Step 5 · Tradition 5 · Concept V
Speaking the hard truth
Step Five says it out loud, Tradition Five keeps the message plain, and Concept V makes sure the quiet voice gets heard.
Step 5 · Recovery
Integrity
Sharing our inventory out loud with God and another person
Read Step 5 at aa.org (opens in a new tab)Tradition 5 · Unity
Purpose
One purpose: carrying the message to the suffering alcoholic
Read Tradition 5 at aa.org (opens in a new tab)Concept V · Service
Appeal
Minority voices are heard; grievances get a fair hearing
Read Concept V at aa.org (opens in a new tab)The Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts for World Service are copyrighted by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Read them in full at aa.org.
The thread
Step Five is where private honesty becomes spoken honesty: we tell another human being the exact nature of what we found. Tradition Five keeps the group honest about what it is for, carrying one message to one kind of sufferer rather than drifting into everything else. Concept V protects the honesty of the whole structure by guaranteeing that a minority view is heard and a grievance can be appealed, so that an uncomfortable truth is never simply outvoted into silence. Integrity, in all three, means the whole truth gets said.
Where it shows up
The member who finally reads his inventory to a sponsor often discovers that the thing he most wanted to leave out was the thing that most needed saying. A home group lives Tradition Five when a member gently steers a meeting back to alcoholism after it has wandered into politics or other problems, because the newcomer in the back came for one message and deserves to hear it. When a district or area assembly votes, Concept V asks the chair to invite the minority to speak, and more than once a minority voice has changed enough minds to reverse the outcome. At the Conference a delegate may bring a minority report, and any member with a personal grievance may petition for it to be carefully considered. Saying the exact nature of the thing, whether to a sponsor or to a roomful of delegates, is how A.A. keeps its integrity.