Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

STEP TWELVE

love and tolerance into our sometimes deranged family
lives that we bring to our A.A. group? Can we have the
same kind of confidence and faith in these people who
have been infected and sometimes crippled by our own ill-
ness that we have in our sponsors? Can we actually carry
the A.A. spirit into our daily work? Can we meet our newly
recognized responsibilities to the world at large? And can
we bring new purpose and devotion to the religion of our
choice? Can we find a new joy of living in trying to do
something about all these things?

Furthermore, how shall we come to terms with seeming
failure or success? Can we now accept and adjust to either
without despair or pride? Can we accept poverty, sickness,
loneliness, and bereavement with courage and serenity?
Can we steadfastly content ourselves with the humbler, yet
sometimes more durable, satisfactions when the brighter,
more glittering achievements are denied us?

The A.A. answer to these questions about living is "Yes,
all of these things are possible." We know this because we
see monotony, pain, and even calamity turned to good
use by those who keep on trying to practice A.A.'s Twelve
Steps. And if these are facts of life for the many alcoholics
who have recovered in A.A., they can become the facts of
life for many more.

Of course all A.A.'s, even the best, fall far short of such
achievements as a consistent thing. Without necessarily
taking that first drink, we often get quite far off the beam.
Our troubles sometimes begin with indifference. We are so-
ber and happy in our A.A. work. Things go well at home
and office. We naturally congratulate ourselves on what