Each month we focus on a Step, Tradition, and Concept, and provide a quote from Bill W.
Step 9
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
“As soon as we begin to feel confident in our new way of life and have begun, by our behavior and example, to convince those about us that we are indeed changing for the better, it is usually safe to talk in complete frankness with those who have been seriously affected, even those who may be only a little or not at all aware of what we have done to them.”
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 77
Tradition 9
A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
”It is clear now that we ought never to name boards to govern us, but it is equally clear that we shall always need to authorize workers to serve us. It is the difference between the spirit of vested authority and the spirit of service, two concepts which are sometimes poles apart.”
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 174
Concept 9
Good service leaders, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are at all levels indispensable for our future functioning and safety. The primary world service leadership once exercised by the founders of A.A. must necessarily be assumed by the Trustees of the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.
“Maybe it seems like this is an attempt to stake out a specially privileged and superior type of A.A. member. But it really is not so. We simply are recognizing that our talents vary greatly. The conductor of an orchestra is not necessarily good at finance and foresight. And it is quite unlikely that a fine banker could be a great musical performer. So when we talk about A.A. leadership we only declare that we ought to select the leadership on the basis of obtaining the best talent we can find.”
Twelve Concepts for World Service p. 32
All quotes from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts for World Service are reprinted with permission from A.A. World Services, Inc.
