The simple ethic of service

A consistent problem in the service structure is not learning to walk before you can run.

The simple jobs in AA: greeting, chairing a meeting, sharing effectively, giving a longer pitch, setting out chairs, doing the tea ... all of these, to be done well, require listening to predecessors, a great deal of care, attention to detail, focus whilst the job is being carried out, refusing to get sidetracked by ego objectives or more entertaining opportunities, foresight, consideration of others, continually considering how to perform the job with maximum effectiveness, efficiency, and harmony, and passing the experience onto successors, preferably in a structured way.

Problems further down the structure, in my view, seem to stem from failing to learn the simple lessons of service. I've heard Conference Delegates suggest that knowledge of the Concepts can be picked up 'as they go along'. Dead wrong. The detail matters, and the detailed always mattered.

This is instructive:

Ernst Křenek: On Karl Kraus

At a time when people were generally decrying the Japanese bombardment of Shanghai, I met Karl Kraus struggling over one of his famous comma problems. He said something like: 'I know that everything is futile when the house is burning. But I have to do this, as long as it is at all possible; for if those who were supposed to look after commas had always made sure they were in the right place, Shanghai would not be burning'.