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).
