IN my opinion, the minute we come down the stairs on meeting night we
shed the cloak of the worries of the week to gather here for one purpose--to
help one another. For a whole week, as individuals we have had to make
decisions in our businesses, our homes and in other fields. Let us enjoy these
few short hours of fellowship with those who understand and with the peo-
ple who can laugh and have a darned good reason for doing so. Then when
we don our coats to go back up the stairs, we are better prepared both men-
tally and spiritually to cope with an ever demanding life on the outside.
I see no reason why an individual, if he is so inclined, may not endorse his
own opinions on any number of outside issues as "John Doe, member of
Alcoholics Anonymous." That's his baby. He has one mind, and no doubt
his own track on which to run it. But I'll bet if we hand-picked five people
from our group here who had the same political leanings, religion, racial
origin and the same outlook on world affairs and asked them to give a panel
discussion on any one subject, they still wouldn't be in complete agreement.
So, how could we as a cosmopolitan group even contemplate venturing an
opinion or endorsing outside issues? Our only obligation as alcoholics is to
ourselves collectively and individually.
I think that being anonymous and obscure as a group is all important to pro-
spective new members. To most of us, the realization that we were failures
as social drinkers and needed help with our problem was paralyzing enough
at first. The knowledge that we could enter a group such as this without
having our names tossed around amongst the local cynics was balm to our
wounded pride. Now it doesn't matter, but at that time if there had been a
mere inkling of an idea that we would be in the public eye as a member of
AA, nine chances out of ten we would still be looking for a do-it-yourself
plan.
So, if we are to continue with our "all for one and one for all" ideals, I believe
that we should as a group stay on a self-improvement program of our own
making, steer clear of endeavors other than those fundamental to our being
here.
Remember, united we stand, divided we fall.
A. D.
Grande Prairie, Alberta
Taken from The Grapevine, November 1959, Vol. 16 No. 6
[Copyright ©1944-2008 The AA Grapevine Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission only.]
Tradition X
Tradition Seven By Bill W.

Tradition 7

Self-supporting alcoholics? Who ever heard of such a thing?! Yet we find that's what we have to be. This principle is telling evidence of the profound change that AA has wrought in all of us. Everybody knows that active alcoholics scream that they have no troubles money can't cure. Always, we've had our hands out. Time out of mind we've been dependent upon somebody, usually money-wise. When a society composed entirely of alcoholics says it's going to pay its bills, that's really news. Probably no AA tradition had the labor pains this one did. In early times we were all broke. When you add to this the habitual supposition that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money. What great things AA would be able to do with it! But oddly enough, people w Self-supporting alcoholics? Who ever heard of such a thing?! Yet we find that's what we have to be. This principle is telling evidence of the profound change that AA has wrought in all of us. Everybody knows that active alcoholics scream that they have no troubles money can't cure. Always, we've had our hands out. Time out of mind we've been dependent upon somebody, usually money-wise. When a society composed entirely of alcoholics says it's going to pay its bills, that's really news. Probably no AA tradition had the labor pains this one did. In early times we were all broke. When you add to this the habitual supposition that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money. What great things AA would be able to do with it! But oddly enough, people who had money thought otherwise. They figured that----sober----it was high time we now paid our own way. So our fellowship stayed poor because it had to. There was another reason for our collec- tive poverty. It was soon apparent that while alcoholics would spend lavishly on Twelfth Step cases, they had a terrific aversion to dropping money into a meeting-place hat for group purposes. We were astounded to find that we were as tight as the bark on a tree. So AA, the movement, started and stayed broke, while its individual members waxed prosperous.
Alcoholics are certainly all-or-nothing people. Our reactions to money prove
this. As AA emerged from its infancy into adolescence, we swung from the
idea we needed vast sums of money to the notion that AA shouldn't have any.
On every lip were the words, "You can't mix AA and money. We shall have to
separate the spiritual from the material." We took this violent new tack be-
cause here and there members had tried to make money out of their AA con-
nections, and we feared we'd be exploited. Now and then, grateful benefactors
had endowed clubhouses, and as a result there was sometimes outside interfer-
ence in our affairs. We had been presented with a hospital, and almost imme-
diately the donor's son became its principal patient and would-be manager.
One AA group was given $5,000 to do with what it would. The hassle over
that chunk of money played havoc for years. Frightened by these complica-
tions, some groups refused to have a cent in their treasuries.
Despite these misgivings, we had to recognize the fact that AA had to func-
tion. Meeting places cost something. To save whole areas from turmoil, small
offices had to be set up, telephones installed, and a few full-time secretaries
hired. Over many protests, these things were accomplished. We saw that if
they weren't, the man coming in the door couldn't get a break. These simple
services would require small sums of money which we could and would pay
ourselves. At last the pendulum stopped swinging and pointed straight at Tra-
dition Seven as it reads today.
There is another story about money. One night in 1948, the trustees of the
Foundation were having their quarterly meeting. The agenda discussion in-
cluded a very important question. A certain lady had died. When her will was
read, it was discovered she had left Alcoholics Anonymous in trust with the
Alcoholic Foundation a sum of $10,000. The question was, should AA take
the gift?
What a debate we had on that one! The Foundation was really hard up just
then; the groups weren't sending in enough for the support of the office, we
had been tossing in all the book income and even that hadn't been enough.
The reserve was melting like snow in springtime. We needed that $10,000.
"Maybe," some said, "the groups will never fully support the office. We can't
let it shut down, it's far too vital. Yes, let's take the money. Let's take all such
donations in the future. We're going to need them."
Then came the opposition. They pointed out that the Foundation board already
knew of a total of half a million dollars set aside for AA in the wills of people
still alive. Heaven only knew how much there was we hadn't heard about. If
outside donations weren't declined, absolutely cut off, then the Foundation
would one day become rich. Moreover, at the slightest intimation to the gen-
eral public from our trustees that we needed money, we could become im-
mensely rich. Compared to this prospect, the $10,000 under consideration
wasn't much, but like the alcoholic's first drink it would, if taken, inevitably

Ebby and Bill drank all night and then decided to hire a plane. They radioed
ahead that they would be coming. A high school band and complete fanfare
was there to greet them when they landed. After they landed, they both got
out of the plane only to fall flat on their faces. They were so drunk that they
couldn't even stand up.
Page 9 -- Bottom paragraph -- "The two men who appeared in court with
Ebby"
Rowland Hazard and Cebra G., both were from the Oxford Group at the time.
Rowland was never a member of AA. Cebra later joined AA while living in
France.
Page 16 -- 1st paragraph -- "Poor chap who committed suicide in Bill's
house"
Bill C., was a "guest" for nearly a year. He was a lawyer and gambler
(professional bridge player). This happened in the summer of 1936 at their
home at 182 Clinton St. Upon returning home from visiting Fitz M and others
in Maryland, Bill opened the door to the strong smell of the natural gas that
had ended the "poor chaps" life. Over the next few months, Bill and Lois dis-
covered that he had been selling off all of their good dress clothes to finance
his drinking and gambling.
Page 32 -- 2nd paragraph – "The man of thirty"
"The man of thirty who was ambitious in business and remained bone dry for
25 years only to die after 4 years of drinking."
This story was probably adapted from the chapter "First Steps" in the book
"The Common Sense of Drinking" by Richard Peabody. There is one story on
page 37 that speaks of a man 36 years old that had been drinking for 16 years
and another story on page 123 regarding a man who gave up drinking to
make a million dollars.
Neither one of these actually match the story in the big book. The story on
page 123 is the one that most closely matches the story in the book. The big
discrepancy in the story is the amount of sobriety this man had (full text be-
low). The big book speaks of 25 years of sobriety and the other states he had
5 years sober.
"Some years ago there lived a man who decided to give up drinking until he
could make a million dollars, at which time he intended to drink in modera-
tion. It took him 5 years of sobriety to make the million; then he begins his
"moderate" drinking. In two or three years he lost all his money, and in an-
other three he died of alcoholism."
Cover Story 1-2
District 39 News 4-5
Events/News/ Important dates 5
Articles 6-8
Inside this issue:
TRIANGLE
EXPRESS

Serving District 39 with Local,
Area, and GSO News and Events June
2009

24 Hour AA Hotline:
604-615-2911
www.abbotsfordaa.org EXPRESS

Serving District 39 with Local,
Area, and GSO News and Events June
2009

24 Hour AA Hotline:
604-615-2911
www.abbotsfordaa.org

AA Missing Trivia

Roman Numeral Section
Page xiii –- Foreword to the First Edition
"We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women
who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body." was
a total experience of 74 members from 1935 through 1938 as the original
manuscript went to press, 41 known to have achieved permanent sobriety, a
slight "alcoholic exaggeration," unless the wives were counted also. Florence
Rankin, the first woman to achieve a considerable period of sobriety, and the
only woman sober at that time, went back to the bottle and died an apparent
suicide in 1939. See Pioneers of A.A.
Page xvii -- 3rd paragraph -- "Very first case..."
The very first case that Bill and Bob worked on was Eddie R. They were not
successful with Eddie. He was from a prominent Youngstown, Ohio, family,
had lost his rented house and was about to lose his job. At Doctor Bob's fu-
neral in 1950, Eddie R. was there with one year of sobriety.
The first "successful" case was Bill D., AA member number three. Bill D's
sobriety date was June 26, 1935, 16 days after Dr Bob's.
Page XXVI -- 1st paragraph -- "We believe and so suggested a few years
ago..."
This was stated in an article in the "Lancet Journal" published in 1937.
Page XXIX -- 2nd paragraph -- "man was brought in to be treated for chronic
alcoholism ..... gastric hemorrhage ..... Pathological mental deterioration."
Hank P. -- His story in the first edition of the big book was titled "The Unbe-
liever". Hank was a high-pressure kind of guy. He was called a "promoter
among promoters". Hank had worked for Standard Oil of New Jersey. He was
the 2nd member in New York. Hank wrote chapter 10 "To Employers." He
subsequently relapsed in September 1939, and never again gained any degree
of sobriety.
Page XXIX -- 3rd paragraph -- "and deciding his situation was hopeless, had
hidden in a deserted barn determined to die."

The First 164 Pages

Page 9 -- Top paragraph -- "Details of the airplane charter to complete a jag."
There was a new airfield by the Equinox House in Manchester, Vermont.
set up a disastrous chain reaction. Where would that land us? Whoever pays
the piper is apt to call the tune, and if the AA Foundation obtained money
from outside sources, its trustees might be tempted to run things without ref-
erence to the wishes of AA as a whole. Relieved of responsibility, every alco-
holic would shrug and say, "Oh, the Foundation is wealthy----why should I
bother?" The pressure of that fat treasury would surely tempt the board to
invent all kinds of schemes to do good with such funds, and so divert AA
from its primary purpose. The moment that happened our fellowship's confi-
dence would be shaken. The board would be isolated, and would fall under
heavy attack of criticism from both AA and the public. These were the possi-
bilities, pro and con.
Then our trustees wrote a bright page of AA history. They declared for the
principle that AA must always stay poor. Bare running expenses plus a pru-
dent reserve would henceforth be the Foundation's financial policy. Difficult
as it was, they officially declined that $10,000, and adopted a formal, airtight
resolution that all such future gifts would be similarly declined. At that mo-
ment, we believe, the principle of corporate poverty was firmly and finally
embedded in AA tradition.
When these facts were printed, there was a profound reaction. To people fa-
miliar with endless drives for charitable funds, AA presented a strange and
refreshing spectacle. Approving editorials here and abroad generated a wave
of confidence in the integrity of Alcoholics Anonymous. They pointed out
that the irresponsible had become responsible, and that by making financial
independence part of its tradition, Alcoholics Anonymous had revived an
ideal that its era had almost forgotten.
Bill W.
Taken from The Grapevine, November 1952, Vol. 9 No. 6
[Copyright ©1944-2008 The AA Grapevine Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission only.]

District 39 News and Reports
Friday Night Big Book
GSR: Warren E.
I am happy to say attendance has been fifty members or more. We are cur-
rently on page forty-five of the Big Book. There are upcoming cakes at this
time. Everyone welcome and we are definitely not a glum lot.

Monday Night Beginners
GSR: Pierre
We are doing well in attendance and new members are getting involved in the
spirit of rotation. We have rotated most of our positions. I had the privilege to
attend the Pre-Assembly in Burnaby.
We have 2 cakes in June:
Jack O. 25 years, and Mary A. 1 year, both on June 1.
Yours in Love and Service,
Pierre.

Friends In Need
Adam H. Will be taking 2 years June 30.

The Youngtimers
GSR: Mark H.
Hi everyone! Our attendance is excellent, and we are attracting out-of-
towners. We try to get together after the meeting to do things —
District Committee Members
DCM: Bob T.— 604-751-0045
Alternate DCM: Mike B.— 604-807-6577
Secretary: Donna B. — 604-853-4845
Treasurer: Angie — 604-217-0341
Telephone Chair: Randy C.— 778-549-3508
Grapevine Chair: Debbie S.— 604-855-0001
Treatment Chair: Gene Y.— 604-864-4033
Newsletter Chair: Mark H.— 604-768-7133
Webmaster/Directory Chair: Peter R.— 604-897-3470
Cooperation with Professional Communities/Public Information
Chair (CPC/PI): Michelle L. — 778-908-0026
Corrections Chair: Vacant
Archives Chair: Vacant
looking for long-timers who sobered up young to come and support us — or
anyone who just wants to check us out.
49th Annual DISTRICT 6 AA Rally “LIVING FREE” June 12 to 14, 2009
Nanoose Bay, BC

PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONFERENCE
Our Commitment to Carry AA's Message
Enthusiasm and Gratitude in Action
June 26 to 28, 2009
Rossland, BC

BCYPAA.03 - Superhero Dance
June 20th 2009
Tickets $10 at the door, free for kids 12 and under
Dress up as your favorite Superhero or Supervillain !
Trinity United Church
33737 George Ferguson Way
Abbotsford, BC
Doors Open @ 7:00PM
Meeting @ 8:00PM
Dance @ 9:30PM
Late Night Meeting @ 10:30PM
2 DJs !! Playing Dance, Pop, Hip Hop, House
50/50
Best Costume
Fun and Fellowship
Contact Information :
Candace 604.897.4565
Andrea 604.854.9697
email: info@bcypaa3.org

News, Events, and Important Dates
"I know you told me no new relationships
for a year, but he's got seven months and
I've got five--does that count as a year?"
Sheila O., Massachusetts.
EACH YEAR, ON MY AA ANNIVERSARY, my
sponsor doesn't give me a medallion. In-
stead, he hands me a get well card.
Richael K.Haverhill, Massachusetts