At one of the meetings I used to attend the chairperson was obliged to make a personal comment on what anonymity meant to them. I have seen many meetings where it was customary to have someone at random make a comment on the subject. I know I am contrary by nature but it seems to me much better to go directly to the original source. In reading an online obituary and related articles in a newspaper issue from when Bill Wilson passed away I came across this quote I liked. "Anonymity isn't just something to save us from alcoholic shame and stigma; it's deeper purpose is to keep those fool egos of ours from running hog wild after money and fame at AA's expense."
Welcome Glen1, ... glad you found MIP ... great 1st share ...
I DO love the quote you posted and I think it very appropriate for us ... too often there are celebrities or others of importance that break their anonymity and either praise AA or poo-poo it ... and later you find out they didn't follow the steps or even the 'traditions' ... Bill W had the insight to see where some of us might wind up, so he tried to help keep our feet firmly planted on the ground with this ...
Love ya man and God Bless,
Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Aloha Glen and welcome to the board also. Automatically after reading your post my old program responded, "I'm powerless over that also". When I first got into recovery my nature was to be contentious which I was and to show me that it is still a problem recently within some ptsd sessions at the VA I responded to my psycologist that "I don't roll over for anyone or anything". It came out and it was the truth my own private arguement against letting go and letting God or anyone else. I've never been anything in AA other than as an equal a servant. Most of the stuff I'll knee jerk to I'll just let go. That brings serenity to my sobriety.
I have had a few people in AA ask me my last name. I was a bit put off by that as I thought that is how AA got its name and that the "Anonymous" part was to protect each individual's privacy. I asked another member about this and was quoted the 11th Tradition, We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films" and was told that eventually others would know my first and last name. My sponsor knows my last name but in order to protect my own "alcoholic shame and stigma" I choose to remain my first name to others in the groups I attend.
Hey BTY, ... I feel there are certain 'degrees' of anonymity that a person goes through in AA ... ... ... for instance, anonymity was VERY important to me early on because of the exact way you feel right now ... but as time goes on, your name and what you do and who your family and friends are, will eventually become known ... if you stick around long enough (years), then keeping these things so private among your closest friends in the group there, will not be as important as it was in the beginning ...
I think the more important issue here is the one of getting years of sobriety and then publicly coming out to tie AA into that success ... this sets up the public to watch our every step and should we ever fail to maintain our sobriety, then the public will see it as a failure of AA ... which just isn't the right representation of who and what we are ...
I don't announce myself at meetings, like some have gone on to do, stating my first and last name ... I simply say 'Hi, I'm Roger and I'm an alcoholic' ... although most everyone knows my last name already ... my thought here, is if you're new, then stick around and you'll come to know me and everything about me ... if you're just visiting and passing through, then you don't need to know anymore than I've already told you ... for now ... .. ...
Where we really start to break our anonymity is at the 'meetings before the meetings' and the 'meetings after the meetings' when we use that opportunity to really get to know, and become part of, our new AA family ... I highly recommend to my sponsees that they come at least 20 minutes before the start of our meetings and to make plans to stick around 20 minutes or so afterwards ... many times we'll find ourselves standing in the parking lot an hour after the meeting was over ... to me, that's a huge part of what AA is all about ...
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Dr Bob wrote a piece on anonymity in which he said (roughly) "to maintain personal anonymity at any other level than press radio tv and films etc is as much a breach of the principle of anonymity as going public in the media." He was trying to tell us we are not meant to be anonymous from each other. If any AA in my town needs me they can look me up in the phone book and i will be available. It's very awkward turning up at hospital to visit someone whose last name you don't know. What about when someone dies, you may miss their funeral. Or a member turns up in court and needs support.
We are spiritually bound to respect the tradition of anonymity and ought never disclose another's membership of the fellowship, nor does anyone need to give their full name if they don't want to. But sooner or later, when this program works its magic, the member will lose that fear and will want to maintain and grow there sobriety through service to others, and to do that, you have to be contactable, identifiable and known to your fellow AAs.
That was a really good post Glen, I hope you post again.
God bless, MikeH
-- Edited by Fyne Spirit on Friday 8th of November 2013 11:49:12 PM