CLA Tradition #11 Day After Thanksgiving Workshop

[Cindy]

Dear Friend of CLA:

This is the month in which Americans celebrate by giving thanks and
recognizing what we have to be grateful for. For those of us in CLA,
we are grateful for the foundation of A.A. and its heritage of the 12
Traditions.

November’s Tradition of the month is the 11th. It provides advice on
how information about CLA attracts others to our 12-Step program while
still practicing anonymity of individuals and safeguarding the public
face of CLA. When A.A. began, this was a big challenge, and in this
era of ever-encroaching mass communication, it remains so. How do we
encourage those who need CLA to learn about us, and how shall we
present our program without compromising our anonymity?

Remember that CLA does not sanction public relations that expose any
individual’s identity. This position preserves our security and safety
so we are free to speak at meetings and not fear that we will be
identified publicly in the media or elsewhere.


Spend a few minutes this month in reading Tradition 11 to understand
how the apparent contradiction between anonymity and attraction are
reconciled in the program.

Here is November’s Tradition:

Tradition 11: Our public relations policy is based on attraction
rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at
the level of press, radio, films, television and all other media.

The long version of each tradition is included in the Big Book of
Alcoholics Anonymous:

Tradition 11: Our relations with the general public should be
characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid
sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought
not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations
should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion.
There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our
friends recommend us.

Reminder:
On Friday, November 27 (the day after Thanksgiving), WSO is presenting
its first telephone workshop on the Traditions of CLA and how they
apply to the CLA program and our personal recovery. During that
workshop, we will be discussing the first three Traditions.

The time for the workshop is 2–4 p.m., Pacific Time and 5–7 p.m.,
Eastern Time.

The telephone number to call is (712) 775-7000, and the access code is
335269.

I have attached a copy of the flyer for this seminar.

When attending the seminar, please adhere to the protocols set up.
After each presentation, there will be a session for sharing about the
Tradition. Let the moderator know you wish to speak when prompted and
wait to be called on before speaking. Please refrain from interrupting
others, especially the speakers during their presentation. While you
are not speaking, please mute yourself so that any background noise
will not both other callers.
Join us then and learn more about the Traditions. It will give you
another tool in your efforts to recover from cluttering, and something
else for which we can give thanks.

In fellowship,
Kathy H.
CLA WSO Chairperson


P.S. If you are interested in helping us to plan future seminars,
please contact us by email at meet...@clutterersanonymous.net. We
need volunteers from both telephone meetings and face-to-face
meetings.