The Peril of Anonymity

"In 2011, Susan Cheever, whose father, John, died of alcoholism and who is herself in recovery, wrote that it might be time to reject the second A of AA. In the New York Times, David Colman quoted novelist Molly Jong-Fast, who had gotten sober in AA thirteen years earlier: “It seems crazy that we can’t just be out with it, in this day and age. I don’t want to have to hide my sobriety; it’s the best thing about me.” In the Time article, Rick Ohrstrom, the chairman of C4Recovery Solutions, said, “I violate my anonymity daily. I am twenty-five years in recovery, and have been out there fighting for the rights of people in recovery, and I’m sick and tired of people in AA meetings not lifting a finger to do anything about it. They hide behind anonymity—if you don’t tell anyone else that recovery works, that’s what you’re doing.” ~David Sheff, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy