September 3
Their Meeting Works
We visit a group whose meeting runs differently from ours. The readings are shorter, the sharing follows another order, or the room stays quiet longer than we expect. Our discomfort quickly supplies a verdict: they are doing it wrong. Meanwhile, people are identifying with one another and finding help. We may be the only person waiting for the meeting to become familiar.
Tradition Four gives groups considerable freedom in arranging their own affairs. That freedom allows a fellowship larger than our preferences. There are principles worth protecting and real questions worth raising; mere unfamiliarity is not evidence of danger. Before offering corrections, we might notice what this group has learned about reaching the people who come here. Their arrangements need not replace ours to deserve respect. Another meeting's usefulness is not measured by how completely it reproduces the one that helped us.
Which of my objections concern a principle, and which concern an unfamiliar custom?
For this hour, I am a guest.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Four, pp. 146–147.