Principles and Personalities

Principle:  A fundamental assumption or guiding belief; moral rule or aspect.

Personality:  Charisma, or qualities that make a person stand out from a crowd. 

Bill W has this to say about anonymity in an article he wrote in 1946:  "Subtly but powerfully it reminds us that we are always to place principles before personalities; that we have renounced personal glorification in public; that our movement not only preaches but actually practices a true humility."  The definitions are interesting, no?  I'm not to strive to stand out, to be special, but rather to hew to a set of moral beliefs.  It makes the phrase "principles before personalities" really sing, really resonate.  I've typed in the definition of humility so many times I can't do it again but the jist is not that we think we're not worth anything at all but rather that we don't think our worth exceeds that of others.  Not a piece of shit and not God's gift to mankind; just a sheep, just a wildebeest in the middle of everything.

In the first forward of the book Alcoholics Anonymous the principle of anonymity is mentioned only three times: "Being mostly business or professional folk some of us could not carry on our occupations if known"; "when writing or speaking publicly about alcoholism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit his personal name, designating himself instead as a member of A.A."; and "very earnestly we ask the press also to observe this request for otherwise we shall be greatly handicapped."

I laugh at my long-held belief that anonymity is about protecting myself.  I think that this is important as you see in Bill's writing; I was very careful about protecting my personal anonymity when I was working because even today a lot of people see addiction as a moral failing or a lack of self-control.  When I see an A.A. member in public with someone I don't know I try to catch their eye before approaching them to see if I can pick up a subtle cue as to the wisdom of trying to explain how we know each other in front of someone who may be unaware of the A.A. membership.  But I have to remember that the real guiding spiritual principle behind anonymity is that I need to quit thinking of myself as so transcendently special.  It just ain't so.