76. THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE

12 step life.  can people in recovery share that they're in recovery?  has the tenant of anonymity hurt these people?  being anonymous doesn't mean being secret.  bill and dr. bob started the most successful addiction treatment process in the world.  the film encourages changing the message from, "i am an addict", to "i am a person in long term recovery".  the film shows history and attempts to show that the message could be better shared with the world, and the disease could lose stigma only WHEN the message stops being anonymous.  the film makes the point that if hiv had stayed "anonymous", there never would have been the funding, research and organization to make the difference we've realized in the past 30 years.  the director advocates that public awareness will go far in making the public as a whole understand addiction and recovery.  faces and voices of recovery was a grassroots effort that eventually spread nationwide to change the language and image of addiction and recovery. people in recovery need to be proud of their recovery and speak out about the pride of recovery. recovery is cool.  it's not weakness.  it's an illness without a cure, but it has a solution.  even with this powerful message, that i have a personal interest in,  the film is pretty dry and it took me 3 nights to get through the hour and a half; i just couldn't watch it longer than 30 minutes at a time!  however, make history; don't silent..  become part of the solution.