Editors’ Corner

Dear ESSAY readers,

The Slogans are snippets of wisdom designed to be short and memorable enough to lodge in our forgetful and stubborn minds as we trudge the road of recovery.

They are little lozenges of wisdom and are sure to inspire us whenever we are doubtful and agitated. One member shared: “My initial contempt for the slogans reminds me just how closed my mind really was one time. I particularly bristled at ‘Keep It Simple’, but now I know that my best days in recovery are when I keep things as simple as possible.”

Some of these slogans may have originally come from the language of the Oxford Group Movement, but it could also be that they were originals from Bill and Dr. Bob and the early members. We do know that a great many of our slogans have been around since the early days of our Fellowship. In December of 1958 Ruth Hock (non-alcoholic), who was AA’s first secretary, wrote in response to a question concerning different slogans:

“Bill [W.] and I first worked together in January 1936 when he had been sober just a little over one year and at that time ‘Easy Does It’, ‘Live and Let Live’, and ‘First Things First’, were part of the daily conversation. They were also used in the very first drafts of the book, but probably only Bill himself could tell you where he picked them up.“

We hope that you enjoy the various shares on the slogans in this ESSAY edition and that one or two of them may further open your mind and continue to enhance your recovery.