RESPONSIBILITY
I am glad to be a part of Alcoholics Anonymous, of that great fellowship which is spreading all over the world. I am only one of many A.A.'s, but I am one. I am grateful to be living at this time, when I can help A.A. to grow, when it needs me to put my shoulder to the wheel and help keep the message going.
I am glad to be able to be useful, to have a reason for living, to have a purpose in life. I want to lose my life in this fellowship and so find it again. I need the A.A. principles for the development of the buried life within me, that good life which I had misplaced but which I found again in this fellowship. This life within me is developing. I cannot yet know what it will be, but I know that it will be good. That's all I want to know, it will be good.
A.A. may be human in its organization, but it is divine in its purpose. The purpose is to point me toward the God of my understanding and the good life. My feet have been set upon the right path. I feel it in the depths of my being. I am going in the right direction. The future can be safely left to my Higher Power. Whatever the future holds, it cannot be too much for me to bear. I have the Divine Power with me, to carry me through everything that may happen.
Participating in the privileges of the A.A. fellowship, I shall share in the responsibilities, taking it upon myself to carry my fair share of the load, not grudgingly but joyfully. I am deeply grateful for the privileges I enjoy because of my membership in the A.A. way of life. They put an obligation upon me which I will not shirk. I will gladly carry my fair share of the burdens. Because of the joy of doing them, they will not longer be burdens but opportunities.
I shall not wait to be drafted for service to my fellow travelers, but I shall volunteer. I shall accept every opportunity to work for A.A. as a challenge and I shall do my best to accept every challenges and perform my task as best I can. I shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my criticism, creative in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give A.A. my interest, my enthusiasm, my devotion, and most of all, myself.
We in Alcoholics Anonymous know the joy of giving. We believe that when we come to the end of our lives, it will be only the things that we have given away that we will take with us. We will take no material thing with us, but we will take with us the kind words we have said, the kind deeds we have done, the help we may have given to our fellow alcoholics.
We alcoholics, who have been helped to find A.A. by someone who was interested in our welfare, believe that we are under a deep obligation to pass the message on to others. We members of Alcoholics Anonymous believe in this with all our hearts: If an alcoholic needs help and asks for help:
I AM MY BROTHER'S KEEPER.