The Tradition of personal anonymity and no honors
at the public level is our protective shield.
We dare not meet the power temptation naked. . .
My own life story gathered for years
around an implacable pursuit of money, fame, and power,
anticlimaxed by my near sinking in a sea of alcohol.
Though I survived that grim misadventure,
I well understand that the dread neurotic germ
of the power contagion has survived in me also.
It is only dormant, and it can again multiply and rend me --
and AA too. . .
Hence our Tradition of anonymity,
and hence my clear obligation to decline this signal honor
with all the immediate satisfaction and benefit
it could have yielded.

Thought to Ponder....

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation,
of all our Traditions.

Recovery Related Acronym

A N O N Y M O U S = Actions, Not Our Names, Yield Maintenance Of Unity & Service.