Lets go in a new direction with the idea of sticking strictly to the Traditions.
"Practicing these Principles in all our affairs."
"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
Principles. Lets talk about what you might think the principles are.
"We are sure that humility, expressed by anonymity, is the greatest safequard that Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have."Pg. 192 12X12, Twelfth Printing, June 1973.
I learned to understand that anonymity was the best teacher of humility I had ever run across.
Early on in sobriety I told a fairly new friend that I was an alcohoic and some of the stuff that had gotten me into trouble.
"She said, "Pam not that I care because I like you, but why would you want to tell anyone you are alcohlic and WHY would you want to tell them about this awful stuff you have done.
WELL!!!!
YUK, she made me stop and think. I was kind of bragging. She didn't see it as important or interesting. She saw it as shameful.
A good lesson about why anonymity may have other purposes then keeping our bosses, friends, parents, children from knowing we are immoral sots.
Anonymity means humility, to know that I have done some pretty bad things but so have a lot of people in AA, a lot of them worse then what I have done.
To know that these awful things that we have done should not be bragged about or thought of as a social achievement.
As my mother said to me once when I bragged that I had stopped drinking AND stopped smoking. "Yes dear, but then again your sister never did drink or smoke did she." Ouch, well, maybe my acievement wasn't so great. Maybe it was something I should have been doing all along.
I guess I came to believe that it's only important that "I" know I am doing the right thing and that only my "HP" should care that I am doing the right thing.
"Humility" practicing these principles in all my affairs.
I love this program.
PamW
PS: We have more principles then this one!!!!!!!!
