Co-operate but Never Compete

A.A.'s first case was found in a hospital A.A. never owned, and that is the pattern Tradition Six wrote down. The Big Book's foreword tells it (p. xvii): "Hence the two men set to work almost frantically upon alcoholics arriving in the ward of the Akron City Hospital." The two men were Bill W. and Dr. Bob. They didn't run the ward; they walked in and talked to drunks. Bill W. named friends in medicine (A.A. Comes of Age): "Here great friends like Dr. Silkworth and Sister Ignatia came to our aid." Doctors and nurses treated the body, members carried the message, and nobody's name went on anybody else's door. Bill put the rule in one line: "Certain that we can do together what we cannot do separately, we shall always co-operate but never compete." To compete would have meant A.A. opening hospitals of its own. To affiliate would have meant A.A. becoming part of theirs. The Long Form allows the middle and nothing more (Big Book, p. 564): a group "may cooperate with anyone." Cooperation is visiting, carrying the message where the drunks are, and staying a guest. Today it often runs backward: the facility runs the room and calls it A.A. Test it tonight: ask whether your group goes into places as a guest carrying the message, or sits in them as part of the program.