Another Alcoholic to Talk To

Before there was a Tradition Five, there was one drunk in a hotel lobby who understood that his sobriety depended on finding another drunk. In May of 1935, in Akron, Ohio, Bill W.'s business deal had just fallen apart and he was alone in a strange city with about ten dollars. The bar at one end of the lobby was filling up. He told it later (A.A. Comes of Age): "I remembered that in trying to help other people, I had stayed sober myself." He did not go into the bar. He went to a church directory and a telephone, and called stranger after stranger, asking to be put in touch with an alcoholic. The list ran down to its very last name. That call led him to Dr. Bob, and before long to A.A.'s first group. Notice the direction. Bill did not go looking for someone to get him through the night. He went looking for a drinker to carry the message to, and that is what kept him sober. Years before the Long Form gave each group "but one primary purpose" (Big Book, p. 563), A.A. began with one alcoholic going out to find another. Test it tonight: ask who in your group last went looking for a drinker, rather than waiting for one to show up.