Section
Three
“The
antithesis to Big Book Sponsorship: Examples of A.A. Sponsorship, using
quotations from A.A. published literature.
Ernie
G. recalls Bill W and Dr. Bob:
“..but
it was all suggestion, he’d never give an order, Bob was the same
way.” (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers page 226).
A.A.
sponsorship - A few quotes of Dr. Bob, A.A.’s co-founder:
“..whatever
you do, whoever you talk to, don’t push”……”Don’t push.
Just tell them that you found yourself in A.A. and how grateful you
are and how things have changed. Talk about yourself. Then tell them
“If you need help, want help, Join A.A.” ( Dr. Bob and the Good
Old Timers page 284)
“Don’t
applaud me. Don’t applaud any alcoholic” (Dr. Bob and the Good
Old Timers page 221)
“I
don’t believe I have any right to get cocky about getting sober. It
is only through God’s grace that I did it” (Dr. Bob and the Good
old Timers page 221)
“If
you speak for more than 15 minutes you’re going to repeat
yourself.” (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers page 224)
“If
the speaker doesn’t say exactly what you think he ought to say,
don’t criticize. He may be saying exactly what the man in the back
row wants to hear.” (Dr, Bob and the Good old Timers page 272)
“But
you watch what the man does as well as what he says” (Dr,
Bob and the Good old Timers page 225)
“As
finally expressed and offered, they [The Twelve Steps] are simple in
language, plain in meaning. They are also workable by any person
having a sincere desire to obtain and keep sobriety. The results are
proof. Their simplicity and workability are such that no special
interpretations, and certainly no reservations, have ever been
necessary” (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers page 227)
“Our
Twelve steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into
the words ‘love’ and ‘service’. We understand what love is,
and we understand what service is. So let’s bear these two things
in mind.” (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers page 338)
“At
his time – January – 1940 he wasn’t making you get out of bed
to pray on your knees, to pray with you, I’m not sure that would
have worked too well with me.” (John S.) (Dr. Bob and the Good
Old Timers pages 276)
“..it
became a question of adopting that which would work and rejecting
that which would not”. (Bill W. “Pass it On" page 171-172)
“Try
to find your own God – As you understand Him.” (Dr. Bob
and the Good Old Timers page 281)
“Dr.
Bob said you had to sponsor yourself as well.…. That you should
stand back now and then and look at yourself and sort of laugh, then
help yourself.” (Oscar W, Akron AA group member. (Dr, Bob and the
Good Old Timers page 226)
A
recollection by Dr, Bob’s son, Smitty: “But Smitty noted, his
father didn’t come on strong about philosophy or religion, because
he didn’t want to scare them off.” ( Dr. Bob and the Good Old
Timers page 310)
Dr.
Bob’s memorial:
“Dr
Bob’s was the humility that declines all honours, the integrity
that brooks no compromise; his was a devotion to man and God which in
bright example will shine always. (DR. BOB IN MEMORIUM, A.A. Comes of
Age page 10)
“Visiting
the graves of Dr. Bob and Anne, Bill found no grand memorial, no
mention of A.A. – just a simple stone” (Dr, Bob and The Good
Old Timers page 334)
A
few quotes on A.A sponsorship by AA’s co-founder Bill W. (Dr. Bob’s
Sponsor)
“While
I thank God that I was privileged to be an early member of A.A., I
honestly wish that the word ‘founder’ could be eliminated from
A.A. vocabulary”. (Bill W, letter 1945, As Bill Sees It page 67)
“It
is traditional in Alcoholics Anonymous that we do not make speeches.”
(Bill W. A.A. Comes of Age page 52)
“Recovery
being a life –or death matter for most alcoholics, it became a
question of adopting that which would work and rejecting that which
would not. For example: “The principle of aggressive evangelism so
prominent in the Oxford Group had to be dropped …… Experience
showed that this principle …… would seldom touch neurotics of our
hue ……. Alcoholics who talked too much on public platforms were
likely to become inflated and get drunk again”…..”When the word
‘absolute’ was put in front of these attributes, they either
turned people away by the hundreds or gave a temporary spiritual
inflation resulting in collapse….. It was discovered that all forms
of coercion, both direct and indirect, had to be dropped. We found
that ‘checking’ in the hands of amateurs too often resulted in
criticism, and that resulted in resentment, which is probably the
most serious problem the average alcoholic is troubled with….. We
can never say to anyone (or insinuate) that he must agree to our
formula”… “The atheist may stand up in an A.A. meeting denying
God, yet reporting how he has been helped in other ways”….. ”we
make no religious requirement of anyone….. In this atmosphere the
orthodox, unorthodox, and the unbeliever mix happily and usefully
together ……”(Bill W. “Pass it On" page 171-172)
“A
very tough-minded prospect was taken to his first A.A. meeting. The
first speaker majored on his own drinking pattern. The prospect
seemed impressed. The next two speakers (or maybe lecturers) themed
their talks on ‘God as I understand Him’. This could have
been good too but it certainly wasn’t. The trouble was their
attitude, the way they presented their experience. They did ooze
arrogance. In fact the final speaker got far overboard on some of his
personal theological convictions. With perfect fidelity, both were
repeating my performance of years before. Quite unspoken, yet
implicit in everything they said, was the same idea - “Folks listen
to us. We have the only true brand of AA – and you’d
better get it. The new prospect said he’d had it – and he had.
His sponsor protested that this wasn’t real A.A. But it was too
late; nobody could touch him after that. He also had the perfect
first class alibi for yet another bender. When last heard from, an
early appointment with the undertaker seemed probable” (Bill W. AA
Grapevine April 1961; Language of the Heart page 252)
“Drinkers
would not take any pressure in any form, excepting John Barleycorn
himself. They always had to be led, not pushed. They would not accept
the principle of ‘team guidance’ for their own personal lives. It
was too authoritarian for them. In other respects we had to make
haste slowly. When first contacted most alcoholics just wanted to
find sobriety, nothing else. (Bill W. A.A. Comes of Age page 74).
“At
T Henry’s house eighteen of the Akron alcoholics listened stolidly
to our proposals….. The moment we were through, those alcoholics
really did work us over…. they rejected the idea of missionaries.
Paid workers, they said, would ruin our good will with alcoholics;
this would be sheer ruin…… Their contention that going into big
business and hiring paid missionaries would destroy us turned out to
be absolutely correct.” (Bill W. AA comes of Age
page 145-146)
“They
forget that during their drinking days prestige and the achievement
of worldly ambition were their principle aims. They do not realize
that by breaking their anonymity, they are unconsciously pursuing
those old and perilous illusions once more. They forget that the
keeping of one’s anonymity often means a sacrifice of one’s
desire for power, prestige, and money. They do not see that if these
strivings became general in A.A., the course of our whole history
would be changed; that we would be sowing the seeds of our own
destruction as a society.” (Bill W. Letter, 1958 As Bill Sees It
page 198)
Tradition
Eleven: “This tradition is a constant and practical reminder that
personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it each member becomes an
active guardian of our fellowship” ( Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions page 187)
Tradition
Twelve: “ We simply could not afford to take the chance of letting
self –appointed members presenting themselves as messiahs
representing A.A. before the whole public.… Moved by the spirit of
anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal
distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before
the general public” ….. We are sure that humility, expressed by
anonymity, is the greatest safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous can
ever have.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions page 191-192)
For
his service to society in a life spent in selfless dedication to the
needs of those who suffer from alcoholism, Bill W. was nominated to
receive six honorary university degrees, including an honorary doctor
of laws degree at Yale University, he was nominated to be included in
“Who’s Who in America” and to receive the Lasker Award; an
honour for exceptional achievement in the field of medical research
and public health administration. - He declined all the invitations
to receive personal honours. The Lasker Award was awarded to
Alcoholics Anonymous. (Reference: Pass It On page 311-314, 350)
Extracts
from Bills W’s letter to Yale University:
“This
is to express my deepest thanks to the members of the Yale
Corporation for considering me as one suitable for the degree of
Doctor of Laws… ... It is only after most careful consultation with
friends, and with my conscience, that I now feel obligated to decline
such a mark of distinction……. Now this is the reason: The
tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous – our only means of self
government – entreats each member to avoid all that particular
kind of personal publicity or distinction which might link his name
with our society in the general public mind……. we practice this
anonymity absolutely, it will guarantee our effectiveness and
unity by heavily restraining those who public honours and
distinctions are but the natural stepping stones to dominance and
personal power… … no honours at the public level is our
protective shield”. (Pass it On page 311-312)
Bill
W’s memorial:
“A
simple tablet in the East Dorset cemetery affirms Bill’s deep
belief in the spirit of anonymity”. “The Headstone reads: William
G. Wilson, 1895-1971” “There is no mention of A.A.” (Pass it On
page 406)
A
recollection of some early A.A. meetings led by Bill W in 1939,
described by Ruth Hock, the first secretary of the New York General
Service Office:
“They
were structured to the extent that there was always one speaker and
Bill- maybe half an hour each – and then a long coffee session, a
real get together. We were often there till 12 o’clock, started at
eight.….. At this time there were no 90-days requirements. No
birthdays – no recognition was made if you were sober a week or a
year. If you felt you would like to speak in a year or in a month or
two weeks they let you get up and speak, and they didn’t throw you
out if you were drunk, either. They felt it was encouraging, hoping
some word would stick.” (Pass it on page 219)
“Each
time Bill spoke, he had a different approach. There was no
pre-formulated message, and his talks apparently varied in length as
much as subject matter.” (Pass it On page 219)
With
the passing away of the protective vigilance of Bill W in 1971 and
the rise to the era of the messiahs, missionaries, and false
prophets, beginning with the meeting of Joe McQ and Charlie P in
1973; we wonder if these events are not connected to the slowdown in
growth rate of the fellowship since the 1970s.”
Comment:
To sum up: principles before personalities!
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
