Short form:
Throughout our structure, a traditional
"Right of Appeal" ought to prevail, so that minority opinion will be
heard and personal grievances receive careful consideration.
Long form:
Throughout our world services structure, a
traditional "Right of Appeal" ought to prevail, thus assuring us that
minority opinion will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal
grievances will be carefully considered.
Questions in service
·
At group or Intergroup level, etc., is the
expression of minority opinion encouraged?
·
At group or Intergroup level, etc., are
petitions for the redress of personal grievances heard?
Questions in life
·
Do I respect the right of the minority to
disagree and express that disagreement?
·
When I am in a majority, do I encourage minority
opinion to be expressed?
·
Do I consider that the minority may sometimes be
right?
·
Do I actually listen with an open mind?
·
Do I continue to exercise patience, tolerance,
kindness, and love with people who disagree?
·
When I am in a minority, do I exercise my right
of appeal and petition?
·
Do I collude or collaborate in what I believe wrong
for fear of the majority's reaction?
·
Do I judge what is right and wrong by what the
majority believe and do?
·
When overwhelmed by my own addictions, character
defects, or circumstances, do I appeal and petition to the higher authority of
God?
Quotations
'In the light of the principle of the "Right of
Appeal," all minorities—whether in our staffs, committees, corporate
boards, or among the Trustees—should be encouraged to file minority reports
whenever they feel a majority to be in considerable error. And when a minority
considers an issue to be such a grave one that a mistaken decision could
seriously affect AA as a whole, it should then charge itself with the actual
duty of presenting a minority report to the Conference.
In granting this traditional "Right of Appeal,,"
we recognize that minorities frequently can be right; that even when they are
partly or wholly in error they still perform a most valuable service when, by
asserting their "Right of Appeal," they compel a thoroughgoing debate
on important issues. The well-heard minority, therefore, is our chief
protection against an uninformed, misinformed, hasty or angry majority.