"anonymous" in the Big Book

W e, of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill.

We have concluded to publish an anonymous volume setting forth the problem as we see it.

“Two of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous came to see me.

When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all you can about him.

On your first visit tell him about the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Some day we hope that Alcoholics Anonymous will help the public to a better realization of the gravity of the alcoholic problem, but we shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or hostility.

We want the wives of Alcoholics Anonymous to address the wives of men who drink too much.

As wives of Alcoholics Anonymous, we would like you to feel that we understand as perhaps few can.

Many of Alcoholics Anonymous were like that.

Though it is entirely separate from Alcoholics Anonymous, it uses the general principles of the A.A. program as a guide for husbands, wives, relatives, friends, and others close to alcoholics.

We families of Alcoholics Anonymous keep few skeletons in the closet.

Though he is now a most effective member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he still smokes and drinks coffee, but neither his wife nor anyone else stands in judgment.

It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous.

High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.

They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.

Two days later, a future fellow of Alcoholics Anonymous stared glassily at the strangers beside his bed.

Said the future Fellow Anonymous: “Damn little to laugh about that I can see.”

A community thirty miles away has fifteen fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Being a large place, we think that some day its Fellowship will number many hundreds.* But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals.

Some day we hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find a Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination.

Some of them may sink and perhaps never get up, but if our experience is a criterion, more than half of those approached will become fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.

May God bless you and keep you—until then. * Alcoholics Anonymous will be glad to hear from you.