A GREAT PARADOX
These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed
among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God,
and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today
animates A.A.’s all around the globe.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151
The great paradox of A.A. is that I know I cannot keep the
precious gift of sobriety unless I give it away.
My primary purpose is to stay sober. In A.A. I have no other
goal, and the importance of this is a matter of life or death
for me. If I veer from this purpose I lose. But A.A. is not
only for me; it is for the alcoholic who still suffers. The
legions of recovering alcoholics stay sober by sharing with
fellow alcoholics. The way to my recovery is to show others
in A.A. that when I share with them, we both grow in the
grace of the Higher Power, and both of us are on the road
to a happy destiny.