Anonymity

Anonymity makes it possible to leave not only our surnames, but all the labels and expectations with which we have been burdened outside… ~ Courage to Change, page 20

Labels are pronouns with substance,
with judgments, with expectations.
Simple labels like wife, mother, sister.
Complex tags as teacher, lawyer,
professor, engineer, judge, physician…
bag lady, tramp, whore, crook, pervert,
fatty, drunkard, addict.
But whatever label I may wear in the world,
in my home, among my colleagues,
in your sight, I shed it. Drop it. Lose it
when I walk through the doors
of the rooms of recovery. Here, I’m just me.
And you understand me, welcome me,
identify with me, love me.
Here you know me because you are me
and I am you and we have found hopelessness
and through that route we know we can reach
recovery.