Did We Learn Anything? - Grapevine September 1960 #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Sponsorship #Newcomers

OUR complacency and smugness was shaken by our co-founder Bill W. in his keynote address at the General Service Conference in April. Bill reminded us that millions of alcoholics have gone over the precipice during the past twenty-five years. Yet here we sit, resting on our laurels, and the surface has barely been scratched. Oh yes, we make Twelfth Step calls, but do we follow through? Do we offer the proper sponsorship? Do we loan or buy that new person a Big Book?

Do we set him up a subscription to the Grapevine (the little magazine that has seen thousands through times of peril and indecision)? Do we make it a point to accompany our new "baby" to those first few and very important meetings? Do we do these things? In other words, do we give--in its true sense--service?

We were told when we first came into AA that this was a program of action. Should action cease with sobriety? We think not--in fact, it should continue at an accelerated pace. We must get active in order that the message be carried, that our Third Legacy and the program of Alcoholics Anonymous may survive.

Often, to avoid complacency, we ask ourselves: who started this movement? Who wrote the Big Book? Who hired the hall? Who ran the newspaper ad? Who paid for the phone? Who published the pamphlets and the Grapevine? And above all, who answered the letters that came in by the thousands? Did we? No, we were not around, we were still in our cups. However, someone did these things, someone kept the door open, someone rendered this service--and AA and a new life became available to us.

Can we do less? We think not.

At the General Service Conference, while Bill was delivering his keynote address and stressing the importance of communication and carrying the message, we were thinking of that meeting between Bill and Dr. Bob. Dr. Bob says, "If you think this will work, let's try it." So they call the hospital and ask, "Do you have a drunk there we can talk to?" They did. Now please note they did not ask, "Is he sober?" He wasn't. They did not ask, "Has he expressed a desire to stop drinking?" He hadn't. Nor did they ask that now famous question. "Has he had previous AA experience?" Needless to say he hadn't. No, they asked none of those questions. But they went--they communicated--they carried the message. Thus came AA's third member and thus was born our Third Legacy--service to the alcoholic who still suffers.

B.C. in "Grape Juicer"

Albuquerque, New Mexico

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