Endigar 618 ~ A Powerful Tradition
From the Daily Reflections of November 25;
In the years before the publication of the book, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” we had no name. . . . By a narrow majority the verdict was for naming our book “The Way Out.” . . . One of our early lone members . . . found exactly twelve books already titled “The Way Out.”. . . So “Alcoholics Anonymous” became first choice. That’s how we got a name for our book of experience, a name for our movement and, as we are now beginning to see, a tradition of the greatest spiritual import. (“A.A. Tradition: How It Developed,” page 35-36)
Beginning with Bill’s momentous decision in Akron to make a telephone call rather than a visit to the hotel bar, how often has a Higher Power made itself felt at crucial moments in our history! The eventual importance that the principle of anonymity would acquire was but dimly perceived, if at all, in those early days. There seems to have been an element of chance even in the choice of a name for our Fellowship.
God is no stranger to anonymity and often appears in human affairs in the guises of “luck,” “chance,” or “coincidence.” If anonymity, somewhat fortuitously, became the spiritual basis for all of our Traditions, perhaps God was acting anonymously on our behalf.
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It seems that anonymity sneaked into the fellowship and grew from a protective device to a spiritual pursuit of humility. I read an interesting article where Dr. Bob said that we are also violating this principle if we transform this call to anonymity into a right to privacy within the fellowship. Hiding our last names from one another makes us somewhat useless to the drunk in need of connection. I have never considered that, and I am probably deeply guilty of this form of violation. Relationships require me to move from lurking to loving, which requires finding ways of getting close to one another. This speculation I will commit to prayer and meditation.
Daily Reprieve 
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