Tradition 1 · January 25

Loan Out Our Goodwill

Daily Traditions · January 25

How it gets captured

A group is most often captured through one of its own members: the one who loves A.A. and also works in the alcohol field. Bill W. described him in 1947 (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 24): "He strongly feels that A.A. ought to place its name and financial credit squarely behind any first-rate research, hospital or educational project. Seeing that A.A. now makes the headlines, he argues that we should freely loan out our huge goodwill." Goodwill is the trust people have in a name. Bill added: "The judgment of this enthusiast is sometimes beclouded by the fact he wants to make a career." Beclouded means fogged over. His answer, on the same page: "neither A.A. as a whole nor any A.A. group ought to enter any activity other than straight A.A." Today the enthusiast is a counsellor or program manager who also has a home group. He brings his clients, offers the program's room for free, and puts the meeting on the program's brochure. Each step looks like help, and within a year the group answers to his employer. The Long Form (Big Book, p. 563): "Hence our common welfare comes first." His career is not part of it. Test it tonight: ask whether anyone in your group earns a living from the people it serves, and what the group has agreed to through him.

Sit with

Bill W. saw that the member most eager to lend out A.A.'s name was sometimes building a career. Has my group agreed to anything because a member's job asked it to?

Grounded in: Long form, Tradition 1 (Big Book, p. 563); P-17, p. 24 (Bill W., 1947: Dangers in Linking A.A. to Other Projects).

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 24Not Yet Reached Tradition 1All of January January 26 →Material Things

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).