Tradition 1 · January 24

Not Yet Reached

Daily Traditions · January 24

How a group breaks it

A group breaks Tradition One when it decides the common welfare means the people already in the room. Picture the business meeting. The hospital meeting on Thursdays is a long drive and only two members ever go. The group's number on the phone list rings at bad hours, and the member who answers it is tired. Someone moves that the group drop both. It passes, nine to three. The room is more comfortable by Friday, and no one in it is worse off. The ones worse off were not there to vote. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563) says "our common welfare comes first", and the essay two pages earlier says whose welfare that is (Big Book, p. 561): "A.A. can, of course, mean just as much to uncounted alcoholics not yet reached." Uncounted means nobody knows how many. They are part of the common welfare before they ever find the door. A group that keeps itself comfortable by closing its windows is living for itself. Today the vote often comes with relief, because a program now runs the hospital meeting and the group feels free to stop. Test it tonight: ask what your group still does that reaches anyone who isn't already in the room.

Sit with

The common welfare includes alcoholics nobody in the room has met yet. What does my group do for the drunk who hasn't found it?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 1 (Big Book, p. 563); Big Book p. 561 (The A.A. Tradition).

Tradition 1

"Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 1 → Get the app →

← January 23Nobody Can Compel Tradition 1All of January January 25 →Loan Out Our Goodwill

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).