October 20
The Other Side of the Wall
Our group likes its new arrangement. The meeting runs later, the conversation is lively, and members stay afterward. Then another group using the building mentions a problem: they cannot get into the room on time. What felt entirely like our business has crossed a line we had barely noticed. Their concern interrupts a decision we were pleased with.
Autonomy becomes more interesting when other people can feel its effects. Tradition Four gives groups considerable freedom while asking them to consider the wider Fellowship. That can illuminate ordinary choices too. We may be entitled to decide something and still owe attention to the people living with its consequences. Listening does not automatically give them control over us. It gives us a fuller account of what our freedom is doing. A small adjustment might preserve what we value while acknowledging that the wall between our affairs and theirs was never completely soundproof.
Who experiences the consequences of something I consider my own business?
Their experience is part of the situation too.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Four.