"Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide fellowship of people who help each other to maintain sobriety and who offer to share their recovery experience freely with others who may have a drinking problem. The A.A. program consists basically of Twleve Steps designed for personal recovery from alcoholism.
The Fellowship functions through over 114,000 groups, and there is A.A. activity in more than 180 countries. Hundreds of thousands of alcoholics have achieved sobriety in A.A. but members recognize that their program is not always effective with all alcoholics and that some may require professional counseling or treatment.
A.A. is concerned solely with the personal recovery and continued sobriety of individual alcoholics who turn to the Fellowship for help. The movement does not engage in the field of alcoholism research, or medical or psychiatric treatment, and does not endorse any causes - although A.A. members often participate in other activities as individuals.
The movement has adopted a policy of 'cooperation but nonafiliation' with other organizations concerned with the problem of alcoholism.
Alcoholics Anonymous is self-supporting through its own groups and members and declines contributions from outside sources. A.A. members preserve personal anonymity at the level of press, films, and broadcast media."
The above text is from an A.A. pamphlet called "A.A. Tradition - How It Developed. The writings are from the late '40s/early '50s and are a reminder of how much trouble we had when we were getting started with anonymity, money, and our position in the greater community. We fucked up a lot. It was the wild west where just about anything was given a shot. I really like how the statement does a good job of pithily stating what we're about. Like many drunks I staggered in The Rooms looking for the flaws that would allow me to stagger right back out: what did it cost, who was in charge, what we're the rules and regulations . . . Couldn't find 'em and that's why I'm still here.
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