November 2020 - Editorial

After focusing on the Legacy of Recovery last month, November’s issue of Roundabout is based loosely around the second Legacy – Unity.

For the first few years after I arrived in the Fellowship the Traditions, to me, were just what was on the other scroll in the meetings I went to. When I listened to the top table the person would sometimes accidently point to the Traditions before realising their mistake. They would quickly pivot in their seat and point to the Twelve Steps and continue on with their share. I did not appreciate their importance, at all.

During this time I would sometimes get to a lunchtime meeting where once a month a speaker was asked to share on a Tradition. I used to sit and listen in awe as the speaker would explain the history behind the particular Tradition and its relevance to the Fellowship today. I listened as if to a history lesson.

It wasn’t until I went into service for Roundabout that one of those regular speakers said to me “Kate, if you’re going to do service for AA, do your service the AA way. Read the long form of the Traditions in the 12 and 12, read AA Comes of Age and become familiar with the Service Structure Handbooks.” Much like the cartoon on page 20 of this month’s magazine he was encouraging me to ‘circle my wagon’. Instead, I bristled. Did he not know the proofreading expertise that I was going to bring to Roundabout?!

That was in November 2015. Now I can squirm and laugh in equal measure at my childish response. Now I can understand that the way we preserve the gift of sobriety for the alcoholics of the future is through Unity and that Unity is achieved by having a working knowledge of the Twelve Traditions. Now I smile as I catch myself starting to say to others “Do your service the AA way…”. Now my wagon is circled.

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Contents

2 Sub-Committee Notice Board

3 Editorial

4 Extract From AA Literature

6 Unity

8 Guided By A Power

10 Unity Helps Me Find My Rightful Place

12 I Am Never Alone

i-iv AA Conference Approved Books

13 The Roundabout Interview

16 From An Oldtimer

17 Dear Roundabout...

18 Article From The Grapevine Archives

20 The Power Of The Programme

21 That Was The Week That Was

23 Subscribe To Roundabout