Look behind you. See your sons and your daughters. They are your future. Look farther and see your sons’ and your daughters’ children and their children’s children even unto the Seventh Generation. That’s the way we were taught. Think about it: you yourself are a Seventh Generation. – Leon Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
The Creator designed us with a free will. That means we function from choices and consequences. It is important that we practice thinking about consequences before we make decisions about choices. Every choice I make is like setting up dominos one after the other that produce consequences. Not just for me but also for my children and for the children that are unborn. My choices and decisions today will have consequences for seven generations. For example, if I work on my own spiritual development and I walk the Red Road, the odds are that my children will. They will marry and their children will follow the Red Road, and so will my grandchildren even up to the seventh generation. This will happen because of the choices and decisions that I make today.
The Fellowship offers only one promise and that is freedom from active addiction, the solution that eluded us for so long. The Fellowship offers no promises other than freedom from active addiction. It is true that some of our members meet with financial success in recovery. They buy nice houses, drive new cars, wear fine clothes, and form beautiful families. These outward signs of prosperity are not the lot of all of our members, however. A great many of us never achieve financial success. This does not necessarily reflect on the quality of our recovery. When we are tempted to compare ourselves to these other, seemingly more affluent members, it is good to remember why we came to the rooms of the Fellowship. We came because our lives had fallen down around us. We were emotionally, physically, and spiritually defeated. Our basic text reminds us that “in desperation we sought help from each other in the Fellowship.” We came because we were beaten. For addicts, even one day clean is a miracle. When we remember why we came to the Fellowship and in what condition we arrived, we realize that material wealth pales in comparison to the spiritual riches we have gained in recovery.
Just for Today: I have been given a spiritual gift greater than material wealth: my recovery. I will thank the Creator of my understanding for my freedom from active addiction.
Clarity and simplicity are keys to our message. The Fellowship, all by itself, is enough. We promise freedom from active addiction. Tradition Ten is pretty simple: Addicts have opinions, but the Fellowship does not. Topics like politics and religion create unnecessary controversy and conflict. While civic involvement and participation in our faith communities may certainly help us as individuals to get and stay clean, the Fellowship is mute on these topics. To maintain an atmosphere of recovery for everyone, we do our best to leave potential distractions at the door.
The Fellowship is a simple program for complicated people. Opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody’s got one—but that doesn’t mean they’re useful. The Fellowship’s message is clear and simple. Any of us can stop using and stay stopped. Our obsession to use will dissipate. And we can find a new way to live our lives. Freedom from active addiction is our only promise. The program of the Fellowship has enough to keep us busy—no need to overcomplicate it. We have Steps, Traditions, and Concepts—twelve of each. We have spiritual principles. We have service, literature, and our Higher Power. We have a vision of making the Fellowship accessible to addicts around the world. And we have each other. We need each other to stay clean and to find freedom from active addiction and the complicated mess that goes along with it.
Keep it simple. One disease, one program, one promise.
The Fellowship is enough to keep me clean and free. I’m grateful for all my human complexities, for the outside support I may have, and for the activities and worlds I engage with. But I need to keep my recovery simple. I can commit to that for my own healing—as well as for everyone else who’s seeking freedom in the rooms with me today.