Tradition 10 · October 31

We Were That Excited

Daily Traditions · October 31

The threat

The month ends with A.A. very nearly doing it to itself. A motion picture company produced a script for a film to be called Mr. and Miss Anonymous, and Bill W.'s assessment was restrained (A.A. Comes of Age): "The proposed portrayal of A.A. seemed pretty lopsided and in rather bad taste." The company agreed to change the title and then declined to change much else. "What, then, could we do about it?" What they did was reach for the courts. "We concluded that we ought to ask for an injunction against the company for misuse of the A.A. name. This prospect of legal action caused the company to revise the script more to our liking." It worked. The threat alone fixed the film and no case was ever filed. And then Bill wrote the sentence that belongs at the close of this month, because it is about A.A. and nobody else: "Otherwise, we might have sued, forgetting all about A.A.'s principle of non-controversy in public." Then four more words, admitting exactly why. "We were that excited."

Sit with

A.A. came within one decision of suing a film studio, and what stopped it was noticing that winning would have cost more than the film ever could. What was I so sure about that I nearly broke my own rule in order to win it?

Grounded in: A.A. Comes of Age (the motion-picture incident).

Tradition 10

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."

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 10 → Get the app →

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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).