 The Teddy Bear and the Tradition
Tradition Five
Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose--that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.--Long form of Tradition Five Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
An incident at a women's meeting brought the importance of Tradition Five to light for me. When the secretary asked if there were any AA announcements, a woman with a few years of sobriety announced that she had flyers for a women's retreat and that those interested could see her after the meeting. When she finished, a woman with loads of time in sobriety blurted out, "That's not an AA announcement!" The whole room went quiet. I noticed that the faces in the room revealed many emotions, but the most common was confusion.
At our next meeting, I talked with the secretary. She had called our central office about the validity of the statement and received contradictory responses. We truly did not know if announcing a retreat for women was AA or not.
A few days passed, and the question kept bouncing around in my thoughts. I decided to call Jane, who had spent most of her sobriety in and around district and area meetings. When I explained what had happened at the meeting, I heard her chuckle. She said that she could not tell me whether what the woman had said was right or wrong, but that she had a story that would help me to understand the situation and to make my own decision.
At her home group, there was a woman who made teddy bears. She decided one day that she had too many and so she brought them to a meeting to be given away during the raffle. (The raffle is a common event at most meetings in the Northeast and consists of people buying tickets to win Conference-approved AA literature and bumper stickers.) At the next business meeting for this group, the elders informed the woman that she could not contribute teddy bears to the raffle because only Conference-approved literature could be given away. There was a vote and it was decided that the teddy bears, no matter how cute they were, had to go. Even though the no's were a majority, my friend Jane felt it was neither a clear nor a good group conscience vote.
A few weeks passed and Jane went to the district meeting. The woman with the teddy bears and the others who had voted against the majority had brought their dilemma to the district. For some reason, the district felt this was a group issue and decided to let the group decide, which gave the woman and the others, in their minds, the okay to distribute teddy bears during the raffle.
So, the teddy bears were ready to be raffled at the next meeting. At this meeting was a man with some time sober who had come with a woman who was two days sober and at her very first AA meeting. The woman won the raffle (of course) and the man handed her a Big Book. She was not impressed and informed him that she wanted a teddy bear instead. The man told her that the teddy bear was not going to keep her sober. She insisted that she really wanted the teddy bear. The woman left the meeting with the teddy bear. She was never seen again, but the teddy bears still remain.
Jane's example helped me in understanding our Fifth Tradition. It was a simple message that I could bring back to my home group. From that point on, we have tried to be very careful what we include in our AA announcements and raffle.
When I came to AA, I did not know that drinking was my problem. A teddy bear might have seemed, in my sick mind, an easier, softer way to solve my problem. I could have been the woman who did not come back. We never truly know what newcomers will hear at their first few AA meetings that will help them to stay sober, but we can be responsible for what we make available to them, so that they can get the help they need to understand the disease of alcoholism.
Kathi A.
Acton, Maine Go to... | 