Could you explain AA's
tradition concerning other agencies in the field
of alcoholism?
Answer
I remember very well when
this committee started (January, 1944) It
brought me in contact with our great friends at
Yale, the courageous Dr. Haggard, the incredible
Dr. Jellinek or Bunky as we affectionately know
him and Seldon and all those dedicated people.
The question arose, could an AA
member get into education or research or what
not? Then ensued a fresh and great controversy
in AA which was not surprising because you must
remember that in this period we were like people
on Rickenbacker's raft. Who would dare ever rock
us ever so little and precipitate us back in the
alcohol sea.
So, frankly, we were afraid and
as usual we had the radicals and we had the
conservatives and we had moderates on this
question of whether A.A. members could go into
other enterprises in this field. The
conservatives said, "no, let's keep it simple,
let's mind our own business." The radicals said,
"let 's endorse anything that looks like it will
do any good, let the A.A. name be used to raise
money and to do whatever it can for the whole
field," and the growing body of moderates took
the position, "let any A.A. member who feels the
call go into these related fields for if we are
to do less it would be a very antisocial
outlook." So that is where the Tradition finally
sat and many were called and many were chosen
since that day to go into these related fields
which has now got to be so large in their
promise that we of Alcoholics Anonymous are
getting down to our right size and we are only
now realizing that we are only a small part of a
great big picture.
We are realizing again, afresh,
that without our friends, not only could we not
have existed in the first place but we could not
have grown. We are getting a fresh concept of
what our relations with the world and all of
these related enterprises should be. In other
words, we are growing up. In fact, last year at
St. Louis we were bold enough to say that we had
come of age and that within Alcoholics Anonymous
the main outlines of the basis for recovery, of
the basis for unity and of the basis for service
or function were already evident.
At St. Louis I made talks upon
each of those subjects which largely concerned
themselves about what A.A. had done about these
things but here we are in a much wider field and
I think that the sky is the limit. I think that
I can say without any reservation that what this
Committee has done with the aid of it's great
friends who are now legion as anyone here can
see. I think that this Committee has been
responsible for making more friends for
Alcoholics Anonymous and of doing a wider
service in educating the world on the gravity of
this malady and what can be done about it than
any other single agency.
I'm awfully partial and maybe I'm
a little biased because here sits the dean of
all our ladies (Marty M.), my close, dear
friend. So speaking out of turn as a founder, I
want to convey to her in the presence of all of
you the best I can say of my great love and
affection is thanks.
At the close of things in St.
Louis, I remember that I likened A.A. to a
cathedral style edifice whose corners now rested
on the earth. I remember saying that we can see
on its great floor the Twelve Steps of
Alcoholics Anonymous and there assembled 150,000
sufferers and their families. We have seen side
walls go up, buttressed with the A.A. Tradition
and at St. Louis, when the elected Conference
took over from the Board of Trustees, the spire
of service was put into effect and its beacon
light, the beacon light of A.A. shone there
beckoning to all the world.
I realized that as I sat here
today that that was not a big enough concept,
for on the floor of the cathedral of the spirit
there should always be written the formula from
whatever source for release from alcoholism,
whether it be a drug, whether it be the
psychiatric art, whether it be the ministrations
of this Committee. In other words, we who deal
with this problem are all in the same boat, all
standing upon the same floor. So let's bring to
this floor the total resources that can be
brought to bear upon this problem and let us not
think of unity just in terms of A.A. Tradition
but let us think of unity among all those who
work in the field as the kind of unity that
befits brotherhood and sisterhood and a kinship
in the common suffering. Let us stand together
in the spirit of service. If we do these things,
only then can we declare ourselves really come
of age. And only then, and I think that this is
a time not far off. I think we can say that the
future, our future, the future of the Committee,
of A.A. and of the things that people of good
will are trying to do in this field will be
completely assured. (Transcribed from tape.
Address to The National Committee for Education
on Alcoholism. March 30, 1956).
