March 19 - Unity

Tradition One talks about unity at the group level, that the well-being of everyone, in the group, is necessary so that each individual's welfare can be safeguarded. I'm at a meeting and one member is sharing about a problem he's having with some medication his psychologist precribed for him. A few older members look uncomfortable. It sounds like a serious matter, to him, and one that should be discussed in privacy with his sponsor. I'd like to point that out to this person since I am the chairperson after all. But, being the chair of the meeting doesn't make me the boss so instead of doing what I feel I should do, instead of setting this guy straight, I simply share on whatever topic had been decided on at the start of the meeting, I might even throw in a bit about the value of having a sponsor with whom I can share the more intimate details of my story. Then I wait to see what happens next. The next person that shares stays on topic and so does the next person and eventually the general talk in the room returns to a discussion on alcoholism and not one on prescription medication.

There are many topics we can talk about in meetings which might be very interesting but have nothing to do with AA or alcoholism and what might happen is these members who were uncomfortable might leave and never come back. If a chairperson chastises an errant member in front of everyone, that person might leave and never come back. We might subsequently sign their death warrants. So, for the good of everyone, we should keep our main focus on the problem of alcoholism and let outside professionals deal with these other matters.