Listen to Audio Recording

[00:00:04.660 – 00:00:05.080] Thank you.

[00:00:05.080 – 00:00:06.280] Hi, everybody.

[00:00:06.280 – 00:00:08.200] My name is David A, and I’m an alcoholic.

[00:00:08.200 – 00:00:09.430] Hi, David.

[00:00:09.430 – 00:00:16.800] And only because of God’s grace through the miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous am I sober this day, and for this I am so thankful.

[00:00:16.800 – 00:00:26.940] And, uh, first of all, I want to thank the committee for, uh, allowing this member of Alcoholics Anonymous to participate in this particular

[00:00:26.940 – 00:00:28.000] meeting this morning.

[00:00:28.000 – 00:00:38.500] At most General Service meetings, uh, they, they talk about structure,

[00:00:38.500 – 00:00:48.380] and they talk about a lot of things, but I’m not going to talk about structure because structure is, has to be experienced.

[00:00:48.380 – 00:00:58.380] But I’m going to talk this morning about the history of our, the reasons for our services in Alcoholics Anonymous and

[00:00:58.380 – 00:00:59.840] how they evolved.

[00:00:59.840 – 00:01:09.880] And, uh, for over sixty years, we have been watching a great building under construction and

[00:01:09.880 – 00:01:11.360] constantly being refined.

[00:01:11.360 – 00:01:16.039] And in Bill’s words, to us, it’s more than a building.

[00:01:16.039 – 00:01:26.380] It is a temple, as Bill says, a cathedral of the spirit until, into which we really don’t know how many

[00:01:26.380 – 00:01:31.960] alcoholics have really entered this particular situation.

[00:01:31.960 – 00:01:41.800] Because we estimate today in AA that we have roughly better than two million members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:01:41.800 – 00:01:48.640] And in AA, we’re not interested in numbers, we are interested in sobriety.

[00:01:48.640 – 00:01:53.860] And we really don’t know how many members we have in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:01:53.860 – 00:01:59.180] There are over forty some odd thousand AA groups in the world that are not even registered.

[00:01:59.180 – 00:02:09.220] And, you know, and this morning when the sun went up all over the world, all over the world, God knows how many members of Alcoholics Anonymous

[00:02:09.220 – 00:02:11.140] woke up as members of AA.

[00:02:11.140 – 00:02:21.320] But tonight, when the sun goes down all over the world, there’ll be thousands of alcoholics that are

[00:02:21.320 – 00:02:25.020] not members of AA today that have gone back to drinking.

[00:02:25.020 – 00:02:29.579] That’s how little we know about stopping drinking in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:02:29.579 – 00:02:39.600] And so God knows how many of us have already entered, and therein we have found a peace and a freedom that in

[00:02:39.600 – 00:02:43.920] other days we never could have even dreamed about.

[00:02:43.920 – 00:02:54.000] So this morning, I’m going to talk about the efforts and the reasons for the completion of what we call our, in a spiritual

[00:02:54.000 – 00:02:56.760] sense, our cathedral of the spirit.

[00:02:56.760 – 00:03:06.800] And although let us hope that its great floor expands to accommodate the millions yet to come, many of us

[00:03:06.800 – 00:03:13.180] fail to remember that we are in Alcoholics Anonymous today for that drunk that’s out there.

[00:03:13.180 – 00:03:19.660] And that is what was read a while ago, is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

[00:03:19.660 – 00:03:29.020] And may our traditional walls contain us all in unity for as long as God wants us to have Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:03:29.020 – 00:03:39.140] So now let’s take each other by the hand, and let us go back to the days of our beginning, and together we

[00:03:39.140 – 00:03:49.180] will enter in the first dark, dim trail, which, which during our infancy has widened out now into a path

[00:03:49.180 – 00:03:57.980] walked at first by only a very, very handful, a few, and finally into this broad highway, which we now call Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:03:57.980 – 00:04:09.100] And as we pass along this trail, I would like to indicate to you the great hours of realization that

[00:04:09.100 – 00:04:19.140] we have all taken together and those great hours of decision that have so deeply affected our destiny of this particular and our

[00:04:19.140 – 00:04:29.160] beloved society that will bring us now to where we now stand together, and then we’ll go lift the curtain a little bit and peek into the future to

[00:04:29.160 – 00:04:33.420] see what this might hold for our beloved fellowship.

[00:04:33.420 – 00:04:43.460] Now, when we look at it, you know, uh, AA has been and still is a realization of decision, a decision that we have

[00:04:43.460 – 00:04:44.140] shared.

[00:04:44.140 – 00:04:46.300] It started with Bill and Dr.

[00:04:46.300 – 00:04:47.140] Bob.

[00:04:47.140 – 00:04:49.000] Uh, Dr.

[00:04:49.000 – 00:04:50.920] Bob, after being confronted by…

[00:04:50.920 – 00:04:58.920] I, I mean, Bill, after being confronted by his old friend, who later became his sponsor, Ebby, to obtain and maintain sobriety.

[00:04:58.920 – 00:05:00.560] And in turn, Dr.

[00:05:00.560 – 00:05:05.360] Bob’s realization and decision to obtain and maintain Dr.

[00:05:05.360 – 00:05:06.660] Bob’s sobriety.

[00:05:06.660 – 00:05:17.680] And after Bill’s visit with him, and in turn, other alcoholics making the realization and decision to do the same thing after

[00:05:17.680 – 00:05:22.480] being confronted by a handful of alcoholics beginning to and to stay sober.

[00:05:22.480 – 00:05:32.520] So it became apparent that if our fellowship was to propagate itself, that it needed a book and some literature with

[00:05:32.520 – 00:05:42.630] some concrete principles so that the drunks everyplace, everywhere in this world could also come to the realization and the decision to obtain and

[00:05:42.630 – 00:05:43.820] maintain sobriety.

[00:05:43.820 – 00:05:53.240] And against the advice of our early non-alcoholic friends, the drunks went out and did just that.

[00:05:53.240 – 00:06:03.350] Decision number one, a decision that has saved our society from professionalism And great money, great wealth, and

[00:06:03.350 – 00:06:04.860] property ownership.

[00:06:04.860 – 00:06:08.420] A decision made by John D.

[00:06:08.420 – 00:06:09.560] Rockefeller Jr.

[00:06:09.560 – 00:06:12.300] and his non-alcoholic friends.

[00:06:12.300 – 00:06:19.360] The decision that this fellowship should publish and own its own book and control it.

[00:06:19.360 – 00:06:29.720] And today, this book, Alcoholics Anonymous, and our literature is owned legally by our trustees on our General Service Board,

[00:06:29.720 – 00:06:34.460] but it is held in trust for us, the members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:06:34.460 – 00:06:44.460] This allows the General Service Board and its two affiliates, AAWS Incorporated, AA Grapevine Incorporated, to see

[00:06:44.460 – 00:06:54.680] that our literature is not pirated by self-seeking, unfortunately sometimes, members of Alcoholics Anonymous because

[00:06:54.680 – 00:06:58.020] of their innate selfishness and self-centeredness and greed.

[00:06:58.020 – 00:07:04.720] Because we have the most precious thing that there is that’s ever been given to an alcoholic.

[00:07:04.720 – 00:07:11.900] Ours is perhaps the last of the free societies in the world today among men and women.

[00:07:11.900 – 00:07:13.860] There are no dues.

[00:07:13.860 – 00:07:15.040] There are no fees.

[00:07:15.040 – 00:07:15.800] You can come.

[00:07:15.800 – 00:07:16.580] You can go.

[00:07:16.580 – 00:07:18.140] You can stay.

[00:07:18.140 – 00:07:19.080] You can leave.

[00:07:19.080 – 00:07:26.740] And no human being can punish anybody in Alcoholics Anonymous, and that freedom is almost too good for us to handle.

[00:07:26.740 – 00:07:28.080] We cannot handle it.

[00:07:28.080 – 00:07:33.180] And as a result, it’s all ours, our books and our literature.

[00:07:33.180 – 00:07:43.380] And some of it, along with our group contributions and individual contributions, goes to pay for the services

[00:07:43.380 – 00:07:45.640] to groups and to individual members.

[00:07:45.640 – 00:07:55.680] The rest going into our reserve fund, excepting for a royalty on these books, which were authored

[00:07:55.680 – 00:08:02.720] by Bill, which is the only money that Bill ever received, and he was paid as an author.

[00:08:02.720 – 00:08:12.840] Didn’t come from group or individual contributions, but came from publishing, and which today still goes to the estate

[00:08:12.840 – 00:08:16.220] of his beloved wife, Lois.

[00:08:16.220 – 00:08:26.280] And at the end of 1997, the royalties will cease, with the exception of a small

[00:08:26.280 – 00:08:31.320] percentage that was willed by Lois to some nephews.

[00:08:31.320 – 00:08:36.880] And you know, I’ll tell you, those New Englanders, they have a bad habit.

[00:08:36.880 – 00:08:41.080] They live a long, long time.

[00:08:41.080 – 00:08:51.300] And so when that goes out, then the bulk of it no longer will royalty, which will mean a great deal for Alcoholics Anonymous,

[00:08:51.300 – 00:08:58.960] because then our price of our literature can once again be reduced on a permanent basis.

[00:08:58.960 – 00:09:09.260] Now, in the year 1941, Jack Alexander published a piece in the Saturday Evening Post, which brought thousands of frantic pleas

[00:09:09.260 – 00:09:12.980] and inquiries to the small office in New York City.

[00:09:12.980 – 00:09:16.980] Right there and then, AA entered into a new phase.

[00:09:16.980 – 00:09:22.740] With the advent of this article, AA was confronted with an entirely new problem.

[00:09:22.740 – 00:09:28.540] The problem was how could these new groups being formed hang together?

[00:09:28.540 – 00:09:37.680] Now, the individuals could hang together and get well, but could these crazy drunks hang together in groups?

[00:09:37.680 – 00:09:43.820] And groups began to erupt everywhere, even in the mails.

[00:09:43.820 – 00:09:46.920] And that, God, what a discovery that was in those days.

[00:09:46.920 – 00:09:53.520] And then they all began to write to the New York office of the terrible troubles that they were having in the groups.

[00:09:53.520 – 00:09:55.560] Those awful problems.

[00:09:55.560 – 00:10:01.720] What are those boys and girls doing in the clubhouses besides staying sober problems?

[00:10:01.720 – 00:10:03.880] They had organizational problems.

[00:10:03.880 – 00:10:07.620] They had missionary problems all over again.

[00:10:07.620 – 00:10:10.300] They had big money problems all over again.

[00:10:10.300 – 00:10:15.500] And they had problems of prestige, problems, problems, and nothing but problems.

[00:10:15.500 – 00:10:24.360] And out of this awesome period of adolescence and on its anvil, the AA traditions were hammered out.

[00:10:24.360 – 00:10:32.220] Those principles of group relations and our relations with others and in the world in which we all live.

[00:10:32.220 – 00:10:37.840] And as a result, and what a realization and decision.

[00:10:37.840 – 00:10:46.740] And then AA started to commence to make a lot of marvelous and singular discoveries about ourselves.

[00:10:46.740 – 00:10:53.720] That this society of ours is destined to be quite unlike any other human form of society.

[00:10:53.720 – 00:11:03.900] Where the society, where the welfare of the whole has to be of the paramount value

[00:11:03.900 – 00:11:06.280] other than that of any singular individual.

[00:11:06.280 – 00:11:10.140] And still today, AA stands alone.

[00:11:10.140 – 00:11:18.740] There is no other fellowship for an alcoholic exactly like Alcoholics Anonymous, period.

[00:11:18.740 – 00:11:28.840] And that came about as a result of a lot of heartaches and a lot, a lot, a lot of thought and

[00:11:28.840 – 00:11:30.360] a lot of service.

[00:11:30.360 – 00:11:37.760] Now, there are 150 some odd self-help peer fellowship groups in the world today.

[00:11:37.760 – 00:11:41.660] They use what we call in AA the AA method.

[00:11:41.660 – 00:11:47.140] But they are not Alcoholics Anonymous, period.

[00:11:47.140 – 00:11:50.600] They all want our tremendous success.

[00:11:50.600 – 00:11:59.000] But they’re not willing to go through the pains and the frustration of adhering to their particular singleness of purpose.

[00:11:59.000 – 00:12:01.220] Ours is very simple.

[00:12:01.220 – 00:12:07.160] And that is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

[00:12:07.160 – 00:12:17.504] Sure, it was important for the individual to survive, but if this, the group or this movement ever was going to survive, survive, there couldn’t be much recovery

[00:12:17.504 – 00:12:21.504] for anybody, especially for the millions yet to come.

[00:12:21.504 – 00:12:24.964] That’s the reason why AA is so successful.

[00:12:24.964 – 00:12:30.664] It does what we know best, our singleness of purpose.

[00:12:30.664 – 00:12:37.424] Another discovery was made that this society doesn’t run on self-inspired leadership.

[00:12:37.424 – 00:12:41.264] Now they begin to talk about the group conscience.

[00:12:41.264 – 00:12:51.264] The group conscience, once it was informed, once people had begun to practice the steps in their lives, that the conscience of

[00:12:51.264 – 00:12:59.524] the group could be wiser in respect or to its own survival than that of any inspired leader.

[00:12:59.524 – 00:13:04.504] Because inspired leaders sometimes are here today and gone tomorrow.

[00:13:04.504 – 00:13:08.164] They die, they get drunk, they quit, they leave.

[00:13:08.164 – 00:13:18.344] And now today, any AA group, any place, anywhere in this world can run its own business as long as it doesn’t interfere

[00:13:18.344 – 00:13:21.724] with the surrounding groups or AA as a whole.

[00:13:21.724 – 00:13:32.164] Years ago, our old Alcoholic Foundation was chartered to research, educate, and so forth for drunks, anything, everything,

[00:13:32.164 – 00:13:36.043] in every place, at and all the time.

[00:13:36.043 – 00:13:37.224] No more.

[00:13:37.224 – 00:13:39.584] We cannot endorse other enterprises.

[00:13:39.584 – 00:13:49.604] Other enterprises cannot use our name and raise money and get publicity out of the AA name, and the reason they want to use the AA name,

[00:13:49.604 – 00:13:52.604] because Alcoholics Anonymous is so credible.

[00:13:52.604 – 00:13:59.644] They want to use it, just like you want to borrow somebody co-sign a note to guarantee it.

[00:13:59.644 – 00:14:03.224] And it took AA years to learn that.

[00:14:03.224 – 00:14:12.664] We know that AA can devote itself, as I said before, to only one purpose, and that is to carry our message to that other alcoholic.

[00:14:12.664 – 00:14:17.744] Now, from the very beginning, there was a very deep instinct.

[00:14:17.744 – 00:14:25.744] We knew that this movement could never, never quarrel about the things that society outside of AA quarrels about.

[00:14:25.744 – 00:14:35.764] We know, we knew that if we ever quarreled about religion in here, about politics in here, if we ever permitted that society

[00:14:35.764 – 00:14:40.664] as a movement to become rich, we would all be done in.

[00:14:40.664 – 00:14:44.284] So now came our non-controversy traditions.

[00:14:44.284 – 00:14:54.464] And all this time, we found that our usual individual and traditional attitude about public relations was being

[00:14:54.464 – 00:14:56.664] put right back into reverse.

[00:14:56.664 – 00:15:06.824] In this country of ours, where we love to have and worship great public heroes, erect monuments to great people,

[00:15:06.824 – 00:15:16.844] where advertising in our countries today is run on personal sensationalism, we in AA discovered years ago that

[00:15:16.844 – 00:15:18.744] this is not for us.

[00:15:18.744 – 00:15:25.224] We in AA discovered the year that, as I said, it’s, it’s not for us.

[00:15:25.224 – 00:15:30.004] So we began to say, let’s place principles before personalities and people.

[00:15:30.004 – 00:15:34.284] Let us remain anonymous at the public level.

[00:15:34.284 – 00:15:44.324] And over a period of years, we have discovered that anonymity is absolutely the most precious, and it is the thing that’s

[00:15:44.324 – 00:15:54.364] made Alcoholics Anonymous not only a protection of the members and those coming in and to those who may come in, but more important, it

[00:15:54.364 – 00:15:56.844] has a deep spiritual significance.

[00:15:56.844 – 00:16:07.404] It betokens our individual and our group humility and our willingness to put this thing ahead of our personal individual

[00:16:07.404 – 00:16:08.104] welfare.

[00:16:08.104 – 00:16:18.344] And so we have latterly learned that this is the greatest protection against exploitation that this society

[00:16:18.344 – 00:16:23.844] can ever, ever have, and that is anonymity at the public level.

[00:16:23.844 – 00:16:28.684] For within this tradition, there is an immense containing power.

[00:16:28.684 – 00:16:38.704] For we are now confident that in the application of this tradition in all, in our daily AA lives, that

[00:16:38.704 – 00:16:49.004] we have a power of incomprehensible power that is at, after, which binds us

[00:16:49.004 – 00:16:59.824] and which binds our movement together, which still and can keep us proof against the forces of destruction that

[00:16:59.824 – 00:17:06.824] render other societies of non-AA, of men and women apart.

[00:17:06.824 – 00:17:09.644] But we must live it to ensure it.

[00:17:09.644 – 00:17:19.784] History is full of societies and fellowships that started and got monetarily successful

[00:17:19.784 – 00:17:26.904] and are no longer with us because they lost their spiritual vigor, and they dried up, and they died.

[00:17:26.904 – 00:17:36.004] Next to our recovery, the desire and want that this society remain in unity and in the greatest possible effectiveness.

[00:17:36.004 – 00:17:44.744] Now, since the very, our very beginning, there has been a principle in operation which sometimes we overlook.

[00:17:44.744 – 00:17:54.944] And I’d like to talk about some of these things this morning and to all, to remind every one of us to place that principle

[00:17:54.944 – 00:18:01.364] so that it stands along the side of our recovery principles, our principles of traditions.

[00:18:01.364 – 00:18:07.264] For AA is something just more than a belief in the 12 principles of recovery.

[00:18:07.264 – 00:18:11.364] AA is something just more than a belief in the traditions of AA.

[00:18:11.364 – 00:18:15.164] AA is something more than just believing in the conference structure.

[00:18:15.164 – 00:18:20.084] AA is something more than just a belief in our 12 concepts of world service.

[00:18:20.084 – 00:18:24.264] Because if anything, Alcoholics Anonymous is what?

[00:18:24.264 – 00:18:25.504] It’s a program of action.

[00:18:25.504 – 00:18:35.587] Now, when a drunk comes in and takes a look at our twelve steps, if he or she is going to recover, he or she has to

[00:18:35.587 – 00:18:36.967] do something about them.

[00:18:36.967 – 00:18:47.187] If we have a body of traditions and remain in unity and usefulness, each individual, each group, each district, each

[00:18:47.187 – 00:18:54.167] area, each region, each country, and Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole has got to do something about these things.

[00:18:54.167 – 00:18:59.647] And anything which enables AA to act, to function, we call a service.

[00:18:59.647 – 00:19:03.807] And many of these activities take the form of services.

[00:19:03.807 – 00:19:08.428] Still today in AA, we constantly hear the cry, let’s keep it simple.

[00:19:08.428 – 00:19:11.227] And personally, I hope it never ceases.

[00:19:11.227 – 00:19:14.367] Beware of organization, we hear.

[00:19:14.367 – 00:19:21.707] But since our beginning, we have found that too much simplicity could result in great complications.

[00:19:21.707 – 00:19:31.468] Now, when meetings got too big for living rooms and AA meetings moved into halls, AA got a little bit more complicated.

[00:19:31.468 – 00:19:33.707] It wasn’t quite so simple.

[00:19:33.707 – 00:19:39.087] In the living rooms, there wasn’t any officers, there wasn’t any money.

[00:19:39.087 – 00:19:47.148] Now, just suppose that AA had stayed in living rooms since its beginning and no services had been provided.

[00:19:47.148 – 00:19:57.627] Then AA discovered, much to its indignation, that landlords, when they moved into halls, wanted something that drunks have an aversion

[00:19:57.627 – 00:19:59.407] to spend, and that’s money.

[00:19:59.407 – 00:20:08.207] That is after we get sober for the meeting places so that that brought in now the subject of money.

[00:20:08.207 – 00:20:09.907] Somebody had to pass the hat

[00:20:10.507 – 00:20:20.947] And after a while, the old-timer, the oldest member, would stick the money in his pocket or he’d commingle it with his own funds and then maybe give it to the landlord.

[00:20:20.947 – 00:20:24.747] And so that gave way to what we call a treasurer.

[00:20:24.747 – 00:20:32.087] Then there had to be something called a secretary, then a chairperson, and then a steering committee.

[00:20:32.087 – 00:20:34.997] Now, that, that, that word tickles me, steering committee.

[00:20:34.997 – 00:20:36.987] Have you ever tried to steer a bunch of drunks?

[00:20:36.987 – 00:20:47.307] In other words, it began the development of class of service people who did not govern AA and who never

[00:20:47.307 – 00:20:54.667] will govern AA because no human or group of humans can govern drunks.

[00:20:54.667 – 00:21:04.887] But the drunks will and must name people to do these chores so that groups can function

[00:21:04.887 – 00:21:06.407] and AA can function.

[00:21:06.407 – 00:21:16.527] That in their service responsibilities, even the volunteer ones, are themselves sometimes not appreciated

[00:21:16.527 – 00:21:21.527] and sometimes they may seem boring, but they get done.

[00:21:21.527 – 00:21:30.006] Now, in Alcoholics Anonymous, if you’re asked to do anything in AA and you turn it down, don’t gripe at the ones that are doing it.

[00:21:30.006 – 00:21:32.447] It has to get done.

[00:21:32.447 – 00:21:36.547] Well, then when we got a lot of people in the area, what happens?

[00:21:36.547 – 00:21:40.867] The original group cannot be permitted to run everything.

[00:21:40.867 – 00:21:49.467] So each one of the groups names a representative to some kind of a central services or intergroup offices.

[00:21:49.467 – 00:22:00.027] And finally, they hire a small office, put in a phone, hire someone to communicate with the new and the older groups and to inform,

[00:22:00.027 – 00:22:05.157] uh, prospective members and our non-alcoholic public all about us.

[00:22:05.157 – 00:22:12.207] Now, when that happens, there is sometimes more often than not a heck of a commotion.

[00:22:12.207 – 00:22:19.287] Great cries of professionalism go up that whoever is hired becomes a professional.

[00:22:19.287 – 00:22:29.367] But years ago, in one of, uh, in one particular experience, in one of the earliest clubhouses formed, volunteers cleaned up the

[00:22:29.367 – 00:22:36.727] place, uh, they painted the place, the gals made some curtains, and it was quite clubby.

[00:22:36.727 – 00:22:47.047] But after a while, after the enthusiasm wore off, the volunteers became quite negligent in keeping the place clean.

[00:22:47.047 – 00:22:55.747] Drunks started laying around the place much too drunk, and it was even said that other people were laying about around the place.

[00:22:55.747 – 00:23:06.466] So it became necessary, and so they approached a good old, old drunk, sober, who had just got out of the insane asylum,

[00:23:06.467 – 00:23:13.967] a former fireman, about coming over to the clubhouse and live to sort of look after things.

[00:23:13.967 – 00:23:24.047] And they would give him a free room, and he was to sweep out the floor, answer the telephone, fire the furnace in the wintertime for

[00:23:24.047 – 00:23:25.287] seven days a week.

[00:23:25.287 – 00:23:30.787] And if some of the drunks got too drunk, to lead them outside and so forth.

[00:23:30.787 – 00:23:37.947] And then that old drunk said, “Well, ain’t you going to pay me anything?” “Oh, no,” he was told.

[00:23:37.947 – 00:23:38.527] “No.

[00:23:38.527 – 00:23:39.567] No.

[00:23:39.567 – 00:23:42.707] Why, you can’t make money out of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:23:42.707 – 00:23:51.587] It’s going to run this thing.” And that old drunk looked at him and he said, “You know, I believe you guys and gals got a heck of a nerve.

[00:23:51.587 – 00:23:54.647] What you really want is a janitor.

[00:23:54.647 – 00:23:55.847] Isn’t that right?

[00:23:55.847 – 00:23:59.647] Now, what the heck does that have to do with the twelfth step?

[00:23:59.647 – 00:24:04.107] Y’all come in here and y’all use this clubhouse.

[00:24:04.107 – 00:24:08.267] You can, but you won’t come down here and answer the phone.

[00:24:08.267 – 00:24:12.007] You can, but you won’t come down here and keep it clean.

[00:24:12.007 – 00:24:15.367] And you won’t tend to the furnace and the other chores.

[00:24:15.367 – 00:24:25.427] So you want me to come in here and be your janitor for nothing, to do what you want and can’t or will not do for

[00:24:25.427 – 00:24:35.567] yourselves while you go out and make good livings as a, and good pay a-as, as a direct result of Alcoholics

[00:24:35.567 – 00:24:36.227] Anonymous.

[00:24:36.227 – 00:24:42.227] And by God, if you want me to come in here to be a janitor, you’re going to pay me for a janitor.

[00:24:42.227 – 00:24:44.627] I’ll do my twelve-step work.

[00:24:44.627 – 00:24:47.587] For that, you’re not going to pay me anything.

[00:24:47.587 – 00:24:57.647] So you’ll either pay me for, be a janitor, or I will not do it.” Well, it took AA years to learn that that old

[00:24:57.647 – 00:24:59.907] boy was absolutely correct.

[00:24:59.907 – 00:25:08.367] Or in other words, here were a bunch of drunks out making good livings, drawing good pay as a direct result of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:25:08.367 – 00:25:18.367] And there they were trying to coerce that old drunk into contributing about a hundred dollars a month of labor for free for that club, when

[00:25:18.367 – 00:25:23.706] most of them were not even giving that club as much as five dollars a month, and some of them nothing.

[00:25:23.706 – 00:25:29.567] That attitude was taken because of our early fear of professionalism.

[00:25:29.567 – 00:25:39.707] And then AA also made the unhappy discovery that drunks individually and, are, are generous, but collectively, folks, we’re tighter

[00:25:39.707 – 00:25:41.167] than Dick’s hat band.

[00:25:41.167 – 00:25:46.627] And they actually beat that old drunk down to half price to get him to come in there to work.

[00:25:46.627 – 00:25:57.047] Then areas found that they had to name representatives to get together to form committees to look at, look after its own,

[00:25:57.047 – 00:26:07.347] and these things, uh, representative services that enables our society to function and to grow, without which it just simply couldn’t function

[00:26:07.347 – 00:26:07.887] and grow.

[00:26:07.887 – 00:26:11.867] In fact, it would fall into decay and rot.

[00:26:11.867 – 00:26:17.647] Yes, too much simplicity would make it for too much complication.

[00:26:17.647 – 00:26:21.391] You simply cannot organize a bunch of drunks.

[00:26:21.391 – 00:26:24.571] Alcoholics Anonymous can and never will have a government.

[00:26:24.571 – 00:26:25.571] Why?

[00:26:25.571 – 00:26:29.091] Because drunks simply will not be governed by people.

[00:26:29.091 – 00:26:32.131] In Alcoholics Anonymous, we have two authorities.

[00:26:32.131 – 00:26:39.751] We have God as we understand Him, and we have alcohol as we understand him, and one heals and one kills.

[00:26:39.751 – 00:26:44.191] And we need no human power disciplining our kind of people.

[00:26:44.191 – 00:26:54.471] And that is the crux why Alcoholics Anonymous work, because as a result, because our kind have a lifetime

[00:26:54.471 – 00:27:00.491] history of disobedience to people, to governments, to principals, to everything.

[00:27:00.491 – 00:27:08.931] But now when we get into AA, we become obedient all right, but we do not become obedient to our fellow AAs.

[00:27:08.931 – 00:27:13.371] We come, become obedient to God as we understand Him.

[00:27:13.371 – 00:27:16.951] We come, become obedient to a principle.

[00:27:16.951 – 00:27:27.111] Now, if we have over two billion, uh, members today, and only a handful are breaking their anonymity in the public media every

[00:27:27.111 – 00:27:37.391] day, and our society, which is composed entirely of screwball egomaniacs, and in proportion only a handful

[00:27:37.391 – 00:27:47.011] are out making fools out of themselves on the public media as a regular thing, I believe that that is a tremendous amount of obedience.

[00:27:47.011 – 00:27:48.831] It certainly is.

[00:27:48.831 – 00:27:57.651] And have you ever noticed those that are out on the public media busting their anonymity on these talk shows?

[00:27:57.651 – 00:28:06.751] You never hear the moderator of the talk show, “Well, tell us a little bit about Alcoholics Anonymous.” They don’t know anything about Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:28:06.751 – 00:28:11.971] If they did, they wouldn’t be up there with their full face and their full name busting their anonymity.

[00:28:11.971 – 00:28:12.511] And they’re only…

[00:28:12.511 – 00:28:13.451] And who do you see?

[00:28:13.451 – 00:28:23.791] You don’t see somebody that’s sober forty-five years, that’s sponsored and sponsored and worked, gone on twelve-step calls, and he’s there all the time at birthday anniversaries

[00:28:23.791 – 00:28:28.851] and everything else with the meager funds, a lot of them on retirement or maybe Social Security.

[00:28:28.851 – 00:28:29.051] No.

[00:28:29.051 – 00:28:29.931] Who do you see?

[00:28:29.931 – 00:28:40.131] You see celebrities who want the public to believe that now that they’re in AA, using AA’s credible name, that everything is gonna be all right.

[00:28:40.131 – 00:28:41.671] Come buy my books.

[00:28:41.671 – 00:28:43.371] Come see my movies.

[00:28:43.371 – 00:28:45.931] Come watch me play sports.

[00:28:45.931 – 00:28:47.651] Money.

[00:28:47.651 – 00:28:49.471] Money.

[00:28:49.471 – 00:28:56.291] Well, you know, so we come to find out it is an obedience.

[00:28:56.291 – 00:29:01.331] Not obedience to people, rather, it’s obedience to principle and not to government.

[00:29:01.331 – 00:29:04.251] But we had to organize these services.

[00:29:04.251 – 00:29:07.431] Literature just doesn’t get published by itself.

[00:29:07.431 – 00:29:10.031] Somebody has to look after it.

[00:29:10.031 – 00:29:16.951] So throughout our history, from the coffee and cake days to now, we have to, had to construct services.

[00:29:16.951 – 00:29:22.231] People had to do special jobs in order for it to function.

[00:29:22.231 – 00:29:30.771] And it is our responsibi, uh, responsibility to alcoholics to keep those services and jobs respectable.

[00:29:30.771 – 00:29:40.771] This is our responsibility, to get us and others to feel collectively responsible and in turn, to see that they continue to function in

[00:29:40.771 – 00:29:41.991] the manner of our needs.

[00:29:41.991 – 00:29:51.831] If AA will not go on in its present form, and God help the millions who are yet to come, may die drunk.

[00:29:51.831 – 00:29:54.191] Years ago, Bill and Dr.

[00:29:54.191 – 00:30:04.511] Bob knew that we needed a few services for the benefit of the whole, that this movement would need a stand of literature, hence the tremendous effort

[00:30:04.511 – 00:30:07.631] to produce our big book, plus some literature.

[00:30:07.631 – 00:30:17.891] A committee of our non-alcoholic friends, along with some of the early drunks, uh, were constructed to be called the,

[00:30:17.891 – 00:30:25.231] uh, the Alcoholic Foundation, which is now no-named the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:30:25.231 – 00:30:36.851] That book was turned over to that board of trustees who hold it, as I said before, in trust for our book and our literature, in

[00:30:36.851 – 00:30:39.131] trust for us and the members of AA.

[00:30:39.131 – 00:30:49.231] The board of trustees own it legally, as I’ve said before, but it is our book, simply held by them in trust, an instrument

[00:30:49.231 – 00:30:51.290] for the whole movement.

[00:30:51.290 – 00:30:53.811] Now, it’s not just holding the book.

[00:30:53.811 – 00:30:58.431] Somebody has to get it printed and distributed.

[00:30:58.431 – 00:31:05.911] Ninety-five thousand copies of our big book are now being sold every month.

[00:31:05.911 – 00:31:11.771] Ninety-five thousand copies of our big book every month.

[00:31:11.771 – 00:31:22.091] While in nineteen hundred and fifty-one, for the entire year

[00:31:22.091 – 00:31:27.271] of fifty-one, they only sold twenty-five thousand books.

[00:31:27.271 – 00:31:36.891] In the early days, the meager profits from the book sales managed to take care of the little office expenses.

[00:31:36.891 – 00:31:47.171] But after the Jack Alexander article in the Saturday Evening Post in the spring of forty, March of forty-one, the flood of inquiries

[00:31:47.171 – 00:31:50.791] that hit the office was too much for publishing profits to handle.

[00:31:50.791 – 00:32:00.911] And so in nineteen forty-one, the groups were approached about whether all of these pleas for help should be thrown

[00:32:00.911 – 00:32:11.091] into the trash, or would you, the groups and members of Alcoholics Anonymous, come and help us answer these thousands of inquiries, refer

[00:32:11.091 – 00:32:17.671] them to the nearest group, help them start new groups, supply them with books and literature?

[00:32:17.671 – 00:32:27.723] Will you, the groups And individual members voluntarily contribute to the office so that the office can be maintained and

[00:32:27.723 – 00:32:29.143] the job be performed.

[00:32:29.143 – 00:32:39.443] So in 1941, just a rough measuring stick, the movement was asked if the members will contribute

[00:32:39.443 – 00:32:42.863] one dollar per meeting per year.

[00:32:42.863 – 00:32:52.923] That’s in ’41 when a buck was a real buck, and today it’s still a dollar in the meeting

[00:32:52.923 – 00:32:56.203] when a buck ain’t worth but about thirty-nine cents.

[00:32:56.203 – 00:32:59.363] Yeah, you betcha.

[00:32:59.363 – 00:33:01.663] Where’s our gratitude?

[00:33:01.663 – 00:33:11.683] And so then the office could answer in those days all of the mail inquiries and to be able to provide the needed

[00:33:11.683 – 00:33:14.343] services at that time for our fellowship.

[00:33:14.343 – 00:33:20.642] Meanwhile, the book then could pay off its and some other debts and accumulate maybe a little reserve.

[00:33:20.642 – 00:33:24.023] So that was the second step in our evolution.

[00:33:24.023 – 00:33:31.383] And the foundation then had two kinds of money, book money and individual and contribution money.

[00:33:31.383 – 00:33:40.943] And the individual and contribution money could only be spent for and on the office, and still today that’s the only way it can be spent.

[00:33:40.943 – 00:33:46.443] And right after the Saturday Evening Post article came all of the group problems.

[00:33:46.443 – 00:33:49.583] What are we going to do about this and about that?

[00:33:49.583 – 00:33:53.383] About the poker playing, about the Red Riding Hood and wolves.

[00:33:53.383 – 00:33:57.143] That’s what they used to call them, and now they call it thirteen-stepping, I guess.

[00:33:57.143 – 00:33:59.023] I really don’t know.

[00:33:59.023 – 00:34:02.843] What are we going to do about this and about that came from all over the world.

[00:34:02.843 – 00:34:09.803] So now the office became sharers of our experiences from the older groups.

[00:34:09.803 – 00:34:18.023] The office could now say to the newer groups and to the new members that our experience in these matters tell us this.

[00:34:18.023 – 00:34:26.103] So our office really began to propagate our movement and help organize groups at a distance.

[00:34:26.103 – 00:34:35.983] Not so much here in this country because groups were becoming so numerous in North America and were closer together in distance.

[00:34:35.983 – 00:34:46.143] But if one goes down to Europe, down under, South Africa, the Near East, uppermost Alaska, Iceland, the Far East,

[00:34:46.143 – 00:34:49.603] those groups will tell you what our office means to them.

[00:34:49.603 – 00:34:59.943] It was and still is in many instances in this world the only contact with the AA world as we in this country

[00:34:59.943 – 00:35:04.523] are so spoiled and take these things in instances for granted.

[00:35:04.523 – 00:35:08.163] So the office took on another function.

[00:35:08.163 – 00:35:10.563] Soon another problem arose.

[00:35:10.563 – 00:35:20.843] Would the society need and could use some sort of public relations policy because problems in this area were beginning

[00:35:20.843 – 00:35:21.503] to surface.

[00:35:21.503 – 00:35:31.743] Just an example, an AA who caught fire by reading the big book that he received through the mail down in Jacksonville,

[00:35:31.743 – 00:35:32.283] Florida.

[00:35:32.283 – 00:35:42.803] Being one of those super promoters, he was soon on the Jacksonville radio with a curious brand of AA and some off-brand

[00:35:42.803 – 00:35:43.563] of religion.

[00:35:43.563 – 00:35:50.243] He got a few inquiries into that little station and a little AA group got started.

[00:35:50.243 – 00:36:00.323] So he writes a letter to our office and informs the office that he has a contract with a Gulf Life Insurance Company

[00:36:00.323 – 00:36:10.523] and that they were going to hire him as a broadcaster and put it on an all-American hookup, at that time about a hundred radio

[00:36:10.523 – 00:36:16.102] stations, to give his thirteen lectures on Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:36:16.102 – 00:36:19.663] And along with the letter, he sends in his script.

[00:36:19.663 – 00:36:26.303] Well, Bill and the little office staff looked at those scripts and they were terrible.

[00:36:26.303 – 00:36:29.183] They were absolutely terrible.

[00:36:29.183 – 00:36:31.863] Now an issue arose.

[00:36:31.863 – 00:36:41.863] Could any AA member appoint himself to do that sort of a job on a national hookup and represent all

[00:36:41.863 – 00:36:45.863] of us and his script smell to high heaven?

[00:36:45.863 – 00:36:48.863] Well, what are you going to do about it?

[00:36:48.863 – 00:36:59.043] So Bill writes him a very nice diplomatic letter congratulating him on starting a group in Jacksonville, but that the groups

[00:36:59.043 – 00:37:04.643] around the country and the members around the country would not like what he was about to do.

[00:37:04.643 – 00:37:09.283] And frankly, some of his material was not true AA.

[00:37:09.283 – 00:37:16.583] And Bill told him that he himself would not take that responsibility that this member was going to take.

[00:37:16.583 – 00:37:22.003] Bill reminded him that he was going to break his anonymity at the public level.

[00:37:22.003 – 00:37:27.703] And besides, he reminded him that he was going to get paid for the job.

[00:37:27.703 – 00:37:32.403] And frankly, he said, your scripts are not straight AA.

[00:37:32.403 – 00:37:42.463] Then he suggested in his letter, why don’t you confer with the board of trustees and maybe we could revamp this thing and maybe

[00:37:42.463 – 00:37:43.643] get it authorized.

[00:37:43.643 – 00:37:52.683] Then the drunk writes Bill back a letter, a very ugly and testy letter in which he said, to heck with you, Mr.

[00:37:52.683 – 00:37:58.083] Wilson, to heck with the General Service Board, to heck with Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:37:58.083 – 00:38:00.803] And furthermore, who do you think you are?

[00:38:00.803 – 00:38:05.503] Why, this is America and I have the right to free speech.

[00:38:05.503 – 00:38:10.463] Well, this brought AA right square up with the issue.

[00:38:10.463 – 00:38:14.403] Should we have any control about what’s being said about us?

[00:38:14.403 – 00:38:23.883] Could any AA member nominate himself as the sole authority to represent us all in a matter so vital as that?

[00:38:23.883 – 00:38:29.707] One which could affect the lives of thousands and thousands of prospects.

[00:38:29.707 – 00:38:37.267] Bill then wrote him back another letter telling him that he would be the first to defend his right to freedom of speech.

[00:38:37.267 – 00:38:47.387] But he says, “If I’m going to defend your right to speak freely, then I will see to it that several thousand AAs in this country

[00:38:47.387 – 00:38:57.827] also be given the freedom to speak their minds very freely about how they felt about this broadcast.” Of course, Bill reminded

[00:38:57.827 – 00:39:07.847] him, “If you put this thing on, then I will suggest to the drunks that they write letters to your sponsors, to the Gulf

[00:39:07.847 – 00:39:18.307] Life Insurance Company, to the Mutual Broadcasting Company, and ge- tell them just what exactly what they think about your rotten script.”

[00:39:18.307 – 00:39:28.727] And Bill reminded him that, “You are still at liberty to put it on.” But he said, “Look out for this free speech business from about three thousand

[00:39:28.727 – 00:39:38.827] drunks, and when those drunks get to screaming and talking, you’re really going to hear about it.” Well, the broadcast didn’t come off,

[00:39:38.827 – 00:39:40.067] but that raised a problem.

[00:39:40.067 – 00:39:44.587] Was anybody going to be appointed to look after such matters?

[00:39:44.587 – 00:39:54.027] So years ago, the groups were contacting and asked if they would entrust the trustees to overlook our public relations.

[00:39:54.027 – 00:39:59.567] Local public relations, the groups are free to handle them.

[00:39:59.567 – 00:40:09.787] But when it comes to, uh, pieces in national publishing magazines, newspapers, or broadcast, or motion picture material, and today on television,

[00:40:09.787 – 00:40:18.747] uh, would you name this board of trustees to look after these things through the office in New York City?

[00:40:18.747 – 00:40:20.117] The groups

[00:40:20.314 – 00:40:28.714] Members then wrote and gave the trustees through the office the control of our public relations, not a legal control.

[00:40:28.714 – 00:40:33.294] And as a result, but a tradition has grown up.

[00:40:33.294 – 00:40:43.814] Today in AA, if someone is going to do a job like that, then come to the experience to be sure that it is regular

[00:40:43.814 – 00:40:45.074] and that it is correct.

[00:40:45.074 – 00:40:55.114] Now the board came into control of the book, into control of our propagation tools, in control of our pamphlet

[00:40:55.114 – 00:41:06.094] literature, in control of our public relations films, and very, very vital one, controlling the clearing of thousands of requests from members and

[00:41:06.094 – 00:41:10.754] from our non-alcoholic world in which we all live.

[00:41:10.754 – 00:41:13.394] Other services began to develop.

[00:41:13.394 – 00:41:20.074] It became obvious that foreign groups had to have translations of all of our books and literature.

[00:41:20.074 – 00:41:30.254] I had the most wonderful experience for four years as your trusted servant, as trustee-at-large USA, as delegate to the World

[00:41:30.254 – 00:41:31.154] Service Meeting.

[00:41:31.154 – 00:41:41.194] In two of those four years, I had the wonderful opportunity to be the chairman of our translation, reprint, and

[00:41:41.194 – 00:41:45.994] copyright of all of our AA material worldwide.

[00:41:45.994 – 00:41:56.194] And you have never been to a stormy fighting meeting until you’ve been to a Latin American Ibero translation committee.

[00:41:56.194 – 00:42:04.814] God Almighty, from Mexico and Colombia and Panama and Guatemala and Costa Rica and El Salvador.

[00:42:04.814 – 00:42:14.814] El Salvador, a little group, a country that geographically you can drop in the middle of downtown San Francisco, has over forty-eight thousand

[00:42:14.814 – 00:42:16.554] members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:42:16.554 – 00:42:26.594] In El Salvador, if you’re a drunk and you don’t go to AA and start living the recovery program, nobody will have anything to do with

[00:42:26.594 – 00:42:26.794] you.

[00:42:26.794 – 00:42:30.054] The grocery stores won’t sell you any groceries.

[00:42:30.054 – 00:42:32.014] The banks won’t do any business with you.

[00:42:32.014 – 00:42:35.614] Can’t buy gasoline, can’t buy a car, can’t buy nothing.

[00:42:35.614 – 00:42:39.874] They said, “If you don’t want to stay, go some other country.

[00:42:39.874 – 00:42:40.494] Ruin them.

[00:42:40.494 – 00:42:44.354] Ruin them.” And this, they’re very prolific.

[00:42:44.354 – 00:42:45.294] Yeah.

[00:42:45.294 – 00:42:50.514] In Costa Rica, they got about twenty-eight thousand members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:42:50.514 – 00:42:51.654] You betcha.

[00:42:51.654 – 00:42:59.774] And so as a result, you know, the, uh, as I said before, uh, and it’s absolutely something else.

[00:42:59.774 – 00:43:09.814] And, uh, so as far as the translation concerned our literature, and it’s very difficult to translate the book, the Big Book

[00:43:09.814 – 00:43:12.634] of Alcoholics Anonymous into another foreign language.

[00:43:12.634 – 00:43:17.114] It took ten years to get a good translation of the book in German.

[00:43:17.114 – 00:43:17.454] Why?

[00:43:17.454 – 00:43:27.554] Because in the German dictionary, there are seven definitions of spiritual, and to find the one that comfortably fits drunks, it took ten

[00:43:27.554 – 00:43:28.374] years.

[00:43:28.374 – 00:43:34.014] In Holland, whole groups were getting drunk, and nobody could figure out.

[00:43:34.014 – 00:43:39.113] Well, they happened to have a particular religious order, priest, that got sober.

[00:43:39.113 – 00:43:47.094] And they were beginning to use the Catholic religion and anything else they could find and substituting it for AA.

[00:43:47.094 – 00:43:57.114] And, and then the groups, they went through the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and took out every reference to God and every reference to a power greater than themselves.

[00:43:57.114 – 00:43:59.094] And you look what happened.

[00:43:59.094 – 00:44:01.214] Look what happened.

[00:44:01.214 – 00:44:05.534] But today, thank God, we have a tremendous translation in Flemish.

[00:44:05.534 – 00:44:11.614] One of the first articles ever to be written about AA appeared in an old issue of the Fortune magazine.

[00:44:11.614 – 00:44:17.654] And incidentally, Fortune magazine has had a lot to do with Alcoholics Anonymous, believe it or not.

[00:44:17.654 – 00:44:21.294] It’s a drunk by the name of Joe Wharton.

[00:44:21.294 – 00:44:29.054] And Joe was tremendously wealthy, and Joe was the owner and the publisher of Fortune magazine.

[00:44:29.054 – 00:44:33.174] And they hadn’t named the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:44:33.174 – 00:44:37.214] And drunks and, and, you know, all drunks, you know, they got…

[00:44:37.214 – 00:44:43.494] And, but Joe had a lot of money, and he had a friend who was in AA, and the friend got to thinking, you know.

[00:44:43.494 – 00:44:51.674] And he said in, in chapter five, there are those who suffer from grave emotional mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

[00:44:51.674 – 00:44:59.554] So this member said, “If I can just get old Joe,” and Joe was locked up in a lock ward in an insane asylum in Connecticut.

[00:44:59.554 – 00:45:09.574] “If I can just get him out and bring him to an AA meeting, and maybe we can crack that shell, and he’ll get just honest enough to write us a check

[00:45:09.574 – 00:45:19.634] for seven, in seven figures, a couple of billion dollars.” Well, he cons the superintendent of the insane asylum and the head psychiatrist, and they

[00:45:19.634 – 00:45:23.814] bring him to an AA meeting in the old Manhattan group in New York City.

[00:45:23.814 – 00:45:32.054] And so they parked him over in a corner, and Bill always sat on the floor, and he’d point with a little three-legged stool.

[00:45:32.054 – 00:45:34.074] You talk that talk.

[00:45:34.074 – 00:45:37.894] And they were arguing about what they’re going to call the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:45:37.894 – 00:45:40.594] And the first gal to get sober in AA was Florence Rankin.

[00:45:40.594 – 00:45:44.394] And Florence came in, and they were going to call it the first one hundred men.

[00:45:44.394 – 00:45:47.054] And she had a woman alcoholic fit.

[00:45:47.054 – 00:45:48.634] She says, “No, you’re not.

[00:45:48.634 – 00:45:54.754] You’re going to call it the first one hundred men and a woman.” And they said, “No, it’d make the title too long.” So they had a vote.

[00:45:54.754 – 00:45:55.814] They voted it out.

[00:45:55.814 – 00:45:58.314] And then we were going to call it a way out.

[00:45:58.314 – 00:46:00.683] And they had a member who lived in Washington.

[00:46:00.683 – 00:46:04.554] He went to the Library of Congress, and they found there were twelve other books called A Way Out.

[00:46:04.554 – 00:46:06.574] That would make it thirteen.

[00:46:06.574 – 00:46:08.444] A drunk said thirteen was unlucky.

[00:46:08.444 – 00:46:10.074] Then they were going to call it the grapevine.

[00:46:10.074 – 00:46:16.074] And the FBI found out about it because the FBI still has a monthly magazine called the grapevine.

[00:46:16.074 – 00:46:23.774] And the, uh, and the FBI didn’t want to have anything with the drunks, and the drunks certainly didn’t want to have anything to do with the FBI.

[00:46:23.774 – 00:46:27.354] Well, you say you got a magazine called the Grapevine.

[00:46:27.354 – 00:46:28.174] Read it carefully.

[00:46:28.174 – 00:46:31.294] The two words in front, Alcoholics Anonymous Grapevine.

[00:46:31.294 – 00:46:41.634] They said, “Well, as long as you put those two words in that, that separates that from that.” They still hadn’t named it, and they were arguing that night, and they, and they, and old Joe was in the corner,

[00:46:41.634 – 00:46:43.874] and he was mumbling.

[00:46:43.874 – 00:46:48.754] Finally, Bill said to the one that brought him there, “Your friend is disturbing the meeting.

[00:46:48.754 – 00:46:58.274] Go quiet him down.” So he walks over to him and gets halfway, and he turns around and says, “Boys, listen to what he’s mumbling.” You know what Joe was mumbling?

[00:46:58.274 – 00:47:04.174] Anonymous alcoholic, anonymous alcoholic, anonymous alcoholic, anonymous alcoholic.

[00:47:04.174 – 00:47:10.573] Now, the two words were not used in the New York area at that time, but very sparingly in the Cleveland, Akron, Canton area.

[00:47:10.573 – 00:47:20.774] They all turned around and said, “Alcoholics Anonymous.” So you see in A.A., if you get good before you get well, just remember

[00:47:20.774 – 00:47:23.234] from whence our name came from, came from a nut.

[00:47:23.234 – 00:47:26.834] You see, A.A.

[00:47:26.834 – 00:47:28.853] never invented everything, anything.

[00:47:28.853 – 00:47:29.234] A.A.

[00:47:29.234 – 00:47:30.213] is synthetic.

[00:47:30.213 – 00:47:32.934] It’s taken from here and taken from there.

[00:47:32.934 – 00:47:36.234] A lot of our services are unknown today.

[00:47:36.234 – 00:47:37.144] A.A.

[00:47:37.144 – 00:47:41.974] has a good public relations record because we mind our own business.

[00:47:41.974 – 00:47:44.114] I want to use another example.

[00:47:44.114 – 00:47:45.994] Of course, A.A.ers are everywhere.

[00:47:45.994 – 00:47:51.954] One happened to be a producer at one of the major movie studios in California.

[00:47:51.954 – 00:47:59.254] Another non-member producer in that company started to produce a motion picture about A.A.

[00:47:59.254 – 00:48:02.354] He had a script written to be called Mr.

[00:48:02.354 – 00:48:03.234] and Mrs.

[00:48:03.234 – 00:48:04.334] Anonymous.

[00:48:04.334 – 00:48:06.554] Well, the, the A.A.

[00:48:06.554 – 00:48:16.954] producer, he got a hold of the script, and he sent it to our office literally screaming because it was terrible and misrepresented, uh, A.A.,

[00:48:16.954 – 00:48:19.814] which in its original version, it certainly did.

[00:48:19.814 – 00:48:23.014] Now, from A.A.’s point of view, it was terrible.

[00:48:23.014 – 00:48:31.634] The drunks to be portrayed in the movie meet each other in A.A., fall in love, but instead of A.A.

[00:48:31.634 – 00:48:33.593] curing them, love cured them.

[00:48:33.593 – 00:48:43.994] So in order to pass the censors te– uh, office, the picture came out all right because boy loved girl so much in A.A.,

[00:48:43.994 – 00:48:49.794] he finally went back to his wife, and all ended happily ever after.

[00:48:49.794 – 00:48:54.874] Or in other words, a kind of a movie that would not do A.A.

[00:48:54.874 – 00:48:56.054] a whole lot of good.

[00:48:56.054 – 00:48:58.854] Now, what the, the members of A.A.

[00:48:58.854 – 00:49:07.634] did not know at that time that present on that production was a movie agent, one of the best in New York, whose father had died of alcoholism.

[00:49:07.634 – 00:49:18.154] And one of her best friends who got sober in A.A., she’s still alive, a tremendous gal, Eve M, and, and an immense amount of correspondence

[00:49:18.154 – 00:49:19.894] with a movie production company.

[00:49:19.894 – 00:49:26.554] They had A.A.s who were actors, other A.A.s in Hollywood working on that picture.

[00:49:26.554 – 00:49:28.894] They got the censors office in on the deal.

[00:49:28.894 – 00:49:33.154] They even had a lawyer suggest a lawsuit over the deal.

[00:49:33.154 – 00:49:39.354] And little by little, the movie got whittled down, changed the title.

[00:49:39.354 – 00:49:49.554] So if and when you should ever see that old movie, you’ll probably say, “Well, it’s not too bad, but it’s not too good either.” Years

[00:49:49.554 – 00:49:50.154] ago, an A…

[00:49:50.154 – 00:49:50.824] a few A.A.

[00:49:50.824 – 00:49:55.894] groups started to print a magazine called The Grapevine.

[00:49:55.894 – 00:49:59.834] The foundation did not have a thing to do with it.

[00:49:59.834 – 00:50:10.134] So around 1945, having seen the drunks made good, uh, the magazine made good rather, the groups were written to see if they wished

[00:50:10.134 – 00:50:15.274] to make the Grapevine our principal journal of A.A.

[00:50:15.274 – 00:50:24.534] Almost unanimously, groups wrote back and said, “Yes.” So then the Grapevine was attached to our foundation.

[00:50:24.534 – 00:50:34.694] Those services have directly and indirectly accounted for over a half of the size of Alcoholics Anonymous and a great deal

[00:50:34.694 – 00:50:35.574] of our unity.

[00:50:35.574 – 00:50:41.243] So isn’t it obvious that these services are not only needed but should continue?

[00:50:41.243 – 00:50:51.294] Now, if these services should break down someday because they are not tended to or because they are not supported, that the millions

[00:50:51.294 – 00:50:53.294] yet to come may suffer.

[00:50:53.294 – 00:51:03.394] Supposing these services broke down, and it got into the world press and other news media that something had gone

[00:51:03.394 – 00:51:05.474] haywire in A.A.’s headquarters.

[00:51:05.474 – 00:51:07.234] What do you think would happen?

[00:51:07.234 – 00:51:13.954] No, it wouldn’t shut down A.A., but it sure would slow it up.

[00:51:13.954 – 00:51:24.633] What would, what would we have done, and where would we be right this very second if Alcoholics Anonymous had been five

[00:51:24.634 – 00:51:26.994] or ten years too late for each of us?

[00:51:26.994 – 00:51:31.814] We’re here, and we’re in A.A.

[00:51:31.814 – 00:51:41.474] to see that that doesn’t happen, and it is our responsibility, and we’ll soon see why.

[00:51:41.474 – 00:51:43.394] These services which Bill and Dr.

[00:51:43.394 – 00:51:53.554] Bob and our friends started for us years ago, services for the benefit of the whole of Alcoholics Anonymous that cannot be done separately

[00:51:53.554 – 00:51:56.714] are reasonably that these things go on.

[00:51:56.714 – 00:52:02.594] So now we understand what they are, what they mean, and what they cost.

[00:52:02.594 – 00:52:09.874] And fortunately, in proportion to our size, it is very, very small business.

[00:52:09.874 – 00:52:20.054] Today, if every member of Alcoholics Anonymous who is sober the last week in December

[00:52:20.054 – 00:52:28.914] of every year would send in four dollars a piece, we’d be on easy street.

[00:52:28.914 – 00:52:32.134] All of our literature would be free.

[00:52:32.134 – 00:52:42.250] Our recovery books would be sold to us at absolute cost, four dollars a year.

[00:52:42.250 – 00:52:44.329] That’s all.

[00:52:44.329 – 00:52:48.090] Four dollars a year.

[00:52:48.090 – 00:52:58.290] It was around nineteen forty-five and forty-six, if you realize that these services were very remote from the members and that they were still

[00:52:58.290 – 00:52:59.150] the function of Dr.

[00:52:59.150 – 00:53:03.010] Bob and Bill and our non-alcoholic friends.

[00:53:03.010 – 00:53:04.860] When it developed that Dr.

[00:53:04.860 – 00:53:11.230] Bob was dying from cancer, Bill was horrified when he realized that he and Dr.

[00:53:11.230 – 00:53:22.290] Bob were the principal links between that board of trustees who looked after these things and to us, the members of AA, and that one of those links would

[00:53:22.290 – 00:53:26.890] go out, and after a while, Bill would be the only link.

[00:53:26.890 – 00:53:31.810] And then when Bill went out, then what would happen?

[00:53:31.810 – 00:53:35.530] Then the trustees would be the only link.

[00:53:35.530 – 00:53:45.870] And the first time that that bunch made a serious mistake, and the first time that bunch had a problem that

[00:53:45.870 – 00:53:54.790] was too hot to handle, AAs would wake up and find our business, our recovery program, and everything in the hands of strangers.

[00:53:54.790 – 00:54:00.410] Then they would say to Bill and Bob, “Why did you leave us in this dilemma?

[00:54:00.410 – 00:54:04.390] Why didn’t you give us a chance to look after our business?

[00:54:04.390 – 00:54:14.410] Why didn’t you build those links between this board of strangers and us?” Yes, those would have been very legitimate

[00:54:14.410 – 00:54:15.790] and stark questions.

[00:54:15.790 – 00:54:26.370] That’s the precise reason that the General Service Conference was started in nineteen hundred and fifty-one,

[00:54:26.370 – 00:54:33.570] so that we are the advisors to that board.

[00:54:33.570 – 00:54:38.330] No longer does that board control as it used to in Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:54:38.330 – 00:54:38.630] Yeah.

[00:54:38.630 – 00:54:48.850] And so the realization and the decision came that our services at the top level for the benefit of the whole, and especially to the millions to come,

[00:54:48.850 – 00:54:55.690] would have to be the link directly to the members of AA, and because it is so vital.

[00:54:55.690 – 00:55:05.810] So the General Service Conference was started, so the delegates from each area, each state, each province in North America elected by such

[00:55:05.810 – 00:55:16.070] assemblies would go to the General Service Conference, sit down with that board of trustees and the office staff and their directors each year, and act as a guide

[00:55:16.070 – 00:55:16.590] to them.

[00:55:16.590 – 00:55:23.850] Then in turn, our delegates could come back home and say to all of us, “Yes, I have been there.

[00:55:23.850 – 00:55:29.690] I know, and I have seen, and I have felt that AA is worth its salt.

[00:55:29.690 – 00:55:32.110] AA is worth its money.

[00:55:32.110 – 00:55:42.550] Let’s support it not only lovingly and willingly and financially.” Such a cross-section of AA that can and does give this movement

[00:55:42.550 – 00:55:52.770] an honest opinion of itself based on realizations and decisions and experiences, a cross-section that can and does

[00:55:52.770 – 00:55:55.130] advise the trustees and staff.

[00:55:55.130 – 00:56:03.200] That’s the reason they’re called advisory actions, or in other words, somebody or something that could take the place of Dr.

[00:56:03.200 – 00:56:04.750] Bob and Bill.

[00:56:04.750 – 00:56:09.270] And that’s what the General Service Conference is all about.

[00:56:09.270 – 00:56:20.130] So if, if you are not a GSR or DCM or in any of the area of committeemen or any of the area committee, that

[00:56:20.130 – 00:56:26.010] is not a reason for you to stay away when your delegate makes his report or her report.

[00:56:26.010 – 00:56:30.210] It’s available to all members of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:56:30.210 – 00:56:34.270] So the realization that we have grown up has become evident.

[00:56:34.270 – 00:56:44.270] It’s, it’s become apparent that we should come in possession of our assets, our money, our book, our literature, our services, our sobri– way of life, our

[00:56:44.270 – 00:56:52.570] sobriety, our public relations, uh, policy, our principal magazine, and our office of mediation and propagation.

[00:56:52.570 – 00:56:58.270] All of these things, holding nothing back, were given to us as a gift.

[00:56:58.270 – 00:57:03.350] So Bill and Bob prepared something called the Third Legacy.

[00:57:03.350 – 00:57:06.850] Oh, what a realization and a decision.

[00:57:06.850 – 00:57:14.750] The legacy of service in general and particular, those legacies of services that cluster around our structure.

[00:57:14.750 – 00:57:24.850] And in the opening paragraph of the old Third Legacy pamphlet, now being, which is now called the AA Service Manual, Bill writes,

[00:57:24.850 – 00:57:34.890] quote, “We who are the older members of AA bequeath to you who are younger these three legacies, the Twelve Steps of Recovery,

[00:57:34.890 – 00:57:43.830] the Twelve Traditions, and now the General Services of Alcoholics Anonymous, and later on, our Twelve Concepts of World Service.

[00:57:43.830 – 00:57:48.670] Two of these legacies have long been in your keeping.

[00:57:48.670 – 00:57:51.410] By the Twelve Steps, we are recovering.

[00:57:51.410 – 00:57:56.030] By the Twelve Traditions, we have achieved, have achieved supreme unity.

[00:57:56.030 – 00:58:00.010] Being someday perishable, Dr.

[00:58:00.010 – 00:58:05.450] Bob and I now wish to deliver to the members of AA their Third Legacy.

[00:58:05.450 – 00:58:11.410] Since nineteen thirty-eight, we and our friends have been holding it in trust.

[00:58:11.410 – 00:58:21.590] This is the legacy of our General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous, the foundation, the AA book, the grapevine, and the AA general office.

[00:58:21.590 – 00:58:31.690] These are the principal services which have enabled our society to function and to grow.” Every one of us in this meeting right this very second, we

[00:58:31.690 – 00:58:36.310] are recipients of that growth, nothing more and nothing less.

[00:58:36.310 – 00:58:44.990] And it is our responsibility to see that it goes so that the drunk out there, when he comes in, gets as good a break as you and I have gotten.

[00:58:44.990 – 00:58:46.010] You betcha.

[00:58:46.010 – 00:58:56.350] Because perhaps in the future growth, perhaps the very survival of Alcoholics Anonymous may one day depend on how prudently these areas of service

[00:58:56.350 – 00:58:58.150] are administered in the years to come.

[00:58:58.150 – 00:59:08.270] And Bill closed his remarks by saying this, “And guard them well.” So now, my fellow

[00:59:08.270 – 00:59:12.410] brothers and sisters, AA is our third and last legacy.

[00:59:12.410 – 00:59:18.010] Our cathedral of the spirit is now completed, and we today are what?

[00:59:18.010 – 00:59:19.690] Just simply the maintenance crew.

[00:59:19.690 – 00:59:25.490] On its floor, we can see inscribed our Twelve Steps of Recovery.

[00:59:25.490 – 00:59:34.950] Already hundreds and hundreds of thousands have stood and are standing there, and may we be joined by millions more.

[00:59:34.950 – 00:59:45.510] We now can see its sidewalls now buttressed by our Twelve Traditions, which we hope will contain our beloved society of ours in unity

[00:59:45.510 – 00:59:48.030] for as long as God may need us.

[00:59:48.030 – 00:59:58.030] And now we can see that the spiral has been affixed to our cathedral, and the spiral of our cathedral of the spirit we now call the

[00:59:58.030 – 01:00:08.370] spiral of service, a beacon to the millions who do not know, and may its symbolic finger ever point straight upward

[01:00:08.370 – 01:00:12.490] towards God, and for that we are truly responsible.

[01:00:12.490 – 01:00:14.530] I want to thank you for your attention.

[01:00:14.530 – 01:00:15.790] I want to thank you for your attendance.

[01:00:15.790 – 01:00:16.870] Thank you very, very much.

← Back to Speaker Collection