Category: Lifeline

In the time and place I grew up alcohol was widely accepted. Having watched my family struggle with their addictions, I began to set boundaries believing this would protect me from suffering like them.  As time passed and the disease took hold these boundaries got in the way of my drinking. So one by one they were dismissed until I had become indistinguishable from them. I was no longer a free man.

There came a time when the pain of being was so great I romanced ideas of ending it all. Thanks to God I was unable to seal the deal. So my intent was to go on to the bitter end. Another scrape with the law brought me to a professional treatment program. There and in the days to follow I experienced a small respite from my misery. My problem at that time was I had found no spiritual remedy. So the relief was short lived. I, being a real alcoholic drank again. In the days and years that followed, there was more treatment, failure and desperation than I thought I could endure.

Then whether through divine intervention or happenstance I landed in a meeting of alcoholics anonymous. In that room I heard that there was a solution. It was carried with such conviction I believed it wholeheartedly. I did what was suggested and after a period I found peace. The regret, remorse and hopelessness lessened. I began to live instead of endure life. I began to walk the way only a free man can.
I made choices being newly sober that made my journey difficult. 3 career changes and I became a father for the second time. My son was 3 days old when I assumed sole custody. At this time my daughter who lived with me as well was fifteen. The role of single parent was a tough adjustment.   Just over a year sober and still unsettled emotionally, financially and spiritually. I had doubled my responsibility and halved my income. In the following years we cried, laughed and lived. By Gods grace we made it through.

Each day without a drink has been a gift. Some days are like the sweater with the reindeer on it your aunt gives you each year. Some are like waking up Christmas morning to that yellow stingray you have been wanting for so long. Yet they are all gifts Two Thousand One hundred and Eighty Nine so far.

I never dreamed this would work for me. I felt that A.A. would be just another failed attempt to curb my drinking problem. Today I have a life that is rich and full, but absolutely not what I expected 6 years of sobriety to look like. Which I am sure is a good thing for after all I have heard my thinking is suspect. Today I have faith in God, the program and fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. I have a host of friends and place to call home.

J.S. ~ Salt Lake City

“The Conference recognizes that the Charter and the Bylaws of the General Service Board are legal instruments: that the Trustees are thereby fully empowered to manage and conduct all of the world service affairs of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is further understood that the Conference Charter itself is not a legal document: that it relies instead upon the force of tradition and the power of the A.A. purse for its final effectiveness.”    

Although it appears to be contradictory, Concept VII provides for a “Balance of Power” between the General Service Board and the General Service Conference.

In 1950, when the Conference Charter was drawn, there was a question of where the final authority ought to rest. Would the Conference have the last word, or would the Trustees? After considering many options, our present Conference Charter was developed. This structure clearly gives the Conference a final and ultimate authority but which nevertheless legally preserves the right of the Trustees to function freely and adequately, just as any board of directors must. This means that the practical power of the Conference will nearly always be superior to the legal power of the Trustees.

Up to now, experience has shown this balance of powers between the Trustees and the Conference is thoroughly workable.  We have taken great pains to reserve final authority to the Conference by practical and traditional means. By legal means we have delegated functional and discretionary authority to the Trustees. We believe this balance can be maintained indefinitely, because the one is protected by tradition and the other by law.

Interestingly, when the Conference forwards a directive to the Trustees, the Trustees have the legal right to say ‘no’ to anything and everything the Conference wants.  The Board of Trustees has veto power over any Conference action. This is legally necessary and right in principle, even though the veto will seldom if ever be used.

Concept VII provides three examples in which the Trustees should and could veto Conference action.

1. If the Conference should take an action or issue a directive to the Trustees in clear violation of its own Charter, or that of the General Service Board; or if the Conference were to pass any measure so ill-considered or so reckless as to seriously injure, in the judgment of the Trustees, A.A’s public relations or A.A. as a whole, it would then be the duty of the Trustees to ask for a Conference reconsideration. If the Conference refused to reconsider, the Trustees could then use their legal right of veto.

2. Traditionally the Trustees never should substantially exceed a Conference-approved budget without consulting the Conference, they should feel entirely free to reduce the Conference budget figure during any fiscal year, even though such an action might curtail or cancel special plans or projects initiated and directed by the Conference itself.

3. If, by reason of unforeseen conditions, any particular plan, project or directive of the Conference should become impractical or unworkable during a fiscal year, the Trustees should without prejudice, be able to use their right of veto and cancellation.

It was our experience as a Panel 51 Delegate and as a Panel 55 Delegate that the influence of Concept VII, that being a respect for the “Balance of Power” between the Conference members and the Trustees, allowed us as Trusted Servants of the Fellowship to see grave issues resolved during our terms, with the spirit of harmonious cooperation our general rule.

Mike & Shirley O.

There are so many benefits to this tradition for the alcoholic and for the group and for all AA as a whole. When we first come into AA we were at a bottom — nothing was working for us. Many did not have a job or a place to stay, but most could still find the money for the next drink. We surrendered to the fact that we could no longer drink, because of the price it required of us, and that wasn’t money.

So slowly we put in a basket what little we had and began to acquire a life worth living. It made us responsible for the first time (for many of us) to become a part of taking care of ourselves. The first part of Tradition 7 makes it clear that responsibility extends to the members of each local group as it passes the basket for contributions to pay the rent and maintain its literature library.

The second part of this tradition addresses the issue of the fellowship not becoming involved with outside issues or conflicts that could arise by accepting “outside contributions.” If such contributions were accepted the group and its members might feel obligated to make some kind of concessions to the individual or organization making the donation. Declining these contributions keeps the fellowship independent from outside influences.

Tradition 7 (Long Form)

The A.A. groups themselves ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members. We think that each group should soon achieve this ideal; that any public solicitation of funds using the name of Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous, whether by groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies; that acceptance of large gifts from any source, or of contributions carrying any obligation whatever, is unwise. Then too, we view with much concern those A.A. treasuries which continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate funds for no stated A.A. purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.

My wise and dedicated counselor in rehab insisted that when I returned home I find a Big Book Study and a 12 Step Study and to attend them regularly.  I followed her terrific advise and I suggest it to others.  My home group is the 5:15 Happy Hour and each Tuesday we read from the Big Book and each Thursday we read a Step or Tradition.

Frequently when studying and discussing a step, we in A.A. focus on a single word or phrase.  I always find this a good starting point.   Recently at the 5:15, when discussing Step Seven, we did just that.  After reading the chapter, we focused on the word, “Humbly.”  It can be nice to agree on or establish a shared definition of the important word.  How often have we heard an earnest and sincere class valedictorian use the phrase, “according to Webster’s Dictionary . . . ?”  Definitions bring clarity.

Searching for synonyms can also increase understanding and promote discussion.  Some synonyms for humbly would be; sincerely, honestly, fearlessly, boldly, carefully, precisely, appropriately, openly, completely and without shame.  Clearly, any one of these words is an important part of any understanding of the Seventh Step concept of humbly.  Such descriptions can help us to focus and stay on task while working on a step.

At our recent meeting, we chose a third way to start our step study.  We discussed what humility was not, rather than what it was.  We shared that humility was not selfish nor self-seeking.  It seems that to achieve some kind of humility, we had to put the overriding preoccupation with our own self-survival aside and allow concern for things and persons outside of ourselves to be of greater importance.  Self-seeking leads to such a lack of concern for others that it makes isolation the only possible result.  I hope to never return to that lonely place of isolation.

We also learn that selfishness is the polar opposite of service.  My sobriety brought a renewed sense of the immeasurable value of service to others.  Putting aside our own egos can give us an unexpected clarity of vision and perhaps the discovery of a path that had otherwise gone unnoticed.
It is such a humility, a stepping beyond self, that makes us ready to approach God as required by the step, asking God to remove our shortcomings.  There is no room for God’s presence within us when we are already full of ourselves.  God needs some space to accomplish God’s will for us.  What a relief I felt when I finally looked away from me and looked more actively toward God.  God can do for me what I cannot do alone.

Being aware of the connections between service to others, avoidance of selfishness, and trust in God has helped me each day as I try to be actively involved in this program of recovery.  I have also remembered to make this idea part of daily prayer and reflection each morning as I ask “How will I give God more room today, and how will I be of greater service to others?”

Perhaps the next time we study this step, our focus will be on “Shortcomings.”

~ 5:15 Happy Hour
615 South 300 East
Community Center Room 134

Bob P. (1917-2008) was General Manager of the General Service Office from 1974 to 1984, and then served as Senior Advisor to the G.S.O. from 1985 until his retirement. His story is in the Big Book as “AA Taught Him to Handle Sobriety,” 3rd edit. (1976) pp. 554-561, 4th edit. (2001) pp. 553-559.

During the 1986 General Service Conference, Bob gave a powerful and inspiring closing talk to the conference at the closing brunch on Saturday morning, April 26. It was an especially significant occasion, because he knew that he was going to retire early the next year, and that this would be his last General Service Conference. The following excerpts are taken from that farewell speech, as published in the Conference’s final report:  The Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous 1986 (Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, April 20-26, 1986), Final Report.
This is my 18th General Service Conference — the first two as a director of the Grapevine and A.A.W.S., followed by four as a general service trustee. In 1972, I rotated out completely, only to be called back two years later as general manager of G.S.O., the service job I held until late 1984. Since the 1985 International Convention, of course, I have been senior adviser. This is also my last Conference, so this is an emotionally charged experience.

I wish I had time to express my thanks to everyone to whom I am indebted for my sobriety and for the joyous life with which I have been blessed for the past nearly 25 years. But since this is obviously impossible, I will fall back on the Arab saying that Bill quoted in his last message, “I thank you for your lives.” For without your lives, I most certainly would have no life at all, much less the incredibly rich life I have enjoyed.

Let me offer my thoughts about A.A.’s future. I have no truck with those bleeding deacons who decry every change and view the state of the Fellowship with pessimism and alarm. On the contrary, from my nearly quarter-century’s perspective, I see A.A. as larger, healthier, more dynamic, faster growing, more global, more service-minded, more back-to-basics, and more spiritual — by far — than when I came through the doors of my first meeting in Greenwich, Connecticut, just one year after the famous [July 1960] Long Beach Convention. A.A. has flourished beyond the wildest dreams of founding members, though perhaps not of Bill himself, for he was truly visionary.

I echo those who feel that if this Fellowship ever falters or fails, it will not be because of any outside cause. No, it will not be because of treatment centers or professionals in the field, or non-Conference-approved literature, or young people, or the dually-addicted, or even the “druggies” trying to come to our closed meetings. If we stick close to our Traditions, Concepts, and Warranties, and if we keep an open mind and an open heart, we can deal with these and any other problems that we have or ever will have. If we ever falter and fail, it will be simply because of us. It will be because we can’t control our own egos or get along well enough with each other. It will be because we have too much fear and rigidity and not enough trust and common sense.

If you were to ask me what is the greatest danger facing A.A. today, I would have to answer: the growing rigidity — the increasing demand for absolute answers to nit-picking questions; pressure for G.S.O. to “enforce” our Traditions; screening alcoholics at closed meetings; prohibiting non-Conference-approved literature, i.e., “banning books”; laying more and more rules on groups and members. And in this trend toward rigidity, we are drifting farther and farther away from our co- founders. Bill, in particular, must be spinning in his grave, for he was perhaps the most permissive person I ever met. One of his favorite sayings was, “Every group has the right to be wrong.” He was maddeningly tolerant of his critics, and he had absolute faith that faults in A.A. were self-correcting.

And I believe this, too, so in the final analysis we’re not going to fall apart. We won’t falter or fail. At the 1970 International Convention in Miami, I was in the audience on that Sunday morning when Bill made his brief last public appearance. He was too ill to take his scheduled part in any other convention event, but now, unannounced, on Sunday morning, he was wheeled up from the back of the stage in a wheelchair, attached with tubes to an oxygen tank. Wearing a ridiculous bright-orange, host committee blazer, he heaved his angular body to his feet and grasped the podium — and all pandemonium broke loose. I thought the thunderous applause and cheering would never stop, tears streaming down every cheek. Finally, in a firm voice, like his old self, Bill spoke a few gracious sentences about the huge crowd, the outpouring of love, and the many overseas members there, ending (as I remember) with these words: “As I look over this crowd, I know that Alcoholics Anonymous will live a thousand years — if it is God’s will.”

When I finished my first Step Five, I was eager to continue. After all I was nine months sober, and ready to work my way through Step Twelve and get the step process behind me. I asked my sponsor what I should be doing, and he reminded me with his slow Mississippi drawl to read Steps One through Five again to be sure I had done them to the best of my ability.  After confirming that I thought I had, I asked him what I needed to do with Step Six. At this point I was reminded that at the end of the essay on Step Five in the Twelve and Twelve, it suggested that this “brings us to a resting place”.

If you are reading this you probably know that there’s more to that sentence, but that’s all I heard, so I proceeded to get comfortable in my mental “resting place”.

Several months later I found myself becoming antsy, so I approached Bob and asked what I needed to do to move forward to and through Step Six. Like almost everything else I had imagined that early in the program, it was not what I thought it was.

First, he pointed out that in both the Big Book and the 12 and 12 the word “willingness” was used in the very beginning of the written discourses, and that willingness was the principle behind Step Six. Then he reminded me that I had uncovered some character “defects” when I wrote my Fourth and shared my Fifth. He further reminded me that I’d made a decision to have faith in Step Three, and I was going to have to lean on that faith again in this step.

Now I know that I’ve heard no truer words, for this step was going to ask me not only to “aim for perfection”, but as I was to read later in the steps, that “nothing but persistent effort on this (and all the) step(s) would bring about the desired results”.  So my first lesson was that this step was not going to be a slam-dunk that I had thought it was going to be. After all, I didn’t remember hearing much discussion on this step in the rooms.

So in order for me to “aim for perfection”, I had to have some sort of vision or idea of what that meant to me. That sounds simple enough, but it’s really asking me do decide what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I had a lot of growing up to do.  I had to determine who and what that person was. As importantly, I had to figure out what I was as a person. Hopefully those two characters would intersect, and they did. I found my answers in all the principles behind the steps, as well as in the Prayer of St Francis, found in the Eleventh Step essay in the 12 and 12.

I have come to realize how enormous an opportunity Step Six was (and is) for me. As much as abstinence changed my life, this is the step where I get to choose the values for my life, and what the man I want to be looks like and  how he acts, and with that vision in my mind, and the rest of the Steps as tools, my value goals seem within my reach. I’m not the complicated person I once thought I was, I’m just a man who takes great joy in doing the next right thing and helping others if I can.

~ The New Yorker Group
48 W Market St , Salt Lake City
Fridays 6:40am

“An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.”

Editorial by Bill W.
A.A. Grapevine, May 1948

The sixth of our 12 Points of A.A. Tradition is deemed so important that it states at length the relation of the A.A. movement to money and property.

Too detailed to print here, this Tradition declares in substance that the accumulation of money, property and the unwanted personal authority so often generated by material wealth comprise a cluster of serious hazards against which an A.A. group must ever be on guard.

Tradition 6 also enjoins the group never to go into business nor ever to lend the A.A. name or money credit to any “outside” enterprise, no matter how good. Strongly expressed is the opinion that even clubs should not bear the A.A. name; that they ought to be separately incorporated and managed by those individual A.A.s who need or want clubs enough to financially support them.

We would thus divide the spiritual from the material, confine the A.A. movement to its sole aim and insure (however wealthy as individuals we may become) that A.A itself shall always remain poor. We dare not risk the distractions of corporate wealth. Years of experience have proven these principles beyond doubt. They have become certainties, absolute verities for us.

Thank God, we A.A.s have never yet been caught in the kind of religious or political disputes which embroil the world of today. But we ought to face the fact that we have often quarreled violently about money, property and the administration thereof. Money, in quantity, has always been a baleful influence in group life. Let a well meaning donor present an A.A. group with a sizeable sum and we break loose. Nor does trouble abate until that group, as such, somehow disposes of its bank roll. This experience is practically universal. “But,” say our friends, “isn’t this a confession of weakness? Other organizations do a lot of good with money. Why not A.A.?”

Of course, we of A.A. would be the first to say that many a fine enterprise does a lot of good with a lot of money. To these efforts, money is usually primary; it is their life blood. But money is not the life blood of A.A. With us, it is very secondary. Even in small quantities, it is scarcely more than a necessary nuisance, something we wish we could do without entirely. Why is that so?

We explain this easily enough; we don’t need money. The core of our A.A. procedure is “one alcoholic talking to another,” whether that be sitting on a curbstone, in a home, or at a meeting. It’s the message, not the place; it’s the talk, not the alms. That does our work. Just places to meet and talk, that’s about all A.A. needs. Beyond these, a few small offices, a few secretaries at their desks, a few dollars a piece a year, easily met by voluntary contributions. Trivial indeed, our expenses!

Nowadays, the A.A. group answers its well wishers saying, “Our expenses are trifling. As good earners, we can easily pay them. As we neither need nor want money, why risk its hazards? We’d rather stay poor. Thanks just the same!”

Bill W.

Reprinted with permission The A.A. Grapevine, May, 1948

On behalf of A.A. as a whole, our General Service Conference has the principle responsibility for the maintenance of our world services, and it traditionally has the final decision respecting large matters of general policy and finance. But the Conference also recognizes that the chief initiative and the active responsibility in most of these matters should be exercised primarily by the Trustee members of the Conference when they act among themselves as the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The 6^th Concept says that the General Service Conference has the authority and the responsibility for making decisions regarding matters affecting A.A. as a whole, but that they usually delegate to the General Service Board of Trustees the actual work of carrying out the directives of the Conference and the day to day operation of our world services. In doing this work the Trustees are given a great deal of authority.

Why should our Trustees be given this wide latitude of judgment and action? The answer is that we AA’s are holding them mainly responsible for all our service activities, including operation of the General Service Office, our book and literature publishing operation and the A.A. Grapevine, as well as the responsibility for investing our prudent reserve. In addition, they are responsible to a large extent for A.A.’s world-wide public relations.

While the Trustees always operate under close observation, guidance, and sometimes the direction of the Conference, they are given a very large amount of responsibility. They must, therefore, be granted a large amount of authority and leadership with which to discharge that responsibility.

So, who are these Trustees we have trusted with such authority? They fall into two categories: Seven are Class A Trustees and fourteen are Class B Trustees. To help people who are new to the service structure of AA to understand the two classifications members of the service structure have sometimes referred to the trustees as Class A – Amateurs and Class B – Boozers. In other words Class A Trustees are non-alcoholics who volunteer to serve on our Board and Class B Trustees are recovering Alcoholics.

Class A Trustees, according to the Service Manual, “shall be persons who are not and have not been afflicted by the disease of alcoholism and who express a profound faith in the recovery program upon which the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is founded”. These trustees are generally recommended to the Board as persons who have been friends of A.A. through cooperation with our fellowship. They include members of professions such as medicine, law, clergy, finance, or any other field which may from time to time have occasion to work with alcoholics, and whose personal and/or professional expertise and dedication can be invaluable to our fellowship.

Class B Trustees are sober AA members who have been nominated through our General Service areas and usually are members who have been deeply involved in AA service. At the present time one of our Class B Trustees, Rod B., was nominated by the Utah Area.

All of these nominees, Class A and Class B, must be approved by the General Service Conference, and sign an agreement agreeing to be bound by the bylaws of the General Service Board. All of our trustees serve for a very limited term and are then replaced by new Trustees chosen by the same method. And all Trustees serve as volunteers. None of them is paid for the services they provide. Each serves as a ‘labor of love’ for Alcoholics Anonymous.

To all who serve, or have served, in this capacity we of Alcoholics Anonymous owe a great debt of gratitude.

Mickey H., Past Delegate, Panel 49