October 22
One Person Still Has a Concern
Most of the room is ready to vote. The matter seems clear, dinner is waiting, and then one person asks to speak again. A sigh passes around the table. Before hearing the concern, we have already made its author responsible for keeping us here. Even a courteous chairperson may find it hard to hide that impatience.
Concept Five protects the minority partly because a majority can be hurried, angry, or poorly informed. Our impatience does not mean the concern is correct. It does mean we have an interest in finding out before relief takes the place of judgment. The extra few minutes might change the decision, improve it, or simply establish that the concern has been understood. All three are worthwhile. We have probably been grateful, somewhere in our lives, for a person willing to be inconvenient when others were ready to move along.
What am I too eager to finish to hear the remaining concern?
The objection deserves more than our sighs.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Concepts for World Service, Concept V.