October 21
A Small Experiment
Someone proposes trying a different meeting arrangement for a month. Nothing permanent is being demanded, yet the discussion sounds as though the future of A.A. is at stake. We have understandable affection for what has worked. We may also be asking an untried idea to prove itself beyond any uncertainty before allowing it a fair chance.
Tradition Four describes groups learning through trial and error. There is something encouraging about that history. Within responsible limits, an experiment can teach us what another hour of prediction cannot. We can agree to consider the results without promising to like them. If the change proves unhelpful, returning to the earlier arrangement need not humiliate its proposer. If it helps, those who had doubts need not lose face. A little room to learn together may protect our unity better than requiring one side to win before anything happens.
What modest experiment might teach us more than our present argument?
Trying something need not commit us forever.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Four.