Still Around

The people this Tradition guards against are not history. A.A.'s own pamphlet says so in the present tense (P-43, The Twelve Traditions Illustrated): "And they're still around — the members who are always sure that they're always right — the members who are happily ready to assume all the burdens of leadership and grimly unwilling to share them, let alone give them up." Read the two halves. Happily ready to take it on. Grimly unwilling to hand it back. Usually the same person, usually someone with real sobriety who has done real good — which is why nobody catches it early. There is no villain, only a grip that tightened so slowly the group adjusted around it. The pamphlet's next line is the answer, and it is not "find that person": "But a group does need officers. How can we cope with this dilemma?" The Traditions cope by building the group so it does not matter when that person shows up — jobs rotate, nobody governs, and the newest drunk in the room owes nobody at the front a thing. Now put a salary under that grip, and a job title, and a building. The grimly-unwilling member is still around. Today he can be on payroll.