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[00:00:00.500 – 00:00:07.200] And now I think I’m going to have the greatest privilege that I’ve ever had since I came into this fellowship.

[00:00:07.200 – 00:00:12.300] Uh, I can’t say anything flowery.

[00:00:12.300 – 00:00:17.700] You all know as well or better than I how I feel right now.

[00:00:17.700 – 00:00:19.800] So I just simply wanna give you Bill.

[00:00:19.800 – 00:00:20.300] Bill?

[00:00:20.300 – 00:00:36.700] With

[00:00:36.700 – 00:00:46.700] you out there, I join in gratitude for what we have

[00:00:46.700 – 00:00:53.100] seen and heard and felt in this marvelous hour.

[00:00:53.100 – 00:01:04.000] As Lois spoke her lines, touching

[00:01:04.000 – 00:01:14.000] upon the old days and since, I am sure that you apprehended some things she could not

[00:01:14.000 – 00:01:24.300] say of the fact that she stayed in the cave

[00:01:24.300 – 00:01:31.700] until the darkness was complete and did not lose her faith.

[00:01:31.700 – 00:01:42.100] Thus, she symbolizes so many of our partners sitting

[00:01:42.100 – 00:01:42.300] here.

[00:01:42.300 – 00:01:52.300] And she kept faith ever

[00:01:52.300 – 00:01:57.600] since, in many respects, as I have never been able to do.

[00:01:57.600 – 00:02:06.600] So, Lois, I express to you the thanks of the whole movement and yours truly.

[00:02:06.600 – 00:02:15.100] There’s a tag out front here.

[00:02:15.100 – 00:02:17.900] It’s gone.

[00:02:17.900 – 00:02:20.100] Well, never mind.

[00:02:20.100 – 00:02:26.800] Has to do with principles before personalities.

[00:02:26.800 – 00:02:32.000] It is the theme of this conference.

[00:02:32.000 – 00:02:40.900] Just as last year at Toronto, we had the theme, I am responsible.

[00:02:40.900 – 00:02:51.700] Well, as Lois evoked images of old time and the atmosphere

[00:02:51.700 – 00:03:01.700] of those early groups, I got a fresh

[00:03:01.700 – 00:03:12.400] reminder of how intensely we then tried to practice

[00:03:12.400 – 00:03:24.100] the principles that would save our lives and subdue our obstinate and erring personalities.

[00:03:24.100 – 00:03:34.300] Because you see, in this very early time, this was not so much of a matter of virtue as of necessity.

[00:03:34.300 – 00:03:45.000] We knew that we had been, and might soon again, be

[00:03:45.000 – 00:03:54.400] victims of one of the most hopeless compulsions, short of utter lunacy, that mankind knows.

[00:03:54.400 – 00:04:01.600] The stakes were survival.

[00:04:01.600 – 00:04:12.000] The stakes were the new life that we had taste– had just tasted.

[00:04:12.000 – 00:04:14.900] Could we go on?

[00:04:14.900 – 00:04:20.800] Well, in those days, things were very simple.

[00:04:20.800 – 00:04:31.000] So we attended very closely to this business of staying sober and doing what it took

[00:04:31.000 – 00:04:32.000] to stay sober.

[00:04:32.000 – 00:04:37.300] We were surrounded by suicides and failures.

[00:04:37.300 – 00:04:46.200] We were like Rickenbacker and the company on that raft with a dark sea of alcoholism all about.

[00:04:46.200 – 00:04:57.100] So we shared the bread and our love and our companionship

[00:04:57.100 – 00:05:04.300] to an extraordinary degree, considering our state of development.

[00:05:04.300 – 00:05:13.700] And three years went by.

[00:05:13.700 – 00:05:21.900] Most had come and looked and had gone away.

[00:05:21.900 – 00:05:32.300] But there was a hard core who felt and behaved

[00:05:32.300 – 00:05:35.300] as I have described.

[00:05:35.300 – 00:05:40.100] As I said, there were no complications.

[00:05:40.100 – 00:05:44.000] Survive, we must.

[00:05:44.000 – 00:05:51.000] Enlarge upon the joys and the gifts we had received, we must.

[00:05:51.000 – 00:06:02.600] Then we found that we were doing these things because they were right, because

[00:06:02.600 – 00:06:03.300] we ought to do them.

[00:06:03.300 – 00:06:11.000] Very simple principles, those that antedated the twelve steps.

[00:06:11.000 – 00:06:16.200] A new way of life.

[00:06:16.200 – 00:06:18.900] So far so good.

[00:06:18.900 – 00:06:29.900] But we only numbered forty, and the number of alcoholics in the world were twenty millions, and

[00:06:29.900 – 00:06:32.800] in the United States and Canada, six millions.

[00:06:32.800 – 00:06:37.400] What was our obligation to them?

[00:06:37.400 – 00:06:47.900] This meant a new great step in responsibility.

[00:06:47.900 – 00:06:58.100] And as we began to shoulder that responsibility, we came

[00:06:58.100 – 00:07:08.200] in harsh contact with those elements in our former lives that had sucked us under into

[00:07:08.200 – 00:07:09.100] the maelstrom.

[00:07:09.100 – 00:07:19.300] Two of the speakers, all of them, in fact,

[00:07:19.300 – 00:07:26.600] Lois, have mentioned book as a source of inspiration.

[00:07:26.600 – 00:07:31.400] Surely, that has been its record.

[00:07:31.400 – 00:07:41.800] Strangely enough, that volume of inspiration

[00:07:41.800 – 00:07:52.100] was created by a group of people who had pretty much reverted to the cult of personality

[00:07:52.100 – 00:07:57.800] because this brought up questions of money.

[00:07:57.800 – 00:08:03.500] It brought up questions of authorship when no authors were visible.

[00:08:03.500 – 00:08:09.100] It brought up questions of, uh, prestige.

[00:08:09.100 – 00:08:21.000] So, looked at in one way, the

[00:08:21.000 – 00:08:31.100] book, The Bojay, was an unseemly ball from one end to the other.

[00:08:31.100 – 00:08:43.600] And from where we were then, and from any rational point of view, it

[00:08:43.600 – 00:08:46.200] was a piece of lunacy.

[00:08:46.200 – 00:08:56.400] Who would expect forty

[00:08:56.400 – 00:09:03.200] drunks to produce a book about ourselves and our experiences?

[00:09:03.200 – 00:09:13.200] Who would expect that we would somehow publish it ourselves and keep

[00:09:13.200 – 00:09:15.000] it for the benefit of the movement?

[00:09:15.000 – 00:09:20.200] These were not rational expectations.

[00:09:20.200 – 00:09:30.300] For that reason, ninety percent of us, by and large, were against

[00:09:30.300 – 00:09:31.000] The Bojay.

[00:09:31.000 – 00:09:41.300] We said– They said, “Let’s keep it simple.” Now then, a hardcore

[00:09:41.300 – 00:09:51.800] of what I shall call the personality cult, more or less headed up by me, got

[00:09:51.800 – 00:09:56.100] very insistent that we have this book.

[00:09:56.100 – 00:10:03.200] Well, at the time, people say, “How are you gonna have it?

[00:10:03.200 – 00:10:07.800] Who’s gonna write it?” So a couple of chapters were drafted.

[00:10:07.800 – 00:10:18.500] And then it was suggested that only foolish

[00:10:18.500 – 00:10:21.200] authors tried to publish themselves.

[00:10:21.200 – 00:10:24.400] The book had better be taken to a publisher.

[00:10:24.400 – 00:10:35.000] And the core cult of personality said, “Well, why give it to a publisher and have them control our literature?

[00:10:35.000 – 00:10:42.600] Shouldn’t this movement control its own literature?” Then we began to get into the money angle.

[00:10:42.600 – 00:10:52.700] Some of us who had real experience in promotion learned with some anticipation that this book

[00:10:52.700 – 00:11:02.700] could be printed for one-tenth of its retail price, thirty-five cents a volume,

[00:11:02.700 – 00:11:06.500] and we figured on selling it at three fifty.

[00:11:06.500 – 00:11:08.700] Very reasonable for a textbook.

[00:11:08.700 – 00:11:11.700] But that was a terrific spread.

[00:11:11.700 – 00:11:21.700] So, still bent on publishing the book oursel-ourselves, we went to

[00:11:21.700 – 00:11:32.200] some of our fellows and said, “Here are a couple of chapters, and this is the profit margin.” And we made up a sort of a Wall Street

[00:11:32.200 – 00:11:37.400] prospectus, not the kind put out by the better houses.

[00:11:37.400 – 00:11:47.500] In which it was shown that if you can have them printed for thirty-five cents and you can sell them

[00:11:47.500 – 00:11:57.000] for three fifty, and they went out, well, I think the prospectus showed what you’d make on ten thousand just as a starter.

[00:11:57.000 – 00:12:00.900] Then it showed what you’d make on a hundred thousand.

[00:12:00.900 – 00:12:10.600] And I had a friend helping me, an even greater promoter, and he insisted on- Half a million.

[00:12:10.600 – 00:12:11.900] How much could be made?

[00:12:11.900 – 00:12:14.800] Thirty-five cents versus three fifty.

[00:12:14.800 – 00:12:18.800] Oh, you know, minus, uh, some expenses.

[00:12:18.800 – 00:12:27.700] Well, I’m afraid that those we solicited were not very enthusiastic.

[00:12:27.700 – 00:12:32.300] They very rightly said, “What the hell?

[00:12:32.300 – 00:12:42.500] Why would you think that we would buy stock in a book that ain’t yet written?”

[00:12:42.500 – 00:12:46.300] Well, it was a good question.

[00:12:46.300 – 00:12:49.500] And something had to be done.

[00:12:49.500 – 00:12:59.700] Well, about that time, just prior to it, our trustee had been s- set up.

[00:12:59.700 – 00:13:01.500] Friends of Mr.

[00:13:01.500 – 00:13:03.600] Rockefeller and others had helped.

[00:13:03.600 – 00:13:15.000] So we thought that if we went up to the Reader’s Digest and

[00:13:15.000 – 00:13:22.600] suggested the great chain reaction that was now in motion, beginning one of the greatest movements of all time, forty members still.

[00:13:22.600 – 00:13:28.800] And for respectability’s sake, we rang in Mr.

[00:13:28.800 – 00:13:29.700] Rockefeller.

[00:13:29.700 – 00:13:39.900] The Digest might give us a nibble, might pr-print a piece advertising not only

[00:13:39.900 – 00:13:42.600] the society, but the new book priced three fifty.

[00:13:42.600 – 00:13:50.200] And this, hitting twelve million readers, would produce volume on the book by the carloads.

[00:13:50.200 – 00:13:53.700] I don’t know whether we ever fig-figured out the profit on carloads or not.

[00:13:53.700 – 00:14:04.000] Well, that began to fetch the money, even from those, uh, who were frugal.

[00:14:04.000 – 00:14:12.800] And little by little, it began to dribble in, and we actually peddled shares in the book not yet written.

[00:14:12.800 – 00:14:22.900] Twenty-five dollars a share, par value, and most of the shares were paid for on the basis of five

[00:14:22.900 – 00:14:23.800] dollars a month.

[00:14:23.800 – 00:14:34.000] And those collections, uh, kept my promoter friend and me and that wonderful gal who helped us,

[00:14:34.000 – 00:14:40.000] little Ruthie Hart, first secretary of our office, in groceries.

[00:14:40.000 – 00:14:49.100] We even borrowed some money from old Charlie Towns, all on the credit of the Reader’s Digest and John D.

[00:14:49.100 – 00:14:49.800] Rockefeller.

[00:14:49.800 – 00:14:59.900] So finally, the book was done, but not without great travail.

[00:14:59.900 – 00:15:08.800] A chapter would be put together, sent out to Akron.

[00:15:08.800 – 00:15:12.000] Smith didn’t shop it too widely.

[00:15:12.000 – 00:15:14.200] It wasn’t so popular out there.

[00:15:14.200 – 00:15:24.400] Wall Street was about to get into AA, the cult of personality, and so forth, with some

[00:15:24.400 – 00:15:24.900] reason.

[00:15:24.900 – 00:15:35.000] But over in the parlor at Clinton Street, those chapters were taken apart and

[00:15:35.000 – 00:15:36.400] put together again.

[00:15:36.400 – 00:15:44.200] And on one side, we had the conservatives who wished to produce an almost theological book.

[00:15:44.200 – 00:15:54.200] And on the other side, my promoter friend and Jimmy Burrough, whose good lady sits over there, were saying, “The hell with the

[00:15:54.200 – 00:15:55.100] God business.

[00:15:55.100 – 00:15:57.000] Spring it on them after they arrive.

[00:15:57.000 – 00:16:02.800] Give them a psychological book.” Well, this was quite a hot spot to be in.

[00:16:02.800 – 00:16:09.800] I remember getting as far as chapter five.

[00:16:09.800 – 00:16:18.100] You know, we had some preliminary chapters, and I finally got to the point where it had to be said how this thing worked.

[00:16:18.100 – 00:16:28.200] So the idea occurred of taking the twelve– or taking the six principles that we had and busting them up in smaller

[00:16:28.200 – 00:16:34.200] pieces so that the distant reader drunk couldn’t wiggle out between.

[00:16:34.200 – 00:16:45.500] And when they were numbered, the steps came to twelve, and I thought, “I have done a good work.” Just then, uh, in came a couple of recent

[00:16:45.500 – 00:16:46.300] customers.

[00:16:46.300 – 00:16:51.400] They took one look at the twelve steps, well-lighted with God

[00:16:53.200 – 00:17:04.600] And he said, “Oh boy, this will never do.” So then ensued a prodigious row over the top stacks, and I had ulcers of the stomach, and

[00:17:04.600 – 00:17:07.900] the contributions on the stock went down and down.

[00:17:07.900 – 00:17:15.000] But they could always be revived by this vision of the Digest and carloads of those books moving out.

[00:17:15.000 – 00:17:25.100] Well, we finally got down to the last five hundred bucks, and that was just about enough to pay

[00:17:25.100 – 00:17:32.600] the printer a down payment of ten cents a book on five thousand books.

[00:17:32.600 – 00:17:37.400] Of course, we knew we were gonna have the Reader’s Digest piece.

[00:17:37.400 – 00:17:41.500] So the great day was here.

[00:17:41.500 – 00:17:44.400] The book was in the press.

[00:17:44.400 – 00:17:48.300] The pre-publication copy had come and gone.

[00:17:48.300 – 00:17:53.500] And we go up to the Reader’s Digest, and we call on Mr.

[00:17:53.500 – 00:18:00.700] Kenneth Payne, one of the editors who we’d earlier on seen, who had promised peace.

[00:18:00.700 – 00:18:05.300] And we gaily said, “Well, Mr.

[00:18:05.300 – 00:18:16.000] Payne, we’re all ready to shoot.” His memory being a little dim, he said, “Shoot what?” “Oh,

[00:18:16.000 – 00:18:17.000] yes,” he said.

[00:18:17.000 – 00:18:20.400] “I remember about the Society of Alcoholics and that book.

[00:18:20.400 – 00:18:32.500] And you know, actually, we canvassed this quite carefully in our editorial meeting and came to the conclusion the subject was just too hot, and

[00:18:32.500 – 00:18:38.200] I forgot to let you know.” Well, the stockholders were sucked in.

[00:18:38.200 – 00:18:40.400] The book was broke.

[00:18:40.400 – 00:18:50.700] Everybody said, “We told you so.” Lois and I got evicted from our house where

[00:18:50.700 – 00:18:53.400] the bank that owned it had become tired.

[00:18:53.400 – 00:18:60.000] And things were in an awful fix.

[00:18:60.000 – 00:19:10.600] Now, you see, personalities ran ahead of principles

[00:19:10.600 – 00:19:11.600] lots of times.

[00:19:11.600 – 00:19:16.300] So why then did the project pan out in the end?

[00:19:16.300 – 00:19:26.500] It panned out because as nutty

[00:19:26.500 – 00:19:33.600] and self-seeking as some of us were, and this includes yours truly, I was out of groceries, you know, too.

[00:19:33.600 – 00:19:40.800] The great undercurrent was still there.

[00:19:40.800 – 00:19:49.200] This message had to be carried, and this could be a prime agent of its carriage.

[00:19:49.200 – 00:19:59.900] So the grace of God, plus

[00:19:59.900 – 00:20:10.900] the enormous suffering we knew to be going on within gunshot around us, easily

[00:20:10.900 – 00:20:13.700] overwhelmed the cult of personality.

[00:20:13.700 – 00:20:21.100] And this was so strong that nothing could stand before it.

[00:20:21.100 – 00:20:29.800] Now, we all know that the publication of that volume marked a vast turning point in our affairs.

[00:20:29.800 – 00:20:39.500] Before, we were preoccupied with our small group, with ourselves, and whoever we could lay hold of by word of mouth.

[00:20:39.500 – 00:20:48.000] Now, we became preoccupied with the world of alcoholism, with the total mass of suffering.

[00:20:48.000 – 00:20:50.700] How could we make a dent on it?

[00:20:50.700 – 00:21:01.100] So these were the motivations that prevented

[00:21:01.100 – 00:21:11.700] our relapse into the old days, where it was dog eat dog, where it was competition,

[00:21:11.700 – 00:21:18.800] where it was cunning, where there was money.

[00:21:18.800 – 00:21:24.700] We wound up with no money, but we wound up with a message carrier.

[00:21:24.700 – 00:21:34.900] Now then, at each major turning point in our affairs, when radical decisions

[00:21:34.900 – 00:21:47.200] had to be taken, not so much changing our fundamentals, but

[00:21:47.200 – 00:21:54.800] enlarging them and increasing the chances of others to survive.

[00:21:54.800 – 00:22:01.900] Not only to survive, but to walk through that ever-widening gateway into a new life.

[00:22:01.900 – 00:22:12.000] At every single turning point, we’ve gone through the same paroxysm, and it never

[00:22:12.000 – 00:22:14.300] has hurt us one damn bit.

[00:22:14.300 – 00:22:26.300] And I say that no longer on the basis of this sort of experience should

[00:22:26.300 – 00:22:29.400] we ever fear each other.

[00:22:29.400 – 00:22:40.400] Fear– I remember a line, even

[00:22:40.400 – 00:22:41.700] a line from the big book.

[00:22:41.700 – 00:22:52.400] I think it says in there that fear is the evil corroding thread that

[00:22:52.400 – 00:22:53.600] ran through our lives.

[00:22:53.600 – 00:22:57.500] Now it is Bill’s step.

[00:22:57.500 – 00:23:01.600] From fear to prudence.

[00:23:01.600 – 00:23:08.200] From fear to one of the greatest virtues that men know.

[00:23:08.200 – 00:23:13.600] Prudence is rational concern without worry.

[00:23:13.600 – 00:23:24.900] And to me, that’s the meaning of that slogan, Principles Before Personalities.

[00:23:24.900 – 00:23:35.100] Now, like many of our traditions, each of which was not founded upon our good behavior,

[00:23:35.100 – 00:23:38.600] but founded upon the bad behavior.

[00:23:38.600 – 00:23:49.400] We , we learned

[00:23:49.400 – 00:23:52.900] this same lesson as these traditions took form.

[00:23:52.900 – 00:23:57.200] There wasn’t any wide acceptance at first.

[00:23:57.200 – 00:24:07.800] The only justification for printing them was that a few of us had been situated over in headquarters

[00:24:07.800 – 00:24:18.800] where accounts of the terrible strife in those days among the groups, where

[00:24:18.800 – 00:24:26.900] these valiant attempts to maintain unity, where all of this vast experience poured across that desk.

[00:24:26.900 – 00:24:36.400] So that the tradition was a teaching by those of us who behaved badly, and that was most of us sometimes.

[00:24:36.400 – 00:24:45.700] The tradition was hard-learned, and it was based upon what not to do.

[00:24:45.700 – 00:24:51.600] And from there, we could proceed on what to do and to suggest.

[00:24:51.600 – 00:24:52.600] Hence, the tradition.

[00:24:52.600 – 00:24:55.500] Same thing when this conference was ordered.

[00:24:55.500 – 00:24:58.800] The risks were too great.

[00:24:58.800 – 00:25:07.900] The trouble would be that the cult of personality and the professional politician and the– would take over.

[00:25:07.900 – 00:25:11.400] Nothing of the sort has happened.

[00:25:11.400 – 00:25:15.600] We have these guys and gals.

[00:25:15.600 – 00:25:17.300] Sometimes I join up myself.

[00:25:17.300 – 00:25:27.700] But we cannot withstand the tide of truth and dedication.

[00:25:27.700 – 00:25:37.500] Not a virtue of our own, but a gift of God, which suffuses this society from one end to another.

[00:25:37.500 – 00:25:47.900] So as we move into the years ahead, let

[00:25:47.900 – 00:25:50.200] us not be fearful.

[00:25:50.200 – 00:25:51.500] Let us be prudent.

[00:25:51.500 – 00:26:01.600] And let’s not, in fear or ultra-conservatism, put absurd constructions

[00:26:01.600 – 00:26:04.000] on things.

[00:26:04.000 – 00:26:14.200] Right now, we’re going through a constant and very healthy debate on the subject of attraction versus

[00:26:14.200 – 00:26:15.000] promotion.

[00:26:15.000 – 00:26:24.000] If you wish, you can have promotions now spell press agentry, sound trucks, and all the rest of paraphernalia.

[00:26:24.000 – 00:26:32.200] Or attraction can simply mean sitting still and doing nothing and waiting for people to come.

[00:26:32.200 – 00:26:38.700] So you must remember that there are very few absolutes in the A program.

[00:26:38.700 – 00:26:43.200] We shoot for absolute sobriety, absolute an-anonymity at the top level.

[00:26:43.200 – 00:26:46.000] We shoot for an absolute in membership.

[00:26:46.000 – 00:26:48.300] The guy’s a member if he says so.

[00:26:48.300 – 00:26:50.100] But there are a few.

[00:26:50.100 – 00:26:53.000] The rest are open to interpretation.

[00:26:53.000 – 00:27:03.200] So let us not put an interpretation upon this valued slogan, Principles

[00:27:03.200 – 00:27:13.300] Before Personalities, that would make us for one moment suppose that

[00:27:13.300 – 00:27:19.400] personality as such is to be always to be eliminated.

[00:27:19.400 – 00:27:30.000] And that the more we can resemble meek ciphers, the greater the virtue, the greater the comfort, the greater stability.

[00:27:30.000 – 00:27:31.300] I don’t think so.

[00:27:31.300 – 00:27:41.300] Because you see, really, from beginning to end, all of our relationships, all of the fruitful ones, are

[00:27:41.300 – 00:27:42.900] very personal.

[00:27:42.900 – 00:27:53.100] When you or I call on a new Twelve Step job, it’s a very personal

[00:27:53.100 – 00:27:53.600] business.

[00:27:53.600 – 00:28:05.400] And you’re entitled to use all of your powers of example and persuasion with

[00:28:05.400 – 00:28:06.200] the prospect.

[00:28:06.200 – 00:28:07.600] You cannot do less.

[00:28:07.600 – 00:28:09.900] It is a highly personal business.

[00:28:09.900 – 00:28:19.300] You are not all here because you are the acme of meekness.

[00:28:19.300 – 00:28:25.500] You are here because you are individuals, and each of you has personality.

[00:28:25.500 – 00:28:35.600] But the difference between these personalities here and so many in the world

[00:28:35.600 – 00:28:37.900] around us is this.

[00:28:37.900 – 00:28:48.000] We are operating in a frame of principles truthful enough under God’s grace

[00:28:48.000 – 00:28:55.800] to cause us to survive, to live, to love, and to grow.

[00:28:55.800 – 00:29:02.800] So we must leave room for something called leadership.

[00:29:02.800 – 00:29:13.800] And let us never be hasty to say that when somebody is loudly in the minority, that

[00:29:13.800 – 00:29:18.400] they are necessarily wrong because they belong to the cult personality.

[00:29:18.400 – 00:29:28.500] Let us not say because we try to persuade each other that this is out of order.

[00:29:28.500 – 00:29:35.700] After all, this is the way of democracy.

[00:29:35.700 – 00:29:41.300] This is the way, really, of the group conscience.

[00:29:41.300 – 00:29:46.500] This is the way of trusted servants in a democracy.

[00:29:46.500 – 00:29:50.200] This means debate.

[00:29:50.200 – 00:29:59.200] This means the exercise of such gifts as each has.

[00:29:59.200 – 00:30:09.900] Now then, this sort of exercise of personality within the framework of the principles

[00:30:09.900 – 00:30:14.000] is the very essence of our life and of our growth.

[00:30:14.000 – 00:30:18.300] This we know from thirty years of experience.

[00:30:18.300 – 00:30:28.800] So let us trust our servants,

[00:30:28.800 – 00:30:32.800] and let us trust each other.

[00:30:32.800 – 00:30:36.500] Thank you.

[00:30:36.500 – 00:30:53.300] Thank

[00:30:53.300 – 00:30:53.900] you, Bill.

[00:30:53.900 – 00:30:58.300] And certainly anything I might say would be an anticlimax.

[00:30:58.300 – 00:31:04.400] I would like to thank Herb, Dr.

[00:31:04.400 – 00:31:06.900] Jack, Bill, Lois, the staff.

[00:31:06.900 – 00:31:15.300] In fact, I would like to thank everyone in this fellowship for all I and all that my family have been given.

[00:31:15.300 – 00:31:19.300] And I would like to thank Almighty God who has made this possible.

[00:31:19.300 – 00:31:28.300] For quite a number of years, I’ve closed any meeting that I have led with three lines that were coincidentally read in that Reader’s Digest.

[00:31:28.300 – 00:31:33.800] And they meant the world to me because they meant my personal recovery in this fellowship.

[00:31:33.800 – 00:31:38.600] And they went, “I sought my soul, and my soul I could not see.

[00:31:38.600 – 00:31:42.200] I sought my God, and my God eluded me.

[00:31:42.200 – 00:31:48.700] I sought my brother, and I found all three.” This was fine.

[00:31:48.700 – 00:31:54.900] Then, like the delegates here assembled, I was blessed by God.

[00:31:54.900 – 00:32:01.800] I arrived at this conference last year, and I saw our slogan, Responsibility to Those We Serve.

[00:32:01.800 – 00:32:11.800] And I realized that there was a great deal more involved here than just my personal recovery, that I owed a great debt to every alcoholic who walks the

[00:32:11.800 – 00:32:13.000] face of this earth.

[00:32:13.000 – 00:32:17.000] And I really didn’t know quite what to do about it, how to approach it.

[00:32:17.000 – 00:32:19.400] And I found my answer at Toronto.

[00:32:19.400 – 00:32:28.400] And before I ask you to join me in the Lord’s Prayer, I wonder if you would mind rising and holding hands while we recite the responsibility prayer.

[00:32:28.400 – 00:32:36.400] I am responsible.

[00:32:36.400 – 00:32:43.800] When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A.

[00:32:43.800 – 00:32:45.800] always to be there.

[00:32:45.800 – 00:32:49.000] And for that, I am responsible.

[00:32:49.000 – 00:32:51.300] Would all of you care to join me in the Lord’s Prayer?

[00:32:51.300 – 00:32:57.100] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[00:32:57.100 – 00:33:03.200] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:33:03.200 – 00:33:12.400] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

[00:33:12.400 – 00:33:17.300] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[00:33:17.300 – 00:33:23.000] For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

[00:33:23.000 – 00:33:23.800] Amen.

[00:28:48.000 – 00:28:55.800] to cause us to survive, to live, to love, and to grow.

[00:28:55.800 – 00:29:02.800] So we must leave room for something called leadership.

[00:29:02.800 – 00:29:13.800] And let us never be hasty to say that when somebody is loudly in the minority, that

[00:29:13.800 – 00:29:18.400] they are necessarily wrong because they belong to the cult personality.

[00:29:18.400 – 00:29:28.500] Let us not say because we try to persuade each other that this is out of order.

[00:29:28.500 – 00:29:35.700] After all, this is the way of democracy.

[00:29:35.700 – 00:29:41.300] This is the way, really, of the group conscience.

[00:29:41.300 – 00:29:46.500] This is the way of trusted servants in a democracy.

[00:29:46.500 – 00:29:50.200] This means debate.

[00:29:50.200 – 00:29:59.200] This means the exercise of such gifts as each has.

[00:29:59.200 – 00:30:09.900] Now then, this sort of exercise of personality within the framework of the principles

[00:30:09.900 – 00:30:14.000] is the very essence of our life and of our growth.

[00:30:14.000 – 00:30:18.300] This we know from thirty years of experience.

[00:30:18.300 – 00:30:28.800] So let us trust our servants,

[00:30:28.800 – 00:30:32.800] and let us trust each other.

[00:30:32.800 – 00:30:36.500] Thank you.

[00:30:36.500 – 00:30:53.300] Thank

[00:30:53.300 – 00:30:53.900] you, Bill.

[00:30:53.900 – 00:30:58.300] And certainly anything I might say would be an anticlimax.

[00:30:58.300 – 00:31:04.400] I would like to thank Herb, Dr.

[00:31:04.400 – 00:31:06.900] Jack, Bill, Lois, the staff.

[00:31:06.900 – 00:31:15.300] In fact, I would like to thank everyone in this fellowship for all I and all that my family have been given.

[00:31:15.300 – 00:31:19.300] And I would like to thank Almighty God who has made this possible.

[00:31:19.300 – 00:31:28.300] For quite a number of years, I’ve closed any meeting that I have led with three lines that were coincidentally read in that Reader’s Digest.

[00:31:28.300 – 00:31:33.800] And they meant the world to me because they meant my personal recovery in this fellowship.

[00:31:33.800 – 00:31:38.600] And they went, “I sought my soul, and my soul I could not see.

[00:31:38.600 – 00:31:42.200] I sought my God, and my God eluded me.

[00:31:42.200 – 00:31:48.700] I sought my brother, and I found all three.” This was fine.

[00:31:48.700 – 00:31:54.900] Then, like the delegates here assembled, I was blessed by God.

[00:31:54.900 – 00:32:01.800] I arrived at this conference last year, and I saw our slogan, Responsibility to Those We Serve.

[00:32:01.800 – 00:32:11.800] And I realized that there was a great deal more involved here than just my personal recovery, that I owed a great debt to every alcoholic who walks the

[00:32:11.800 – 00:32:13.000] face of this earth.

[00:32:13.000 – 00:32:17.000] And I really didn’t know quite what to do about it, how to approach it.

[00:32:17.000 – 00:32:19.400] And I found my answer at Toronto.

[00:32:19.400 – 00:32:28.400] And before I ask you to join me in the Lord’s Prayer, I wonder if you would mind rising and holding hands while we recite the responsibility prayer.

[00:32:28.400 – 00:32:36.400] I am responsible.

[00:32:36.400 – 00:32:43.800] When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A.

[00:32:43.800 – 00:32:45.800] always to be there.

[00:32:45.800 – 00:32:49.000] And for that, I am responsible.

[00:32:49.000 – 00:32:51.300] Would all of you care to join me in the Lord’s Prayer?

[00:32:51.300 – 00:32:57.100] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[00:32:57.100 – 00:33:03.200] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

[00:33:03.200 – 00:33:12.400] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

[00:33:12.400 – 00:33:17.300] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[00:33:17.300 – 00:33:23.000] For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

[00:33:23.000 – 00:33:23.800] Amen.

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