October 25
What the Record Leaves Out
Months after a decision, a newer member asks why the group chose that arrangement. Someone remembers a concern that was raised, but the details have faded. The written account says only that the motion passed. We remember winning or losing more clearly than we remember what the disagreement helped us understand. Now the same question has returned without much of the experience that could help answer it.
Concept Five encourages minority reports when members believe a majority is seriously mistaken. That respect suggests care in whatever record a group chooses to keep. A brief, fair account of a concern need not reopen a settled decision or reserve the right to say we warned everyone. It gives later readers something useful: what was considered, what remained uncertain, and why people proceeded anyway. Those whose view did not prevail might help check that account for accuracy. Their words still belong to our shared experience.
What would a later reader need to understand about a concern we decided not to follow?
The record has a use beyond remembering who prevailed.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Concepts for World Service, Concept V.