Just my personal experience with this...

When I was first coming back, I joined a local group that I had gone to for years, but only the morning meeting which is a completely different crowd from the night time meetings.

There was some kind of "war" going on between a few of the members and the business meetings were not explosive, but pretty close to it.

The importance of unity was discussed, of placing principles before personalities and that our primary purpose is carrying the message to the newcomer. Who wants to join a group where members are fighting amongst themselves? I almost didn't, and I talked to a friend of mine about it and he said "Chris, that is why you should stay." And he was right. Lots of members wanted to leave but stayed and the group is healthy now, the control freaks outnumbered. LOL

Yup. Our common welfare comes first. I would not be here if not for the AA group as a whole.

To carry the AA message is one aspect of AA Unity. AA Unity as a whole relates to our common welfare. Our common welfare comes first SO we can carry the message and not look like a fractured bunch of gooses. Ah, we are but human :}

Geeses!!!!!Mices I agree....
I got sober alot like this gentleman , found it a very informative and nice article in the similarities it brought up. I too, believe our common welfare comes first . And only I ,on a personal level can be as I have become. With that I am entrusted and from there. I carry the message. And try as I can to just give that ...What it was like , What happened and What it is like now...in sharing in meeting, sponsorship and in the service structure positions. Me, with the principles in hand I am practicing. Lots of I's in this reply hmmmm!!!

http://www.theincredibletapestry.org/isolation.htm

Great reading okiyoe - I was the speaker at a meeting last night and the topic was recovery, unity and service. Would have loved to read that before I did it!! Humility and ego deflation are a big deal to me in thinking about common welfare. My ego (opinion) sometimes wants something very different from the conscience of group and ,my ego (opinion) has to be put aside for the good of the group. I have spent time going through the traditions and how they protect and maintain common welfare. I know a lot of people who havent done that though and sometimes there are big egsos at our conscience and business meetings. Sometimes my ego is there too!! Somehow it all works out eventually, the fact that the group is a spiritual entity usually prevails.

I won't mention any groups, but there has been the biggest hullaballo, including threats of legal recourse (which may be happening, I'm not sure) between our State Central Service Office and the National Office. There's been slander, lible, people trying to close down our State Central Service Office. Even gossip saying it HAS been closed, terrifying everyone, including me. It's been terrible. There is right down to the bone viciousness going on. This gets raised in meetings, with too much detail for my liking. I believe it should be kept to the Group Consience, because there is so much bitterness spewing out from people speaking fromt he floor about it - table thumping even and shouting etc - supposedly during a share about a person's experience strength and hope!!!! I' just pray it will all blow over because my very life depends on AA, as do many others. I'm 12 years around but if shit like that was happening in my early meetings, I may have left as PTSD responses to that sort of aggression is part of my other illnesses - and they interface with my alcoholism. I worry for the newcomers or people coing back.

First the group ,second the drunk all inclusive . keep the unity of the group alive keep the drunk alive, or at least that is as Keepsakes sees it

>>> What does this mean to you? <<<

It means Tradition 1 should come before tradition 3. Unfortunately, the lazy-bums and con-artists only learn the short form of tradition 3 and use it as a license to drag everyone else down to their level.

If tradition 1 really did come first, shouldn't we be trying to drag the lazy-bums "UP" to our level?

I am sure the lazy-bums and con-artists will refute this idea LOL!

"The problem is not that there are too many fools in the world - The real problem is that lightning is not distributed properly!"

-Mark Twain