SelfSeeking

HER anonymity?? Oh that's rich. *pff* If she works in a detox, and goes to local meetings... yeah. That's not going to be a well-kept secret. She'd need an alter-ego.

IO Storm

Jim..

So, we're talking about "contact upon release"..I don't see why she was upset about her

anonymity. I'm missing something...that is strange.

jimhere

She was using the example of people breaking her anonymity to give this guy a lecture on why it's so important for him to protect his anonymity.

I mean the guy is gonna die and she is talking to him about **** like that? That's why I wrote some inventory about it.

jimhere

I knew the day I went to work at this agency that I'd have no anonymity. Most of the staff and many of the clients know me.

That is why it is so important that I remain conscientious of how I conduct myself. To them I am AA and I want to present a good example.

McGowdog

I sort of protect my own anonymity for my "family's" sake, not my own.

And from the way I understand the tradition, I protect A.A. from me... but this username personna kind of takes on a personality of its own. Nothing touched by us is perfect.

But I like what you say about setting a good example. I may stumble, fall, fight, get mud on my face, etc. But I remain accountable for it too. I'm doing the best I can with my current spiritual fitness. What SR has taught me so far is that those on my same path may use a different word than I do from time to time... and my ego wrestles with that.

Sugah

I graduated last spring from a Big 10 university where I had, after a number of semesters, no anonymity at all. I was always respectful of traditions when I spoke at events, but my status as a person "in recovery" was well-known. As a result, I was contacted by faculty, staff, and students on a pretty regular basis about resources for themselves and loved ones.

Anyway, last spring, just a couple of weeks shy of graduation, I was crossing campus and happened to overhear a conversation between a student and a professor. She was upset about what she perceived as discrimination perpetuated against her by another professor and her fellow classmates in one of her classes. I knew the professor, so I approached, apologized for not minding my own business and asked the prof, "May I?" I then had a long conversation with her about anonymity and our right to break our own -- and at what cost. Similarly to Jim talking to the patient where he works, I have found myself in situations where it is of potential benefit to another person if I reveal myself. I asked some questions about the reasons she stood before the class and "exposed" herself, and, well, I'm a little too tired this afternoon to be politically correct about what she said. To very loosely paraphrase and bottom line her response, she saw addiction and alcoholism issues as "en vogue" and wanted to be a shining example of recovery to her class. Instead, she found herself being treated like a drug addict. At the time of our talk, she was "clean" for three months on drug replacement therapy.

She didn't have a "here" to leave it. No meetings, no sponsor, definitely no step work. I suggested she attend some NA meetings in a neighboring town and find some women like herself to talk to.

There are many, many reasons I'm grateful to my program, and one of them is the importance of and respect for anonymity it's taught me to carry out into the world. If I hadn't been taught about the traditions, that young woman could very well have been me, and instead of graduating in the fashion that I did, my own ego could have driven a wedge between me and the world, making academic progress and success difficult, if not impossible.

As for what goes on inside the rooms, I still stand by earlier reply, as supported by page 125: "We do talk about each other a great deal, but we almost invariably temper such talk by a spirit of love and tolerance."

Peace & Love,
Sugah

tomsteve

i would comment, but that would mean i have been to a meeting or 2 and would go against the saying.

sugarbear1

From AA History Lovers website:

Here in New Jersey, many groups have this statement read at the beginning of
meetings. It is read regardless of the meeting format i.e open, closed,
discussion, speaker, etc.

"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions ever reminding us
to place principles before personalities ... this means that who you see here
and what you hear here, please let it stay here when you leave here."

Is this a New Jersey thing....or a NY/NJ, East Coast AA tradition? As this group
encompasses a wide geography can anyone tell me if they hear this in their
respective areas and might anyone have any info on its roots?

Not looking for any clarifications of the anonymity concept .... just the
history behind this aphorism.

God Bless

John B

- - - -

From Glenn C.

Many AA meetings in northern Indiana read what is called the Tools of Recovery
at the beginning of the meeting.

It contains the anonymity phrase: "Whom you see here, what you hear here, when
you leave here, let it stay here. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our
program."

This originally came from a sign posted at Atomic Energy Commission centers
during the Second World War, in the U.S. for sure (a photograph has survived)
and probably in the U.K. as well (since the two countries were working closely
together to build the first atomic bomb).

The first recorded AA usage had "WHO you see here ...." The Al-Anons began using
the little slogan then, and quickly corrected the AA's grammar to read "WHOM you
see here ...."

Hoosier AA's quickly and gratefully accepted the Al-Anon correction of their
grammar. (You folks in New Jersey, come visit us here in Indiana sometime, and
we'll explain why it's whom instead of who.)

==========================================

THE A.A. TOOLS OF RECOVERY


ABSTINENCE

We commit ourselves to stay away from the first drink, one day at a time.

MEETINGS

We attend A.A. meetings to learn how the program works, to share our experience,
strength and hope with each other, and because through the support of the
fellowship, we can do what we could never do alone.

SPONSOR

A sponsor is a person in the A.A. program who has what we want and is
continually sober. A sponsor is someone you can relate to, have access to and
can confide in.

TELEPHONE

The telephone is our lifeline -- our meeting between meetings. Call before you
take the first drink. The more numbers you have, the more insurance you have.

LITERATURE

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is our basic tool and text. The Twelve
Steps and Twelve Traditions and A.A. pamphlets are recommended reading, and are
available at this meeting.

SERVICE

Service helps our personal program grow. Service is giving in A.A. Service is
leading a meeting, making coffee, moving chairs, being a sponsor, or emptying
ashtrays. Service is action, and action is the magic word in this program.

ANONYMITY

Whom you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here.
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our program.

(see The Tools of Recovery
for the story of how they were written)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Manhattan Project was supposedly begun in Oakridge, TN in a small town that wasn't even put on a map at one time....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coolio! I love researching....

laurie6781

I first saw this, long long before I ever had even heard of AA yet alone became
a member, lol

I was dating a Secret Service Agent and we were invited to dinner at a friends
of his house who happened to be an FBI agent, back in the early '60's. After
dinner, as all the guests were invited down to the basement rec room area,
nest to the doorway leading down stairs was this plaque:

"Who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here."

I never forgot that. Later, I would hear similar once in a while, mostly in a
'closed' meeting of AA.

After I got my first home computer in '99 and got on the net, I researched it
and I too came up with what llaprelle found. I had just always thought that
yes it was a federal government thing for federal employees, having no idea
it had started with The Manhattan Project.

I do believe it can be a 'comforting' thing for a newcomer who might be fearful
that 'people' will find out he/she is going to meetings. And since we alkies are
such a complex lot, with tendencies to be rebellious I don't believe it hurts to
remind us, especially the 'old' ones like me who may have CRS problems, rofl

I look at the poster/plaque that says this as just another saying on the meeting
hall walls that may or may not help with my recovery.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

aablessed29

Stop flea ******* this, get into the solution and working the steps! That is what this program is about