I began to see the global power of AA, and I was able to trust AA to be my Higher Power. I have heard it said at meetings that when God sees the tiniest spark of willingness in your heart, he sends a thousand angels rushing to your side. Being able to accept AA as my Higher Power was that tiny spark of willingness, which opened my heart to hope. For me, this was the first gift of Tradition One. I had hope that this precious Fellowship would endure and that I could endure with it.
Another gift was the ability to work alongside others, whether it was to make coffee, reach out to a newcomer, or be a parent and a partner. (Truth be told, the parent and partner part was a long, slow process.) It didn’t happen overnight, but I came to realize that I was having conversations with people during the break or while doing service. For the very first time in my life I knew the joy of being one among many, a worker among workers. For the very first time in my life I belonged somewhere, and it was in AA. I learned that putting AA ahead of myself didn’t mean that I was “less than,” it meant that I was part of. My greatest hope is that that never changes, and my greatest joy is that I know it never has to.
Kathleen D.
Shirley, New York
If There Was No Group …
January 1978
(From Dear Grapevine)
After a recent discussion meeting in which everyone shared the experience of using the AA principles in all their affairs, what came to my mind was the importance of Tradition One: “Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.”
Without the group, where would I be today? Would I be sober and happy? What if there had not been a group when my wife was searching for help for me, and for herself? What about the still-suffering alcoholic?
At first, I did not understand Tradition One, but today I can see how important it is to AA as a whole. Thank God for instilling this principle in our early members, and I hope I will always try to practice this Tradition.
R. T.
Massena, New York
The Lifeboat
January 1994
I went to a meeting last week that taught me the importance of the First Tradition. Some time ago this group had decided to discuss one Step every month. They were on the Tenth Step that month, and I was looking forward to hearing everyone’s experience, strength, and hope.
The chairperson started the meeting in the usual way, but then introduced his own topic. I asked him about the group’s decision to discuss a Step every month. He said he knew about that, but he wanted to talk about something else. The rest of the people in the meeting didn’t seem to care, and it wasn’t my home group, so I didn't feel in a position to argue. The chairperson went on to talk about a relative who had checked into a treatment center. As I sat there pouting, I began to think about Bill W.'s analogy in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. He said that the AA group is like a lifeboat. If everyone in the lifeboat is to survive, then everyone needs to stick together. I carried the analogy further. If a group follows the past experiences of our Fellowship (the Steps and the Traditions), it will be following in the wake of other boats. It will have a smoother ride.
The chairperson of that meeting was steering the boat. When he introduced his own topic, it was as if he took out a chainsaw and cut off his portion of the boat. He set the boat adrift. The next person talked about her concern for the way her daughter-in-law was raising the grandchildren. She took out another chainsaw and cut off her portion of the boat. The boat continued to break up as people brought up topics that had little to do with the common welfare of the group. As a group, they not only lost their ability to stay afloat, but they also lost their effectiveness in pulling in others who were still suffering.
After the meeting, I talked with a lady who had been sober and coming to meetings for nine months, but was about to check herself into an outpatient treatment program. Apparently she wasn’t getting what she needed to stay sober in Alcoholics Anonymous.
My home group has a group conscience statement that's read at the beginning of every meeting. Part of it reads, “The format for our meeting tonight will be the discussion of a Step or Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous. In keeping with AA’s First Tradition, we respectfully ask that you confine your remarks to only the Step or Tradition being discussed. Other problems may be discussed after the meeting if you wish.”
When I first started attending my home group, that statement really bothered me—because I wanted to talk about whatever moved me. Today I see that statement as saying, “Please check your chainsaw at the door.”
Brian H.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Response to May Grapevine
September 1992
(From Dear Grapevine)
I read with interest “Are We Locked In?” by E. L. of Council Bluffs. About those "noisy wet drunks" that come to our meetings, the First Tradition as written in The Twelve Traditions Illustrated spells out the answer. For E. L., I quote, “Our brother the noisy drunk affords the simplest illustration of this Tradition. If he insists on disrupting the meeting, we ‘invite’ him to leave and we bring him back when he’s in better shape to hear the message. We are putting the ‘common welfare (of the group)’ first. But it is his welfare, too; if he’s ever going to get sober, the group must go on functioning, ready for him.”
During my 21 years in the Fellowship, I have been a part of groups that have asked “noisy wet drunks” to leave, but as the First Tradition suggests, in most every instance some of us in the group hung on to him (followed up) and, if still interested, we “brought him back” when he was in better shape to grasp the message.
D. A.
Lakeview, Arkansas
Only Natural
January 2011
I was given the gift of sobriety a little over two years ago. I’m finding the love I once had for nature slowly returning. My passion for hiking, paddling, natural history and keeping a nature journal all faded away. I lost this passion during the last few years of my daily drinking and isolation, a sure sign of chronic alcoholism. It was my abiding love of the natural world that sustained me physically, emotionally and spiritually even at the bottom when I felt alienated from everything. My link to the natural world was my Higher Power hard at work while practicing anonymity.
Now, recovering from alcoholism, I’ve once again become an active volunteer for the agency that maintains my state’s nature preserves. I venture out from time to time with a crew of biologists, botanists, herpetologists, entomologists and all kinds of other “ologists” to restore and maintain the rare and endangered species of plants, animals and their ecosystems. These good folks have taught me much about the intricate relationships these plants and animals have with one another as well as their unique habitats.
Not long ago I began reading about AA’s Traditions and was struck by the similarities Tradition One has with the unity of the natural world I’ve learned about: how the individual parts make up the whole and the whole in turn makes life possible to continue on and pass on its endowments to the individuals yet to come. This perpetual dynamic seems to be at work
