Tuesday AA literature link - Bill W.'s original 1948 Grapevine article on Tradition Twelve:

 

                  Tradition Twelve

                 
                  One may say that anonymity is the spiritual base, the sure key
                  to all the rest of our Traditions. It has come to stand for
                  prudence and, most importantly, for self-effacement. True
                  consideration for the newcomer if he desires to be nameless;
                  vital protection against misuse of the name Alcoholics
                  Anonymous at the public level; and to each of us a constant
                  reminder that principles come before personal interest-- such
                  is the wide scope of this all-embracing principle. In it we
                  see the cornerstone of our security as a movement; at a deeper
                  spiritual level it points us to still greater
                  self-renunciation.

                  A glance at the Twelve Traditions will instantly assure anyone
                  that "giving up" is the essential idea of them all. In each
                  Tradition, the individual or the group is asked to give up
                  something for our general welfare. Tradition One asks us to
                  place the common good ahead of personal desire. Tradition Two
                  asks us to listen to God as he may speak in the group
                  conscience. Tradition Three requires that we exclude no
                  alcoholic from AA membership. Tradition Four implies that we
                  abandon all idea of centralized human authority or government.
                  But each group is enjoined to consult widely in matters
                  affecting us all. Tradition Five restricts the AA group to a
                  single purpose, carrying our message to other alcoholics.

                  Tradition Six points at the corroding influence of money,
                  property, and personal authority; it begs that we keep these
                  influences at a minimum by separate incorporation and
                  management of our special services. It also warns against the
                  natural temptation to make alliances or give endorsements.
                  Tradition Seven states that we had best pay our own bill; that
                  large contributions or those carrying obligations ought not be
                  received; that public contributions or those carrying
                  obligations ought not be received; that public solicitation
                  using the name Alcoholics Anonymous is positively dangerous.
                  Tradition Eight forswears professionalizing our Twelfth Step
                  work but it does guarantee our few paid service workers an
                  unquestioned amateur status. Tradition Nine asks that we give
                  up all idea of expensive organization; enough is needed to
                  permit effective democracy; our leadership is one of service
                  and it is rotating; our few titles never clothe their holders
                  with arbitrary personal authority; they hold authorization to
                  serve, never to govern. Tradition Ten is an emphatic restraint
                  of serious controversy; it implores each of us to take care
                  against committing AA to the fires of reform, political or
                  religious dissension. Tradition Eleven asks, in our public
                  relations, that we be alert against sensationalism and it
                  declares there is never need to praise ourselves. Personal
                  anonymity at the level of press, radio, and film is urgently
                  required, thus avoiding the pitfall of vanity, and the
                  temptation through broken anonymity to link AA to other
                  causes.

                  Tradition Twelve, in its mood of humble anonymity, plainly
                  enough comprehends the preceding eleven. The Twelve Points of
                  Tradition are little else than a specific application of the
                  spirit of the Twelve Steps of recovery to our group life and
                  to our relations with society in general. The recovery steps
                  would make each individual AA whole and one with God; the
                  Twelve Points of Tradition would make us one with each other
                  and whole with the world about us. Unity is our aim.

                  Our AA Traditions are, we trust, securely anchored in those
                  wise precepts; charity, gratitude, and humility. Nor have we
                  forgotten prudence. May these virtues ever stand clear before
                  us in our mediations; may Alcoholics Anonymous serve God in
                  happy unison for so long as he may need us.


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