Tradition 11 · November 18

It Was Tottering and It Had to Fall

Daily Traditions · November 18

The threat today

There is a page in the Big Book (p. 385) where a man describes the summit of his career, and he does it with a list that ought to stop any A.A. member cold. "My professional life looked fine on the surface. I was now head of a publishing venture in which nearly a million dollars had been invested. My opinions were quoted in Time and Newsweek along with pictures. I addressed the public by radio and TV. It was a fantastic structure, built on a crumbling foundation. It was tottering and it had to fall." Read that list against the Tradition. Quoted, with pictures. Radio. TV. He is not describing an anonymity break — he was nowhere near sober and A.A. was nothing to him yet. He is describing what those things were doing for him, which was propping up a man who was already coming apart. That is why this Tradition names those media and not others. They are not dangerous because they are public. They are dangerous because of what being in them does to an alcoholic who is unwell, and his story is in the book so a member can recognise the feeling before he recognises the situation.

Sit with

He listed the press, the pictures, the radio and the television as the structure holding up a man who was already coming apart. What am I appearing in that is holding something up?

Grounded in: Big Book p. 385 ("Me an Alcoholic?").

Tradition 11

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

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 11 → Get the app →

← November 17At All Hazards Tradition 11All of November November 19 →By Episode Forty

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).