October 16
This Needs Another Voice
Being given responsibility can make us feel we should manage without help. We handle the ordinary details, then encounter something with consequences we had not anticipated. Asking others may feel like admitting that we were a poor choice for the job. So we keep the matter to ourselves while trying to become certain enough to proceed.
Judgment includes recognizing when a question has become larger than the responsibility entrusted to us. Concept Three explicitly leaves room to consult or seek direction. That is useful reassurance for those of us who confuse independence with competence. We may know enough to recognize that someone else needs to be involved, even when we do not know what the answer should be. The people who trusted us have an interest in that recognition. A timely question can be evidence that we are taking their trust seriously.
What question has grown beyond what I can responsibly decide alone?
Consultation belongs inside responsible judgment.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Concepts for World Service, Concept III.