Traditions

Principle: A rule of conduct, especially of right conduct.

Two of my regular meetings have held a group conscience recently. Both times the proposal revolved around moving the meeting; once by choice, once by necessity. Both times I found the entire process unpleasant. I felt like I was in the middle of a contentious political campaign. It was uncomfortable for me. Personally, I didn't see what the big deal was in either case. I thought each group was considering two pretty good options and didn't have strong feelings one way or another for any of the choices.

This doesn't surprise me that much. We are as a people passionate about The Program. We have to be: it's a life and death matter. Stir into the batter the fact that there are a lot of big, strong personalities at most meetings, people with big opinions and definite ideas about how things should run. I've been to our local monthly Intergroup meeting a few times and saw the big personalities in action.



I live in a town that's obsessed with The Big Book and mostly dismissive of the 12 and 12. Don't get me wrong: I love the BB, too. It's our original text written by our founding members. It lays out the blueprint for how to stay sober and should be read regularly. I also have to remember that the oldest of the old-timers had just a few years of sobriety when they finished the text. Some of the stories in the first edition were written by people with less than six months of sobriety; people who wouldn't be allowed to chair a meeting in many places today. Clearly we needed to flesh out the process with some more detail.

The 12 and 12 was written after a lot of problems and heartaches and angry battles. It was the first place that The Traditions were described. I went to a 12 and 12 meeting for many years where we did a Tradition the last Friday of each month. Our attendance dropped by 2/3s that day, and half the people there bitched and moaned, having forgotten it was Tradition night. I don't think I could find a meeting today that studies the Traditions regularly, and there are 750 meetings a week in my town, not including the clubhouses.

From Tradition One: "The unity of A.A. is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A., dies." This Tradition explains that the group must survive or the individual will not. It explains how to live and work together as a group, emphasizing that common welfare is paramount.

From Tradition Twelve: "Subordinating personal aims to the common good is the essence of all Twelve Traditions. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility."

You can look it up.