Bill W.'s original Grapevine article introducing Tradition Five:

                 Tradition Five

                  Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., April 1948

                  Says the old proverb, "Shoemaker, stick to thy last." Trite,
                  yes. But very true for us of AA. How well we need to heed the
                  principle that it is better to do one thing supremely well
                  than many things badly.

                  Because it has now become plain enough that only a recovered
                  alcoholic can do much for a sick alcoholic, a tremendous
                  responsibility has descended upon us all, an obligation so
                  great that it amounts to a sacred trust. For to our kind,
                  those who suffer alcoholism, recovery is a matter of life or
                  death. So the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous cannot, it dare
                  not, ever be diverted from its primary purpose.

                  Temptation to do otherwise will come aplenty. Seeing fine
                  works afoot in the field of alcohol, we shall be sorely
                  tempted to loan out the name and credit of Alcoholics
                  Anonymous to them; as a movement we shall be beset to finance
                  and endorse other causes. Should our present success continue,
                  people will commence to assert that AA is a brand-new way of
                  life, maybe a new religion, capable of saving the world. We
                  shall be told it is our bounden duty to show modern society
                  how it ought to live.

                  Oh, how very attractive these projects and ideas can be! How
                  flattering to imagine that we might be chosen to demonstrate
                  that olden mystic promise: 'The first shall be last and the
                  last shall be first." Fantastic, you say. Yet some of our
                  well-wishers have begun to say such things.

                  Fortunately, most of us are convinced that these are perilous
                  speculations, alluring ingredients of that new heady wine we
                  are now being offered, each bottle marked "Success"!

                  Of this subtle vintage may we never drink too deeply. May we
                  never forget that we live by the grace of God -- on borrowed
                  time; that anonymity is better than acclaim; that for us as a
                  movement poverty is better than wealth.

                  And may we reflect with ever deepening conviction, that we
                  shall never be at our best except when we hew only to the
                  primary spiritual aim of AA. That of carrying its message to
                  the alcoholic who still suffers alcoholism.


                  Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., April 1948