A Definition, Not a Mood

Almost nothing written about this Tradition does the first thing the Long Form does: define the word. It says: "We define professionalism as the occupation of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire." Ten words, doing two jobs. First, they give you a test you can actually run. Take any arrangement and ask one question — is a drunk being charged a fee to be counselled? The paid office secretary, no. The counsellor with a rate card, yes. Second, and this is the part people walk straight past: those same ten words describe every arrangement where a drunk is helped for money — the counsellor's office, the clinic, the treatment centre, the drying-out house with a bill at the end of the week. A.A. wrote down, in plain commercial language, the exact thing it had nearly voted to become, and refused it permanently. That is what "should remain forever nonprofessional" is attached to. And because the definition is precise, it protects the innocent too: anything that is not charging alcoholics for counsel is not professionalism, no matter how much money moves around it. Without a definition, every paid janitor is a suspect. With one, the line can be walked in daylight, by anyone.