Each month we focus on the Step, Tradition, and Concept of the month, and provide a quote from Bill W.
When the Washingtonians became temperance crusaders, within a very few years they had completely lost their effectiveness in helping Alcoholics.
Step 10
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
In all these situations we need self-restraint, honest analysis of what is involved, a willingness to admit when the fault is ours, and an equal willingness to forgive when the fault is elsewhere. We need not be discouraged when we fall into the error of our old ways, for these disciplines are not easy. We shall look for progress not perfection.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 91
Tradition 10
Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
When the Washingtonians became temperance crusaders, within a very few years they had completely lost their effectiveness in helping Alcoholics.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 178
Concept 10
Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal service authority, with the scope of such authority well defined.
All of this is fully implied in A.A.’s Tradition Two. Here we see the “group conscience” as the ultimate authority and the trusted servant as the authority. One cannot function without the other. We well know that only by means of careful definitions and mutual respect can we constantly maintain a right and harmonious working balance.
Twelve Concepts for World Service, p. 36
