The 3 Legacies

Recovery  ●  Unity  ●  Service

Legacy 1 - Recovery‏

THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable    http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-1.html

Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity      http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-2.html

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God    http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-3.html

Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-4.html

Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-5.html

Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-6.html

Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-7.html

Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-8.html

Step 9 - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-9.html

Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-10.html

Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-11.html

Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs   http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-12.html

Legacy 2 -  Unity

THE TWELVE TRADITIONS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

These questions were originally published in the AA Grapevine, in conjunction with a series on the Twelve Traditions that began in November 1969, and ran through September 1971. While they were originally intended primarily for individual use, many AA groups have since used them as a basis for wider discussion.

Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.

1.  Am I in my group a healing, mending, integrating   person, or am I divisive. What about gossip and   taking other members’ inventories?

2.Am I a peacemaker? Or do I, with pious preludes such   as “just for the sake of discussion,” plunge into   argument?

3. Am I gentle with those who rub me the wrong way, or   am I abrasive?

4. Do I make competitive AA remarks, such as comparing   one group with another or contrasting AA in one place   with AA in another?

5. Do I put down some AA activities as if I were superior   for not participating in this or that aspect of AA?

6. Am I informed about AA as a whole? Do I support, in   every way I can, AA as a whole, or just the parts I   understand and approve of?

7. Am I as considerate of AA members as I want them to   be of me?

8. Do I spout platitudes about love while indulging in and   secretly justifying behavior that bristles with hostility?

9. Do I go to enough AA meetings or read enough AA   literature to really keep in touch?

10.Do I share with AA all of me, the bad and the good,   accepting as well as giving the help of fellowship?

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.

1. Do I criticize or do I trust and support my group officers, AA committees, and office workers?  Newcomers? Old-timers?

2. Am I absolutely trustworthy, even in secret, with AA  Twelfth Step jobs or other AA responsibility?

3.Do I look for credit in my AA jobs? Praise for my AA  ideas?

4.Do I have to save face in group discussion, or can I  yield in good spirit to the group conscience and work   cheerfully along with it?

5.Although I have been sober a few years, am I still  willing to serve my turn at AA chores?

6.In group discussions, do I sound off about matters on  which I have no experience and little knowledge?

Tradition Three: The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.

1.In my mind, do I prejudge some new AA members as losers?

2.Is there some kind of alcoholic whom I privately do not want in my AA group?

3.Do I set myself up as a judge of whether a newcomer is sincere or phony?

4.Do I let language, religion (or lack of it), race, education, age, or other such things interfere with my   carrying the message?

5.Am I over impressed by a celebrity? By a doctor, a clergyman, an ex-convict? Or can I just treat this new   member simply and naturally as one more sick human, like the rest of us?

6. When someone turns up at AA needing information or   help (even if he can’t ask for it aloud), does it really   matter to me what he does for a living? Where he   lives? What his domestic arrangements are? Whether   he had been to AA before? What his other problems   are?

Tradition Four: Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.

1.Do I insist that there are only a few right ways of   doing things in AA?

2.Does my group always consider the welfare of the   rest of AA? Of nearby groups? Of Loners in Alaska? Of   Internationalists miles from port? Of a group in Rome  or El Salvador?

3.Do I put down other members’ behavior when it is   different from mine, or do I learn from it?

4.Do I always bear in mind that, to those outsiders who   know I am in AA, I may to some extent represent our   entire beloved Fellowship?

5.Am I willing to help a newcomer go to any lengths his   lengths, not mine—to stay sober?

6.Do I share my knowledge of AA tools with other   members who may not have heard of them?

Tradition Five: Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

1.Do I ever cop out by saying, “I’m not a group, so this   or that Tradition doesn’t apply to me”?

2.Am I willing to explain firmly to a newcomer the limitations of AA help, even if he gets mad at me for not giving him a loan?

3.Have I today imposed on any AA member for a special   favor or consideration simply because I am a fellow   alcoholic?

4.Am I willing to twelfth-step the next newcomer   without regard to who or what is in it for me?
5.Do I help my group in every way I can to fulfill our   primary purpose?

6.Do I remember that AA old-timers, too, can be   alcoholics who still suffer? Do I try both to help them    and to learn from them?

Tradition Six: An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

1.Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise   money to endow several AA beds in our local hospital?

2.Is it good for a group to lease a small building?

3.Are all the officers and members of our local club for AAs familiar with “Guidelines on Clubs” (which is   available free from GSO)?

4.Should the secretary of our group serve on the mayor’s advisory committee on alcoholism?

5.Some alcoholics will stay around AA only if we have a   TV and card room. If this is what is required to carry   the message to them, should we have these facilities?

Tradition Seven: Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

1.Honestly now, do I do all I can to help AA (my group, my central office, my GSO) remain self-supporting?   Could I put a little more into the basket on behalf of   the new guy who can’t afford it yet? How generous was   I when tanked in a barroom?

2.Should the Grapevine sell advertising space to book   publishers companies, so it could make a big profit and   become a bigger magazine, in full color, at a cheaper   price per copy?

3. If GSO runs short of funds some year, wouldn’t it be   okay to let the government subsidize AA groups in   hospitals and prisons?

4.Is it more important to get a big AA collection from a   few people, or a smaller collection in which more   members participate?

5.Is a group treasurer’s report unimportant AA business?   How does the treasurer feel about it?

6.How important in my recovery is the feeling of self   respect, rather than the feeling of being always under   obligation for charity received?

Tradition Eight: Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

1.Is my own behavior accurately described by the   Traditions? If not, what needs changing?

2.When I chafe about any particular Tradition, do I   realize how it affects others?

3.Do I sometimes try to get some reward—even if not   money—for my personal AA efforts?

4.Do I try to sound in AA like an expert on alcoholism? On   recovery? On medicine? On sociology? On AA itself? On   psychology? On spiritual matters? Or, heaven help me,   even on humility?

5.Do I make an effort to understand what AA employees   do? What workers in other alcoholism agencies do? Can   I distinguish clearly among them?

6.In my own AA life, have I any experiences which   illustrate the wisdom of this Tradition?

7.Have I paid enough attention to the book Twelve Steps   and Twelve Traditions? To the pamphlet AA Tradition   How It Developed?

Tradition Nine: AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

1.Do I still try to boss things in AA?

2.Do I resist formal aspects of AA because I fear them as   authoritative?

3.Am I mature enough to understand and use all   elements of the AA program, even if no one makes me   do so, with a sense of personal responsibility?

4.Do I exercise patience and humility in any AA job I   take?

5.Am I aware of all those to whom I am responsible in   any AA job?

6.Why doesn’t every AA group need a constitution and   bylaws?

7.Have I learned to step out of an AA job gracefully, and   profit thereby, when the time comes?

8.What has rotation to do with anonymity? With humility?

Tradition Ten: Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

1.Do I ever give the impression that there really is an “AA   opinion” on Antabuse? Tranquilizers? Doctors?   Psychiatrists? Churches? Hospitals? Jails? Alcohol? The   federal or state government? Legalizing marijuana?   Vitamins? Al-Anon? Alateen?

2.Can I honestly share my own personal experience   concerning any of those without giving the impression I   am stating the “AA opinion”?

3.What in AA history gave rise to our Tenth Tradition?

4.Have I had a similar experience in my own AA life?

5.What would AA be without this Tradition? Where would   I be?

6.Do I breach this or any of its supporting Traditions in   subtle, perhaps unconscious, ways?

7.How can I manifest the spirit of this Tradition in my   personal life outside AA? Inside AA?

Tradition Eleven: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

1.Do I sometimes promote AA so fanatically that I make it   seem unattractive?

2.Am I always careful to keep the confidences reposed in   me as an AA member?

3.Am I careful about throwing AA names around—even   within the Fellowship?

4.Am I ashamed of being a recovered, or recovering,   alcoholic?

5.What would AA be like if we were not guided by the   ideas in Tradition Eleven? Where would I be?

6.Is my AA sobriety attractive enough that a sick drunk   would want such a quality for himself?

Tradition Twelve: Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

1.Why is it good idea for me to place the common welfare   of all AA members before individual welfare? What would   happen to me if AA as a whole disappeared?

2.When I do not trust AA’s current servants, who do I   wish had the authority to straighten them out?

3.In my opinions of and remarks about other AAs, am I   implying membership requirements other than a desire to   stay sober?

4.Do I ever try to get a certain AA group to conform to   my standards, not its own?

5.Have I a personal responsibility in helping an AA group   fulfill its primary purpose? What is my part?

6.Does my personal behavior reflect the Sixth Tradition or   belie it?

7.Do I do all I can do to support AA financially? When is   the last time I anonymously gave away a Grapevine   subscription?

8.Do I complain about certain AAs’ behavior—especially if   they are paid to work for AA? Who made me so smart?

9.Do I fulfill all AA responsibilities in such a way as to   please privately even my own conscience? Really?

10.Do my utterances always reflect the Tenth Tradition, or   do I give AA critics real ammunition?

11.Should I keep my AA membership a secret, or reveal it   in private conversation when that may help another   alcoholic (and therefore me)? Is my brand of AA so   attractive that other drunks want it?

12.What is the real importance of me among more than a   million AAs?

Reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

Legacy 3 - Service

THE TWELVE CONCEPTS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

A.A.’s Twelve Steps are principles for personal recovery.  The Twelve Traditions ensure the unity of the Fellowship.   Written by co-founder Bill W.  in 1962,  the Twelve  Concepts  for  World  Service provide a group of related principles to help ensure that various elements of A.A.’s service structure remain responsive and responsible to those they serve.
The “short form” of the Concepts, which follows, was prepared
by the 1974 General Service Conference.

1.Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole fellowship.

2.The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in its world affairs.

3.To insure effective leadership, we should endow each element of A.A.—the Conference, the General Service Board and its service corporations, staffs, committees, and executives—with a traditional “Right of Decision.”

4.At all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a traditional “Right of Participation,” allowing a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must discharge.

5.Throughout our structure, a traditional “Right of Appeal” ought to prevail, so that minority opinion  will be heard and personal grievances receive careful consideration.

6.The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative and active responsibility in most world service matters should be exercised by trustee members of the Conference acting as the General Service Board.

7.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 A.A. purse for final effectiveness.

8.The trustees are the principal planners and administrators of 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.

9.Good service leadership at all levels is indispensable for our future functioning and safety. Primary world service leadership, once exercised by the founders, must necessarily be assumed by the trustees.

10.Every service responsibility should be matched by an equal service authority, with the scope of such authority well defined.

11.The trustees should always have the best possible committees, corporate service directors, executives, staffs, and consultants. Composition, qualifications, induction procedures, and rights and duties will always be matters of serious concern.

12.The Conference shall observe the spirit of A.A. tradition, taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds and reserve be its prudent financial principle; that it place none of its members in a position of unqualified authority over others; that it  reach all important decisions by discussion, vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity; that its actions never be personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy;  that it never perform acts of government, and that,  like the Society it serves, it will always remain democratic in thought and action.

Reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.