
Most people do not know that a GSR
could come out and help restructure a group there aren't many who
are willing to lead a tradition meeting and not many who want to
attend I have my sobriety I did all the work already I did all my
steps I only need 1 or 2 meetings a week "EXCUSES"
It took me 6 months to find my higher
power thru a spiritual experience and finding my sobriety from
this experience I know who the trusted servants were in the
groups I attended and these are the ones who made me feel welcome
and gave me hope to stay with the 12 steps
When we start sharing we are all
equal, nobody is an expert, and you feel that equal ness
I found who the GSR was who the
secretary and treasurer were and soon became a GSR secretary and
treasurer for my home group also I had the phone list of member
willing to reach out to others my phone number was on that list
I never give out another persons phone
number I always called them and gave the person looking for help
their phone number to call them back Its a prime example of
"Responsible to those we serve" just being able to put
their names on a list for a newcomer!
