Before the Plain Language Big Book was released, I was strongly opposed to it. I actively voted against it because I believed the original Big Book should remain untouched.
After years of service in Alcoholics Anonymous — serving multiple terms as GSR, a term and a half as DCM, participating on ad hoc committees, and helping with countless AA-related events and service opportunities — I thought I understood what was best for the fellowship. Looking back, I realize my experience in service should have made me more open-minded.
Instead, my own educational privilege made me narrow-minded and, at times, almost intolerant of certain approaches to 12-step work. Because I could easily understand the original language of the Big Book, I assumed everyone else should be able to as well.
When the Plain Language Big Book was released, I bought one mostly so I could criticize it. Instead, it completely changed my perspective.
Not long after, I began working with a sponsee who faced educational barriers. We used the Plain Language Big Book alongside the original Big Book as a reference while working through the steps together. When we reached Bill’s Story, she began crying and told me it was the furthest she had ever made it in the Big Book, because she had never truly been able to understand it before.
That moment changed me.
For the first time, I understood that the purpose of literature is not to preserve my personal preferences — it is to help carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. The Plain Language Big Book gave my sponsee access to a program she previously felt excluded from.
Today, she is approaching one year sober and actively sponsors other women herself.
That experience fundamentally changed the way I view AA literature. Something may not be intended for me personally, but that does not mean it cannot save someone else’s life.
Abby E