We’re very grateful for Ruth P.’s work in translating the German newsletters into English. The following is an excerpt from their sixth newsletter, dated February:

“…At the beginning of my SA membership, when I was not yet able to stay sober continuously, I had great difficulty maintaining a clear standpoint regarding our definition of sobriety when talking to a newcomer, and first conversations with newcomers were very unpleasant for me. Today this doesn’t surprise me, I was miles away from sober thinking! Today I know what an inner liberation I got from complying with the sobriety definition. I have become clearer and have lost all fear toward newcomers, of telling them clearly what our aim is.

“Therefore I think it is time to give up the secrecy, that for me are parts of our common disease, because in most cases the acting out of our addiction took place in secrecy. We should become aware of the fact that the principle of anonymity is about the anonymity of the individual and does not mean the anonymity of the groups or SA as a whole.…”