Dr. Bob’s Last Message

AA Thought for Today
There are two or three things that . . . would be fitting to lay a little emphasis; one is the simplicity of our Program. Let’s not louse it all up with Freudian complexes and things that are interesting to the scientific mind, but have very little to do with our actual AA work. Our 12 Steps, when simmered down to the last, resolve themselves into the words love and service. We understand what love is and we understand what service is. . .
Let us also remember to guard that erring member - the tongue, and if we must use it, let’s use it with kindness and consideration and tolerance.
And one more thing; none of us would be here today if somebody hadn’t taken time to explain things to us, to give us a little pat on the back, to take us to a meeting or two, to have done numerous little kind and thoughtful acts in our behalf. So let us never get the degree of smug complacency so that we’re not willing to extend or attempt to, that help which has been so beneficial to us, to our less fortunate brothers.
-- Delivered at the 1st international conference of Alcoholics Anonymous at Cleveland, Ohio in July, 1950