I Am Responsible

By Judy F.

I AM RESPONSIBLE…when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to always be there. And for that: I Am Responsible.

First introduced at the 1965 International Convention in Toronto, “A.A.’s Responsibility”, was announced as the theme.

By this time AA was 30 years old. It was time to review the past three decades that were now history. Although, it was God’s grace that made it possible to achieve the quality of responsibility, individual and collective, that brought the fellowship into its present state of well-being, it was time to start taking stock.

Some of our great turning points were marred by fear and anger. One such was the writing and publishing of the Big Book. Some old timers felt there was no need while others shrank from the risks of preparing the invaluable text. Another was the formation of the General Service Conference. The indispensable body of delegates, which today links our Society with the AA trustees of our world services. Yet, in the end we assumed such responsibility which has made it possible for AA recovery to go forward on such a large scale as it does today.

So, it was asked at the Toronto Convention “What sort of heritage are we leaving, for the use of all those future generations that will people our Society? Is this heritage as good as we can make it? While there is yet time, what can we do that may multiply our assets and decrease our liabilities?”

As we come up on the 2025 International Convention, 60 years later, are we still meeting that responsibility so eloquently stated in our declaration of responsibility? I believe to each of us as sober members of Alcoholics Anonymous, this responsibility looks different. To some, this responsibility is showing up at a meeting and to others it also means carrying the message through sponsorship. Then there is the secretary who shows up faithfully to unlock the door and maybe make coffee. It is so much easier to get people to be “responsible” for the individual alcoholic and the individual meeting.

But, what about AA as a whole? How do we stay responsible to our General Service Office and all the work they do to carry the message to the “alcoholic who still suffers”.

Not many people recognize a responsibility in working with the service organizations that assist NY in the work they do. NY communicates to your area, your area communicates to your district and your district communicates to your GSR all that is going on with this “carrying the message”. Believe it or not, NY does not make any major decisions without coming to the groups first. So, who is responsible at the group level to make sure this message is getting relayed? It is so easy to be responsible at the meeting level. It doesn’t require me to go out of my way since I’m going to be attending that meeting anyways. But what about the IGR or GSR who has to attend at least 1 extra meeting a month and generally not just next door. Based on our own district, about 10% of the meetings have a representative that shows up for either Intergroup or the district meetings. 10%...

During the first 25 years of AA’s maturity there were approximately 25 million men and women who suffered from alcoholism. AA brought recovery to something like 250,000.

The rest were out of reach or else gone beyond recall. Bill felt that an even larger number of drunks was in the making at that time.

As Bill stated in Language of The Heart, “We know that we are going to open wider and wider, ever conceivable means and channel to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. We shall remember Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia – how they worked in Akron.

We shall remember the many years of Silky’s unstinted labor for us. Thousands of AAs at that time would remember how they literally owed their lives to those 3 people. Each of us will remember their own sponsor, the one who cared enough. As the inheritors of such a tradition of service, how could we ever say “Let George do that Twelfth Job; he likes to work with drunks.”

As we are constantly entering upon the “next great phase” of AAs life, can we rededicate ourselves to an ever greater responsibility for our general welfare? We need to continue to take inventory as a Fellowship, and above all we need to remember that great legion who still suffer from alcoholism and who are without hope.