Not on Pioneers

In 1950 A.A. decided its unity would rest on principles, not people, and a meeting held together by a facility's staff has gone back to resting on people. That July, A.A.'s first international convention, in Cleveland, confirmed the Traditions. Bill W. said why it had to be then (A.A. Comes of Age): "In the future we could no longer depend upon the authority and influence of our pioneering people for A.A. unity. Henceforth we would have to rely upon spiritual principles, as set forth in the Twelve Traditions." If A.A. could not lean on its own founders, a group cannot lean on a counsellor. Yet that is how many rooms are held now: one staff member unlocks the door, picks the reader and keeps the list. The members never meet on their own business, so there is no group conscience to fall back on. When the contract ends or the staff member moves on, the meeting ends too. Bill wrote, on linking A.A. to other projects (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 25): "to maintain our unity is surely our greatest obligation". The Long Form says why (Big Book, p. 563): "A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die." Test it tonight: if the person who unlocks your meeting's door left tomorrow, ask whether the members would know how to keep it open.