1. Acceptance of my powerlessness to control.

2. Realization that I am not yet completely sane or whole and that I need help.

3. Surrender to a Higher Power.

4. Honesty, objectivity.

5. Courage

6. Complete openness of mind.

7. Humility

8. Forgiveness of self and others, generosity.

9. Reconciliation, tolerance

10. Self-knowledge, vigilance

11. Dedication, Self-discipline, being in the meaning and value of life.

12. Happiness has to be shared. We carry the message by the way we live.

God Knew Our Greatest Need

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer,

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior

Why We Were Chosen

God in His wisdom selected this group of men and women to be purveyors of His goodness. In selecting them through whom to bring about phenomenon He went not to the proud, the mighty, the famous or the brilliant. He went instead to the humble, to the sick, to the unfortunate. He went right to the drunkard, the so-called weakling of the world. Well might He have said to us:

" unto your weak and feeble hands I have entrusted a power beyond estimate. To you has been given that which has been denied the most learned of your fellows. Not to scientists or statesmen, not to wives or mothers, not even to my priest or ministers have I given this gift of healing other alcoholics which I entrust to you."

"It must be used unselfishly; it carries with it grave responsibility. No day can be too long; no demands upon your time can be too urgent; no case be to pitiful; no task too hard; no effort to great

it must be used with tolerance for I have restricted its application. to no race, no creed, and no domination. Personal criticism you must expect; lack of appreciation will be common; ridicule will be your lot; your motives will be misjudged. You must be prepared for adversity, for what men call adversity is the ladder you must use too ascend the rungs toward spiritual perfection, and remember, in the exercise of this power I shall not exact from you beyond your capabilities."

"You are not selected because of exceptional talents, and be careful always, if success attends your efforts not to ascribe to personal superiority that to which you can lay claim only by virtue of my gift. If I had wanted learned men to accomplish this mission, the power would have been entrusted to the physician and scientists. If I had wanted eloquent men, there would have been many anxious for the assignment, for talk is the easiest used of all talents with which I have endowed mankind. If I had wanted scholarly men, the world is filled with better qualified men then you who would be available. You were selected because you have been the outcasts of the world and your long experience as drunkards has made or should make you humbly alert to the cries of distress that come from the lonely hearts of alcoholics everywhere."

"Keep ever in mind the admission you made on the day of your profession in A.A.- namely that you are powerless and that it was only with your willingness to turn your life and will onto my keeping that relief came to you.' Anonymous

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