Tradition 11 · November 28

Somebody Has to Sit With Them

Daily Traditions · November 28

The threat today

Anonymity is not a reason to leave the room empty, and A.A. settles that by simply assigning the work (A.A. pamphlet P-43). "Giving the general public an accurate picture of A.A. is the chief job of our public information committees. In addition, they often carry the message to certain groups — from police ofﬁcers to personnel directors — whose work includes contact with active alcoholics." Police officers. Personnel directors. Somebody has to sit with those people and explain what this actually is, and A.A. structures the job so that it can be done without a personality attached to it. That is the answer to the objection this Tradition always attracts — that anonymity leaves A.A. unaccountable and unreachable. It would, if the Tradition were the whole of the policy. It isn't. The Tradition governs how a member appears. The committee governs how A.A. is explained. A group with no answer for the local hospital is not being careful about anonymity; it has left a job undone and given the omission a virtuous name.

Sit with

A group with no answer for the local hospital has not been careful — it has left a job undone and called the omission a principle. What am I not doing that I have given a virtuous name to?

Grounded in: P-43 (Tradition Eleven); A.A. Service Manual.

Tradition 11

"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 11 → Get the app →

← November 27A Society Composed Largely of Promoters Tradition 11All of November November 29 →Two Hundred Strangers

Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).