Hi, everybody. My name is David Aronofsky, and I'm an alcoholic. Hi, David. And only because of God's grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have not found a necessary tooth, nor have I taken a drink of an alcoholic nature since April the 20th, 1967, and for this I am so thankful. Robert, that's the best talk you're gonna make two years from today. You can tell by the appreciation and the response of the members of the Arkansas Assembly. I, one of these, believes that a delegate needs to be visible, not so much vocal, I'll tell you. No reflection. I speak with a few years of experience. It's a wonderful pleasure to be here once again, to be asked to come here to your assembly. Thank God, when I was here the last time, I woke up and it was snowing outside. And so tonight, today, rather this afternoon, we'll get on with the business of what it's all about. Now, back in 1983, it started really in '82 and '83, and it culminated in '84. Our fellowship woke up and found out that our concepts, the writings about the concepts, not the concepts themselves, had been changed with no clearance from any groups or any of the trustees, literature committee, or the conference literature committee, because that is conference-approved literature. So at the behest of the chairman of the General Service Board, Gordon Patrick at that time, Gordon appointed an ad hoc committee, and this alcoholic was fortunate enough to be a member of that committee to see to get it back to where it needs to be. Not necessarily to go on a witch hunt to find out who did or who didn't. Doesn't make a bit of difference. But to get it back to where the grassroots or the members of Alcoholics Anonymous have a voice and a vote in our affairs because we own Alcoholics Anonymous. It belongs to us, and we'll have it only as long as God is willing to let us have it, and God will always let us have it as long as we let God have it. Because it is a special gift. We are unlike no society in the world. Don't let anybody tell you that we're like the Boy Scouts or this or that. AA's been given special dispensation many, many years ago when no one knew anything about AA. The Internal Revenue Service, they had no guidelines to go by. So they just simply said back in the early days when Mr. Mooney was the Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service, "We have nothing to go by. You go back and you tell us and write down where you get your money, how you spend it, and what you do with what's left over." And that has been the guidelines ever since. And they automatically made us a tax-exempt, not-for-profit, and that was done in 1943. And still today, every time our entities are audited by the Internal Revenue Service, that's the first thing they look for to see if we're still operating in the manner in which it was so graciously given to us. Because you see, we're unique. Oh, yes, we own property, but it's not… It's personal property. It's not real estate. And this is the thing that they're so important. So anyway, in order to keep this mess from getting out of hand once again, in 1984, at the July board meeting, at that time, the ad hoc committee presented to the General Service Board its recommendations, and the General Service Board in turn passed a resolution that the bylaws of the General Service Board be amended and that the short form of the concepts be inserted in the bylaws of the General Service Board, making the General Service Board directly responsible to the members of Alcoholics Anonymous that the spirit of the concepts not be violated, which now puts it in a legal ramification, the same as the 12 Steps of Recovery of Alcoholics Anonymous and our 12 Traditions. And so it was inserted at that time. Then the following year, in 1985, it was presented to the conference, and the conference approved the amending of the bylaws of the General Service Board. And so here we are today. Now, because of the large range of topics which had to be included, these concepts have been very difficult, not only to organize, but to write. Now, since each concept is really a group of related principles, abbreviated statements used in AA's 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, they would not have been possible. However, the concepts do represent the best summation that Bill was able to make after more than, well, actually, it was 27 years at the time of experiences, in which the creation of our service structure and in the conduct of AA's world affairs. Now, like the earlier written 12 Steps and 12 Traditions in the Conference Charter, these service principles are also the results of long reflection and extensive consultation. Now, it was Bill's hope that these 12 Concepts would become a welcome addition to our third legacy manual of AA World Service, which is now called the AA Service Manual, and that these concepts would prove to be a reliable working guide in the years that lie ahead. Now, the 12 Concepts very carefully delineate those important traditions, customs, relationships, and legal arrangements that weld the General Service Board into a working harmony with its primary committees and with its corporate and active service, AA World Services Incorporated, AA Grapevine Incorporated. And the, the 12 Concepts can be basically used in any, in any spiritual entity in Alcoholics Anonymous, from the group to the district to the area to the region to the General Service conference and to the countries in which AA is now all over the world. And ideas like the following pervade the concepts: no group or individual should be set in unqualified authority over another's large, active, and dissimilar operations should be separately incorporated and managed, each with its own staff, equipment, and working capital. We ought to avoid undue concentration of money or personal influence in any service group or entity and at e-each level of service. And once again, it starts with a group. Uh, its service authority should be equal to responsibility, and that's one of the most difficult things for members of Alcoholics Anonymous to understand, that no one is set in unqualified authority over any member of Alcoholics Anonymous. That is very, very difficult, and sometimes we have to learn it the hard way. Double-headed executive direction should be avoided. The delegate to the General Service conference is a delegate to the General Service conference from the area. They cannot come back and be a double-headed operator of a, of the area. That is the area's officer's responsibility, and their, their responsibility is in trust for the members of AA groups. Each one has a definite area to operate in. One cannot exceed the other. When that happens, that makes one of them useless. And when that happens, that's what causes all the personality conflicts in Alcoholics Anonymous. It's no different than we come in here unless we're willing to let God be God and we quit playing God, there is no way in the world that God can work in our lives. And AA allows us to be our own sober, miserable, or happy selves, either way around. And so as a result of it, these and other similar, uh, provisions define the working relations that can be friendly yet efficient, and thus they will resist the tendency to concentrate money, power, and this nearly always being the underlying, though not always the main reason, but a lot of times it is the underlying reason, uh, of our conscious motivation of our recurrent passion for the consolidation of world service entities. And so concept one. Now, I'm going to use for this afternoon the short form. And if you want to follow it along in the service manual, why, you may free to do so. Concept one, final responsibility and the ultimate authority of AA World Services should always reside in the collective conscience of the whole fellowship. The primary responsibility and the ultimate authority for the Arkansas Area Assembly and its services should always reside in the collective conscience of the assembly, which is means it's nothing more than the whole membership of, of the area of Arkansas. Now, the AA groups today hold ultimate authority and, I mean, ultimate responsibility and final authority for our world services. These special elements of overall service activity, which makes it possible for our society to function as a whole. Now, the groups assumed that responsibility at the international convention in 1955 in St. Louis. It was there that Bill, on behalf of Dr. Bob, the trustees, and AA old-time leaders, made the transfer of world service responsibility to our entire fellowship. The reason was this came about as a result of the stark necessity, for the fact had to be faced that AA's founders were perishable. Dr. Bob passed away, and Bill knew that in time he would, too, and that the older members of Alcoholics Anonymous would be. Thus, who would then be in line to suggest and advise our trustees so the gap had to be filled? There were other reasons for this basic shift of ultimate responsibility and authority as a whole. All these reasons revolved in and around Tradition Two. For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority, a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants. They do not govern. Tradition Two, like all of AA's traditions, is a voice of experience based upon trials and bitter experiences of thousands of groups. So the main principles of Tradition Two are inevitable. The AA groups are to be the final authority. Their leaders are to be entrusted with delegated responsibilities only. And if you have a breakdown in the area or in AA as a whole, it has to do basically with those who exceed the delegated responsibility. And when that happens, then they're taking on, they're exceeding delegated authority. We have to constantly keep in our uppermost conscience that our fellowship is a spiritualized society characterized by enough enlightenment, enough responsibility, and enough love of man and God to ensure that our democracy of world service will work under all conditions. If it didn't work under all conditions, the condition that it didn't work under, us drunks would eat this deal alive. That is the precise reason that we can rely on Tradition Two, our group conscience, its trusted servants. Happily for us, there seems little prospect of a spiritual calamity in AA. Where are we going? This is the last house on the block, baby. The life of each individual and of each group is built around our 12 Steps and our 12 Traditions. We very well know that the penalty for extensive disobedience to these principles is death for the individual and dissolution for the group. An even greater force for AA's unity is the compelling love that we have for each member of Alcoholics Anonymous, but above all, for the principles upon which our lives today are founded. Concept two, the General Service Conference of AA has become for every pr- for nearly every practical reason, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole society in its world affairs. The Arkansas Assembly has become, in Arkansas, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of the whole membership of the AA groups in Arkansas for its service affairs. Now, the ultimate authority and responsibility for AA World Services belongs to the AA groups. It became rather obvious that the 70 some odd thousand AA groups and over two million AA members scattered all over the world, in AA we really don't know how many members we really have because ours is kind of like a floating crap game, you know? God knows how many members of Alcoholics Anonymous, when they woke up this morning all over the world, when the sun come up, were members of Alcoholics Anonymous. And tonight, when the sun goes down all over the world, many who were members of AA when they woke up this morning will no longer b- were not longer members of Alcoholics Anonymous. So we're not really interested in numbers. The b-basic line, are we staying sober? And as a result of, actually, uh, so the AA groups of themselves cannot, uh, actually manage to conduct our world services. Sure, the group conscience and the needed monies are out there, and the power of the groups and members to change our world service structure and to criticize its operation is virtually supreme. And don't think for a minute we don't criticize it. And they have all the final responsibility and authority is because it is ours and no one else's. So in order to avoid confusion and to function in simplicity and service, the groups have delegated complete administrative and operational authority, authority to their conference and its service arms. To avoid confusion in the area, and so that the area, uh, can function in simplicity of the services, the groups have delegated complete administration and operational authority for their area and its service arms to the area structure. And as Bill and Dr. Bob early in AA had found it necessary to delegate a large part of their active authority to the trustees, the AA groups have also found it necessary to delegate these same powers to the General Service Conference. As a result of the conference charter, the General Service Conference of AA, plus any later formed sections, has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our society in its world affairs. The reasons for this is very simple. A vesting of responsibility as a result of finding out that the ultimate authority and responsibility for the AA groups' world services, that, that, that, if that were all that was to be, then it could not amount to hardly anything. Nothing could be accomplished on the basis alone. So in order to get effective action, the groups must delegate the actual res- operational authority to the chosen service representatives who are fully empowered to speak and act for them. Everyone who is here this weekend, whether they be a delegated servant, a GSR or an alternate DCM, or an alternate DCM, or a-any members of the area committee, or just members of Alcoholics Anonymous We have to do this if we're ever gonna have simplicity and not confusion. The group conscience of AA could not be heard unless a properly chosen conference or an area structure was fully trusted to speak for its, its respecting in most matters of our services. Since the principle of amply delegated authority and responsibility to trusted servants must be implicit from the top to the bottom of our active structure of service. This is a clear implication of Tradition Two, Concept three. To ensure effective leadership, we should endow each element of AA, the conference. You notice I said each element of AA, not just necessarily general conference. The general service board and the service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives with its traditional right of decision. And when I get to the next concept, I'm gonna have some raised eyes, I'll tell you. Here again is a working example of Tradition Two. Our leaders are but trusted servants. They do not govern. We cannot stress that too much in Alcoholics. Now, you tell a drunk like me I gotta do something, and I ain't gonna do it. I'm one of those kinds that if it says, "Don't walk on the grass," I'll walk on the grass. I love the one that says, "Don't take drink or food out of the dining room." I'll test them every time. If they got a sign on the wall, wet paint, don't touch, I'll put my fingerprints on it. But if you suggest I do not do this, that is another matter altogether. We ought to trust our world servants, for within the framework, framework of our general responsibilities, whether they be defined by charter, resolution, advisory action, or custom, it should be the traditional right of all world service boards, committees, and executives to decide which problems will dispose of themselves, upon which matters they will report, consult, or ask specific directions. Now, your area committee, unless you trust them to make decisions, and they can't do it, and they gotta come back to the group on everything that's brought up here this weekend, why have an assembly? Decide it in your group. And that causes nothing but problems because basically in an AA group, each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the alcoholic. And so it has to delegate the responsibility to see that the area is in tune with AA as a whole, still reserving the right of its autonomy. And so therefore, uh, if, if, if we do not trust our world servants to make decisions, then no effective leadership can be possible. So as a result of Concepts one and two, fortified and powered by Tradition Two, the general service conference and the general service board charter simply define the responsibility of our conference to act on behalf of AA as a whole. That's exactly what your guidelines are for the area, nothing more, nothing less. Must simply in a general way describe the relations between the group, the conference, the trustees, and the active service entities. Without these definitions and descriptions, we could not function. This conce– concept just simply tells us, and it puts Tradition Two into action by allowing us to trust our responsible leaders to decide within the understanding framework of their duties how they will interpret and apply their own authority and responsibility to each particular problem or situation as it arises. Now, there will always be plenty of ultimate authority to correct inefficiency, ineffectiveness, or abuse. Now, if the conference or if the area doesn't function well, the group can send better delegates to the conference or elect better area officers. If the trustees get out of line, the conference can censor or criticize them, even reorganize them. If our headquarter services go haywire, the trustees can elect better directors and hire better help. Still, many areas are sometimes tempted, and some still do, to instruct their delegates exactly how to vote upon certain matters in the conference because they hold the responsibility and the ultimate authority. There is no doubt that the AA groups have the right to do this. However, if they insist, they can give effect… they can give directives to their delegates on any and all AA matters. But were the groups to carry these, their instructions, uh, to delegates to extremes, then they would be proceeding on the false theory that group opinion in most world matters would somehow be superior, much more superior, to conference opinion. Practically speaking, this could almost never be the case. There would be very few questions indeed that instructed delegates could better settle than a conference acting on the spot with full facts, and debate is always desirable. And that's one of the reasons why many, after the Saturday night meeting tonight, will leave, and they will not participate in the morning. That is the most vital meeting you're gonna have in the morning. Everything leads up to it because this is where the, the group conscience or the area conscience is put into living action. So is there full consultation with committee members and general service representatives. The instructed delegate who cannot act on his own conscience in a final conference vote is not a trusted servant at all. They're just simply a messenger boy or girl. And you know when somebody delivers a message, they always got their hand out. They're waiting for a tip. And so now this brings us to, this brings us to another one, and I'll tell you this next one. Now, I don't know whether you realize it or not, concept four: at all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a traditional right of participation, allowing a voting representative in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must discharge. Now, I'm gonna ask you a question. How in the dickens in AA can you participate if you're not free to make a decision? You see, the concepts are written backwards. In any other organization, you got the freedom to participate and then make a decision. But in AA, you don't participate if you can't make a decision. You can't stay sober unless you decide you're going to stop drinking. And only then can you participate as a member of AA. Some try to participate drinking. We're tough. Fall out of chairs every now and then, you know. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Know a lot about AA, but know nothing, nothing about AA, you know. Now, the principle of participation has been very carefully built into our conference structure. The conference charter specifically provides that the trustees and the directors of our service corporations, together with their respective executive staff, shall always be voting members of the general service conference itself. And that has caused more problems over a period of years than anything in the world. But Bill stoutly defended it by saying, "Why should non-alcoholic trustees and why should paid staff have an equal vote at the conference? That only the delegates should." Well, the delegate comes to the conference. Some come instructed. Some don't even know where they are. All they're interested in is where can I get ice cream, how to get from the airport to the hotel, the cheapest way, you know. What kind of clothes to wear, you know. Do I take a suit or do I take a running suit? Can I wear running shoes or do I have to wear my cowboy boots all the time or my dress shoes, you know? Some come with volumes of notes. Some are up at the microphone. They don't sleep. They stay up all night figuring out how to make a talk. And so as a result of it, you know, so as a result, to get everything in perspective, the voting process is turned out to be correct up to now. And then this partici– uh, principle of participation also applies to the directors of the general service board's wholly owned active service corporation, as well as to those who are appointed to the board's standing committee. Now, one of the best reasons for our participation certainly has to do with our spiritual needs. All of us deeply desire to belong. We need and want an AA relation of brotherly partnership. The paramount ideal of our spiritual corporation should never include any members who are regarded as second class. Thus, if we are to have no second class AAs, then neither should there be any second class world service worker. Thus, it encourages every one of us who serve AA accept the necessary disciplines that our several, uh, re-service responsibilities require. This we can do when each of us is sure that we belong, for the principle of our participation assures us that we are truly the trusted servants as Tradition Two suggests that we are. Now, the preservation of this principle of participation is our, in our service structure is to those of us who already understand its application and benefits, a matter of the highest importance in our future. The saddest member of Alcoholics Anonymous is the one who is afraid to get up and to participate. Afraid they're gonna be criticized. Afraid that nobody's gonna like them. Afraid they won't be elected delegate. Afraid they won't be the GSR or the DCM. I'll tell you about this business in service. You know, in service, you know, it, it's just like standing there and kicking an elephant in the rear end. The ki- the, the key is to stay there kicking, and one day smoke will come out. And experience has shown us that some of, uh, each new generation of delegates and trustees will invariably try to weaken, modify, or toss out the principles of corporate participation. And you're gonna find it in your area assemblies. You're gonna find it in the district, in by-district meetings, that you're gonna get members that either wanna weaken it, modify it, throw it out every year. A few delegates will question the right of the corporate director staff and even trustees to vote in conference. Sometimes new volunteer corporate directors will ask, "Why our paid staff members should also be directors and thereby, there-thereby have a vote as good as their own?" So it is virtually important that we preserve the traditional right of participation in the face of every tendency to whittle it down and weaken it. Concept five, throughout the structure, a traditional right of appeal ought to prevail so that minority opinion will be heard and personal grievances receive careful consideration. This is one of the most valuable principles that we have in A.A. I'll tell you, in many instances, the minority has become the majority. I have been the voting member of six general service conferences, and I've seen them pass an advisory action one morning. The next morning when the conference convened, a member, a voting member of the conference who's a delegate came up to the mic and said, "I have had a tough time sleeping last night. I walked the streets of New York City mulling over on the advisory action that we passed yesterday. Something doesn't smell right. It's not comfortable." And while that delegate is talking, all of a sudden you see delegates walking up to the other mics, standing in line, and they said, "I have had the same feeling." And the next thing you know, somebody says, "Let's bring it up again," and they do. And then they make another vote. And what they voted on yesterday, two-thirds majority, all of a sudden it's reversed by two-thirds. This is where minority opinion is so important because this concept encourages all minorities. Now, we're, we're not talking about color, and we're not talking about religion, and we're not talking about language. We're talking about those who feel that they have something to say. As I said before, the most uncomfortable member of any A.A. group or any service entity in A.A. is the one that's afraid to get up. They're afraid they're not gonna be popular anymore, afraid their A.A. babies are gonna quit them. But there is something else involved in the situation. So therefore, the freedom to file minority reports whenever they feel a majority be in considerable error. Particularly is this true when a minority considers an issue to be such a grave one that a mistaken decision could seriously affect A.A. as a whole. It should then charge itself with the actual duty of presenting a minority report to the conference. And that's the precise reason in a few conferences ago, they made it a service piece, but not an advisory action. An advisory action is two-thirds majority, and that is the blue card that they read, that this is an open or closed A.A. meeting, and we suggest that all who participate talk about drinking of alcohol. Now, if they'd have made it an advisory action, right there and then every dope head would be in that group screaming. So they didn't. They left it up to the freedom of the groups to read it or not to read it. And basically, all in the world they are, that we're doing is reinforcing Traditions Three and Traditions Five. Now, this concept permits any person in our service structure, whether paid or unpaid To petition for the redress of a personal grievance carrying his or her complaint, if he or she so desires, directly to the General Service Board. He or she should be able to do this without prejudice or fear of reprisal. Every member of an A.A. group in the area structure of Arkansas is free to carry whatever personal grievance it had directly to the area committee. And the area committee would be negligent in their duties if they failed to bring it up and throw it out and see what can happen. And thank them. If the area says, "Well, you know, this is the way we feel about it," fine. But allow them to participate, that's all. Or in other words, to get it off their chest, fully well realizing that nobody can kick anybody out of A.A. In Alcoholics Anonymous, individual freedom is of enormous importance. Thus, this concept aims at the total problem of protecting and making the best possible use of minority feelings and opinion. We cannot take away the right of any alcoholic to belong to A.A. Neither can we force our members to believe, pay, or do anything. We don't have to because in Alcoholics Anonymous, we have two authorities. We have God as we understand Him that heals, and we have alcohol as we understand it that kills. And we don't need any human beings forcing anything on us to believe, to pay, or to do anything. In time, if we live our recovery program, we would be derelict if we did not love A.A. for the life that it gives us, and then we're willing to do anything that we're asked to do. This concept allows us the freedom to never be subjected to the tyranny of either the majority or the minority. And you have to remember that the majority sometimes can be more tyrannical than the minority. Now, run that around your head a little bit. A lot of times we say, "Well, they're a bunch of tyrants, the minority," but the majority sometimes is just as bad as the other. Or in other words, Tradition Ten, we neither endorse nor oppose. It's just as bad to oppose a controversy as it is to endorse it. So either that provided we carefully define the relationships between them, and thus we can walk in the path of world service in the spirit of the Twelve Steps, and then also in the spirit of our Twelve Traditions. I'll tell you, this business, and this is where personalities get involved. "Oh, I don't want to hear it. I'm not in A.A. to listen to all that politics and all that junk." Shut up. And the minute you tell me to shut up, I'm running back up there again, you know. Concept six: The conference recognizes that the chief initiative and active responsibility of most world service matters should be exercised by the trustee members of the conference acting as a general service board. The area committee is a, is absolutely one of the most important committees that we have in Alcoholics Anonymous. And they should be delegated with the responsibility to exercise. And I'll tell you, you can't water it down. When you do, then we get into trouble. This concept allows the conference to delegate a liberal administrative authority to the general service board so that the trustees may act freely and effectively in the absence of the conference itself. The area committee, it just doesn't sit still. It is active all year long, not just at the area assembly. It certainly isn't. You and then Connolly is in for a surprise. He's gonna find it's gonna be an almost full-time job in between assemblies. How come they did this? Who changed that? By God, I'm a member of A.A. I'm gonna quit sending my money. My group's gonna quit going all this and that. And he'll say, "Well, we love you." And hang up. Hell, they answer. Next to the conference, A.A.'s board of trustees should be the most influential group of world servants that we have. And therefore, we shall have to consider carefully the amount and degree of authority, responsibility, leadership, and legal status the trustees must possess in order to function at the top effectiveness over the years to come. Now, why should our trustees be given this latitude of judgment and action? Very simply, because we, the members of A.A., are holding them mainly responsible for all of our service activities. That is A.A. World Services Incorporated, including A.A. Publishing and A.A. Grapevine Incorporated. These affiliates, as of today, have gross receipts of over twelve million dollars annually. Now, that may seem like a lot of money, and it is if you ain't got no money. But you have to remember, A.A.'s money comes in not in hundred thousand dollar grants, ten thousand dollar grants. It comes in in quarters and dimes and nickels and pennies and dollar bills. Our trustees are also responsible for A.A.'s worldwide public relations. They are expected to lead in the formulation of AA policy and must see to its proper execution because they are the active guardians of our 12 traditions. Now, you may ask, why is it that every self-help group in the world uses what they call the AA method or the 12 steps? If one reads the service manual and the bylaws of the General Service Board, the 12 steps belong to all mankind. However, when you say the 12 steps and add the two words Alcoholics Anonymous, that's a different matter altogether because the two words Alcoholics Anonymous is a registered trademark. That is the precise reason at the end of, uh, the words in our literature and our pamphlets today, you will see above the S on Anonymous circle with an R. That had to be done. It had to be done not by the misuse of organizations outside of AA, but by the misuse of our own members for greed, period. And Bill said many years ago, there's gonna be some members of AA who are gonna attempt to and probably will make a lot of money at the expense of members of AA and just because they're members of Alcoholics Anonymous. That's the precise reason that that book that was put out by that lady, she was forced to have the title changed. It was on the bestseller list, and it's no longer the same title that it was. Not because she was such a grateful member of Alcoholics Anonymous. By her own admission, she, oh, she went to an AA meeting maybe once every five or six weeks or maybe four or five times a year. It was changed because she violated one of the most valuable principles that any member of Alcoholics Anonymous can violate, and that is the misuse of the two words Alcoholics Anonymous. The traditions, they're ours. We cannot give them to anyone. Our name is ours. We cannot give our name to anyone because you see the, they're the active, the, the trustees are the active guardians of our 12 traditions. They are, trustees are also our bankers. They are entirely responsible for the investment and use of our substantial reserve fund. Thank God. And we allow non-alcoholics to handle our money. You'd be surprised how many members of AA that are upstanding and upright citizens of the community can't even get a financial clearance. They can't be bonded, in other words. So we turn it over to non-alcoholics to handle our money because we've got something more important to do, and that is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. From top to bottom, our whole service structure resembles that of a large corporation. The AA groups, we own it, so therefore we are the stockholders. And we delegate delegates to go to our general service conference to vote for us. Our proxies are our stock, really, at the annual meeting of the general service. And our general service board trustees are actually the directors of a large holding company. And this holding company, the general service board, actually owns and controls the subsidiaries which carry out most of our active world services. So therefore, our trustees must be given large powers if they are to effectively manage the principle of world affairs of Alcoholics Anonymous. Concept seven: The charter and bylaws of the general service board are legal instruments empowering the trustees to manage and conduct world service affairs. The conference charter is not a legal document. It relies upon tradition and the AA purse for final effectiveness. I know that when I was elected to the general service board of Alcoholics Anonymous, before I was even allowed to attend the first board meeting, I had to sign a legal document in front of a notary and have it notarized that when I came upon the board, that I would be individually and collectively responsible for the financial and the policy integrity of Alcoholics Anonymous. So we now can see a board of trustees which is invested with complete legal power over our funds and services, and yet we find that the AA general service board, conference rather, which is not a legal instrument, is clothed with such great traditions, influence, and financial power that if necessary, it could overcome the legal rights of the board of trustees. It can therefore give the trustees directives and secure compliance with them, practically speaking. This means that the practical power of the conference will nearly always be superior to the legal power of the trustees. This allows the conference to still run our business and not have a handful clothed with legal power to go us down the drain. This is the thing that concerned Bill. After Bill was gone, who then would be the buffer between the members of the A.A. group, A.A. members as a whole, and the trustees who had legal control over everything that we had? That's the reason why the general service conference was born, so that the conference would be the buffer, which is nothing more than just the members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our present conference is so structured to clearly give the conference a final and ultimate authority, but which nevertheless legally preserves the right of the trustees to function freely and adequately because y- we have to live by the laws of the land. Just because we come into A.A. and we're flushed with this spiritual enema does not free us from being to observe the laws of the land. We can't just run around here 'cause we're alcoholics, you know, and hold up banks. I held a lot of them up before I got sober, with paper. Yeah. Didn't need a gun, just a pen and a counter draft, you know. And so therefore, which nevertheless legally preserves the right of the trustees to function adequately. Up to now, our experience shows that this balance of powers between the trustees and conference is thoroughly workable. Even though our board of trustees does reserve a veto power over any conference action, and this is legally necessary and right in principle, it will seldom be used. It never has been used, basically. Rather than veto, all in the world they'll do is say, "Hey, wait a minute here. Let's bring it up at the next conference and explain the reasons why we can't go through with it on a legal basis." But at certain times, however, the trustees' veto could be of important and constructive use. So in the years to come, the conference will always bear in mind the actual rights, duties, responsibilities, and legal status of the general service board. And if the trustees in their deliberations will constantly realize that the conference is the real seat of the ultimate service authority, we then may be sure that neither will be seriously tempted to make a rubber stamp out of each other. In this matter, grave issues can always be resolved, and harmonious cooperation will be the general rule. Not necessarily always, but this is the way it's been working out. Concept eight: The trustees an– are the principal planners and administrators of our overall policy and finance. They have custodial oversight of the separately incorporated and constantly active services, exercising this through their ability to elect all the directors of these entities. Well, I'll tell you, your area committee are the principal planners and administrators of the policy and the monies that it is given to operate. There's no difference. A lot of times, you know, you're, you're read– you look at the, at the concepts, and my God, it's just like reading the Yellow Pages in the phone book, you know? But basically, they're some of the finest writings about A.A. Our trustees bear the primary responsibility for the good conduct of our world service affairs, and this concept deals with the basic concept and method in which they can best discharge their heavy obligation. The board is expected to skillfully plan, manage, and execute almost exclusively to the larger and more service questions of policy, finance, group relations, public relations, and leadership. Thus, the board cannot be burdened with the daily, weekly, and monthly questions and routine conduct of the world service office and our publishing entity. This concept clearly indicates how the board delegates its executive function to those entities. The board's attitude has to be that of custodial oversight only and not executive. This then makes the trustees the guarantors for us of the good management of A.A. World Services Incorporated and the A.A. Grapevine Incorporated. In the last couple of years, they've had a breakdown in that area. And the breakdown in that area, very bluntly, has been the fact that we have had members of the general service board as trustees who got carried away with a Madison Avenue approach to Alcoholics Anonymous, and they had to be brought back to their senses. And you know how we bring or bringing them back to their senses? Group contributions have fallen. And it sent a clear message to the current general service board that, hey, get with it and quit trying to run us like Lever Brothers and Singer Corporation and Exxon. Get with it. And they've got the message, and they're now doing it. This is what we mean by we don't… Uh, the, the members of A.A., I'll tell you, with the power of the purse in Alcoholics Anonymous is very effective. In A.A., we need both God and money. But it is the effective use of each is the important thing. So the trustees can discharge their custodial obligation by electing directors of these services, a part of whom must always be trustees. This is another flaw that we picked up when we went through the, in this particular concept, about how directors come aboard who are later uncovered in future general service trustees. That has been changed. Now, any member of Alcoholics Anonymous, their name can be submitted to be a director, regardless of wherever they come from. And one of the biggest hassles that Robert is going to be involved in is the changing of those words, what they call in-town or New York trustees, or commuting distance from New York. That is going to be changed to where they can come from Canada, they can come from anywhere in the North American conference area. Because each corporate service entity should possess its own charter, its working capital, its own executive, its own employees, its own offices and equipment, except to mediate difficult situations and to see that the service corporations operate within their budgets and within the general framework of AA. And you don't know what a joy it was to hear the treasurer's report this morning as a member of AA, not in this area, to see how close you operate basically on what we call a zero budget. That's tremendous. That means you're doing with your monies what you're supposed to do with them. You're not piling it up. Do you argue about it? Fight over it? You're emptying it out. Time to get all your contributions in. What were you, right about a couple hundred dollars short? I mean, just to the plus, right? And so that's good. That means that your area committee is tending to business. That is a credit. And it only comes about as a result of the quality of your delegated trustees that you delegate by election to serve in those areas. And so therefore, and to see that the service corporations, they operate within their budgets, but mainly within the general framework of AA, to see that this area committee operates within the guidelines. Guidelines are no good if they're not used. The 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are of no value whatsoever unless we're willing to live them. The 12 traditions are of no value unless we're willing to. And a drunk comes into AA and he sees that there's a principle that's been in AA ever since AA got started. A drunk comes in and he looks at the 12 steps, they got to do something about it. In a group, they look at the 12 traditions, they got to do something about it. The 12 concepts of world service, we've got to do something about it. We've got our service manual, we've got to do something about them. They're just not going to hop in and do us just sitting there. So as a result, they'll seldom need to do any more except to do what we're supposed to do. While the trustees must always operate under the close observation, guidance, and sometimes direction of the conference, it is nevertheless true that nobody but the trustees and their wholly owned subsidiary corporations could possibly pass judgment upon and handle a very large amount of transactions now involved in our total world service operations. In view of this very large responsibility, they must therefore be given a correspondingly large grant of authority and leadership within which to discharge it. It should be understood that the conduct of our world services is simply just a, primarily a matter of policy and business. Of course, our objective is always a spiritual one, but this service aim can be achieved only by the means of
