New Friend

Yesterday I received a delightful email from a young man by the name of Paul. Paul, or paulcoholic as he goes by on his blog, maintains four blogs. Having spent some time on each of these blogs I can say with certainty that this is a very special person. I also think it is not a coincidence that God sent me a Paul at the beginning of the Pauline year.

This is what Paul has to say about Paul from his profile:

I am a sober alcoholic and revert to the Church who found continued sobriety and serenity in the Faith. A 12-Step program established a basis, but I needed something more...

His main blog is called Sober Catholic which he describes as "The musings, meditations and meanderings of a sober alcoholic who maintains his sobriety by the graces of God through the Catholic Church."

He also maintains The Four Last Things, God's Merciful Love (which is mainly his lovely wife's blog), and Trudging Paulcoholic's Road. With a bit of extra time on his hands, even though he works a full-time job, Paul started Catholics in Recovery. In Paul's words it is "a social network for Catholics recovering from addictions (any: alcohol, drugs, whatever). It is just a place where people can meet in discussion forums, upload and share photos, videos and whatever. I figure the discussion forums would be most useful. It also fills a little bit that lack of interactive sites for Catholic alcoholics and addicts I mentioned above." (quote from his email)

One of Paul's loyal readers, John, mentioned that I was doing a little bit of "12 Stepping the Catholic Way" so Paul took a gander and being young he decided I was a rational human being. Please don't tell him the truth. Please!!

John writes the "Venerable Matt Talbot Resource Center". John is Dr. John Blair, a psychologist and professor emeritus, whose current research includes addiction recovery, conversion experiences, and 12-step spirituality. I know that Terry over at Abbey-Roads 2 is a Matt Talbot fan and has been referenced on this page that tells a bit of Matt Talbot's story.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Today was the day to inaugurate my new chaise lounge in a wonderful shady spot in the yard. I wanted to take some pictures and after snapping two (not very good) pictures my battery needed re-charging.

Not to worry, though. Notice the chair is empty. It is empty because I really never got to enjoy the shade. Why? I was doing "12th step work." Step Twelve says "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."


This afternoon a friend and I removed two kids ages 15 and 16 to safe homes after we discovered their father had "gone back out", a euphemism in the program for someone who starts to drink again. Closer to the home front, I consoled my brother over the continued drinking of his son, my nephew. It appears my nephew may be in some serious legal trouble, the details unknown at this time. It doesn't look good. My nephew is an attorney (lots and lots of drunk attorneys) and if what we suspect is true - there goes the law license. But even more important, if he doesn't stop drinking soon he will die.

The Chair is Empty

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

Second Reading

2 Tim 4:6-8,17-18

I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,will award to me on that day,
and not only to me,but to all who have longed for his appearance.

The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.

And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threatand
and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

So here I was last night after a long day of shopping and fun stuff. Tired - very, very tired. And someone sent a card to me on Facebook. It was not a totally appropriate card but I just shrugged it off.

Hey, how about I send a card to all my friends? Yum, great idea! Let's check out that application. Seems straight forward enough.

Send to all your friends? it asks...............

Well, sure - even the Cardinal of the Catholic Church, the Seminarian, and the brand new priest. Let 'er rip, Facebook.

So just before getting ready for Mass this evening I realize I have sent the same stupid and inappropriate card to everyone. You know that feeling of panic when you have just said something horrible about your boss and realize he is standing right behind you? Well I had that feeling times ten!!

I sent another card to apologize and got it right this time. In the future I don't think I'll be sending too many cards.

* * * *

Day Off

Still here!

This has been an incredibly long and busy week. I know most folks seem to have less time in the summer and that is certainly the case around here. Between the work outside (which is finally getting caught up), my ebay auctions, and classes at church, there has hardly been a moment to spare.


We are expecting temperatures in the high nineties for about four or five days so that means lots of pre-watering to keep everything outside looking its best. We run tractor sprinklers all night to get ahead and so far things are doing well. Finally got the cutting garden done and I have a young gal from church helping weed the daylily beds.


My reward for working hard this week?? A trip to the fabric store, Costco, KMart, T.J. Maxx, and last, but never least, the book store! I will probably hit a few thrift stores, too. Oy Vey - I'll need a day off from my day off!

Do I Have a Problem?

Esther had a great question. She asked how someone knows if they have a problem with alcohol. I would expand that to include any of the things that could be a problem in our life such as pornography, gambling, eating, shopping, or even a religous fervor expressed in an unhealthy manner.

Below is the "official" questionaire Alcoholic's Anonymous uses as a guide to help you think it through. This is a good way to address any issue in your life. You may just plug in a substitute for drinking.

As most of you know, I tend to "cut through the fluff" to get to the heart of an issue. For me the bottom line has always been this; Would a person who was drinking normally even ask themselves or someone else if they had a problem? Probably not. Both my husband and I have always said, "If you ask, you probably are." Simple!

I'm added comments in red that pertained to my own drinking.

1 - Have you ever decided to stop drinking for a week or so, but only lasted for a couple of days?Most of us in A.A. made all kinds of promises to ourselves and to our families. We could not keep them. Then we came to A.A. A.A. said: "Just try not to drink today." (If you do not drink today, you cannot get drunk today.)

There were long periods, sometimes years, in my life when I rarely drank at all. Alcoholism is a progressive disease and it was just marching right along whether I did, or did not, drink. And guess what? It's been progressing for the past almost 19 years. If I started drinking again, I would not be starting from where I left off 18 years ago. It would be at the level of having never stopped at all. Scary, huh?!

2 - Do you wish people would mind their own business about your drinking-- stop telling you what to do?In A.A. we do not tell anyone to do anything. We just talk about our own drinking, the trouble we got into, and how we stopped. We will be glad to help you, if you want us to.

Since my husband and I were both drinking we certainly didn't accuse each other. My Mom, who was in the program, died when I was 36 and there was no one else to question our drinking. I wouldn't have listened anyway.

3 - Have you ever switched from one kind of drink to another in the hope that this would keep you from getting drunk? We tried all kinds of ways. We made our drinks weak. Or just drank beer. Or we did not drink cocktails. Or only drank on weekends. You name it, we tried it. But if we drank anything with alcohol in it, we usually got drunk eventually.

I could tell so many funny stories about this issue. I remember switching glasses with each one getting progressively bigger. That way I could just "have one" . Of course that "one" martini was the size of a industrial mop pail. I was like many women who did not drink during the day, so my "drink" became a reward for working hard all day.

4 - Have you had to have an eye-opener upon awakening during the past year?Do you need a drink to get started, or to stop shaking? This is a pretty sure sign that you are not drinking "socially."

Bleh! Not on my radar.

5 - Do you envy people who can drink without getting into trouble?At one time or another, most of us have wondered why we were not like most people, who really can take it or leave it.

The words "having a drink" were not in our vocabulary. I never could understand someone having one drink. But that's ok, because they couldn't understand my need to have more than one. And the twain shall never meet - ever.

6 - Have you had problems connected with drinking during the past year? Be honest! Doctors say that if you have a problem with alcohol and keep on drinking, it will get worse -- never better. Eventually, you will die, or end up in an institution for the rest of your life. The only hope is to stop drinking.

My problems with alcohol were centered on defects of character. Through the grace of God I never ended up in jail, lost a job, or squished some innocent person on the highway. But I know absolutely that if I had continued to drink I would have died.


7 - Has your drinking caused trouble at home? Before we came into A.A., most of us said that it was the people or problems at home that made us drink. We could not see that our drinking just made everything worse. It never solved problems anywhere or anytime.

With two alcoholics drinking in the same home, things ran pretty smoothly. There were no children to warp and there was no problem that couldn't be solved with a few drinks. Right?

8 - Do you ever try to get "extra" drinks at a party because you do not get enough?Most of us used to have a "few" before we started out if we thought it was going to be that kind of party. And if drinks were not served fast enough, we would go some place else to get more.

We always had a few drinks before going out clubbing or to a party. Pretty soon you just don't go places where folks are drinking normally.

9 - Do you tell yourself you can stop drinking any time you want to, even though you keep getting drunk when you don't mean to? Many of us kidded ourselves into thinking that we drank because we wanted to. After we came into A.A., we found out that once we started to drink, we couldn't stop.

Well, that would be a big "Yes".

10 - Have you missed days of work or school because of drinking?Many of us admit now that we "called in sick" lots of times when the truth was that we were hung-over or on a drunk.

I never missed work because of drinking.

11 - Do you have "blackouts"? A "blackout" is when we have been drinking hours or days which we cannot remember. When we came to A.A., we found out that this is a pretty sure sign of alcoholic drinking.

My second blackout is what put me in A.A. For women, the downhill slide is fairly rapid when they reach the age of 40. I was 45 when I entered A.A.

12 - Have you ever felt that your life would be better if you did not drink?Many of us started to drink because drinking made life seem better, at least for a while. By the time we got into A.A., we felt trapped. We were drinking to live and living to drink. We were sick and tired of being sick and tired.

My goal was to be in an "altered state", as my husband calls it. I really didn't care if it was alcohol or a little yellow or blue pill. In an altered state, I could feel confident, smart, and just plain happy.


A.A. suggests that if you answered yes to 4 or more of those questions, you may have a problem. Thing is, I don't know too many active alcoholics who ever read the darn thing. They're too busy drinking.

Twelve Steps for Catholics ~ part 15

Step Nine

“ Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

In Step Eight, we made a list of people we had harmed, and have reflected carefully upon each instance. Now is the time to make some direct amends. This is going to require the virtue of prudence and a healthy dose of courage.

The natural place to start is with those closest to us – our family. Even though a period of time may have passed without drinking, do not be surprised if some of your apologies are met with a sense of wariness or outright disbelief. We have wounded those closest to us the most and they have heard our “morning after” confessions before. Just because you may be floating on a cloud of newly acquired knowledge, don’t expect everyone to join you on that cloud. It took time to destroy your relationships and it will take time to heal them.

Now is the time to practice that great virtue of prudence. We make amends “except when to do so would injure them or others.” If you have been unfaithful to your marriage vows, it would be wise to deal with that in the confessional. There is absolutely no point in revealing that to your mate. That is your cross to bear, not theirs, so keep your trap shut! Capice?

Moving outside the family circle brings us to bosses, co-workers, and friends. Exercise the same prudence when making amends to these folks also. Suppose for instance you have been dipping into the petty cash at work to fund your habit. Telling your boss, who may be a bit of a jerk, would get you fired and put your family in financial jeopardy. My advice? Sneak the money back into petty cash the same way you sneaked it out. I’m sure your priest will find another way of doing penance that will bring satisfaction.

In the Big Book after the Ninth Step, there is a passage that we in the program call “the promises.” Read them carefully.

The AA Promises

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? We think not.
They are being fulfilled among us - sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
They will always materialize if we work for them.


Alcoholics Anonymous p83-84 (the "Big Book")


Isaiah 65:6 "Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom...

Have one

for Me.

Please!

Before we move onto Step Nine (scary), lets talk a bit about how folks react to my alcoholism. Just recently, someone who shall remain nameless, sent me a virtual margarita on Facebook. You may ask why someone would send a margarita to a drunk. Let me tell you why. It is because alcohol is my problem, not theirs. Why should my problem change the way they think or act? It shouldn’t and I’m glad it doesn’t.

I have a disease, disorder, or disability, depending on whom you speak to. I really don’t care what you call it, the end result is the same; I don’t drink alcohol. Before anyone out there starts feeling complacent about their own lives, let me remind you that everyone, in some way or another, has a disease, disorder, or disability.

We all have things going on in our lives that through the grace of God, can be overcome. Take a quick trip through the Ten Commandments and you should be able to come up with a pretty good list of your own “disabilities.” We Catholics call it an examination of conscience.

When I finish my work tonight, instead of having a martini in a cut crystal glass with perfectly cracked ice and several anchovy-stuffed olives (I was a very fussy drunk), I will have a homemade, iced sugar-free coffee drink. If you don’t have a problem with alcohol, then I hope you will have a margarita or martini this evening. Maybe you should even have two, one for yourself and one for me. That would be nice. I promise I won’t hang over your shoulder, slobbering and speaking gibberish. Alcohol is a non-issue in my life and I want it to be that way for you too.

What I would like is for you “normies” to benefit in some small way from the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and my journey. We consider our “problem” to be 10% physical and 90% mental. That means you guys have a pretty good chance of suffering the same “defects of character” that we have.

Once I was complaining to a fellow traveler in the program about an annoying person in my life. After I was through with my rant, he turned to me and said, “Darlin’ you have to feel sorry for them. You have a program and they don’t.” My journey is guided and illuminated by the teachings of the Catholic Church. The Twelve Steps are a supplement and a tool that can be utilized by anyone.

And hey, if you want to be my friend on Facebook, you can send me all the margaritas or martinis you want.

R.C.I.A

Tonight Father is going to be teaching about evolution vs creation, including covering the first three Chapters of Genesis.

My part to teach?

How about teaching paragraphs 279-324 in the Catechism? says Father Bill.

Mmmmmkay, I should be able to whip that together in two or three years. I am now up to four pages of notes just to simplify forty-five paragraphs of the Catechism. Good thing I like to talk and can tell a great joke. I can divert the classes attention from the fact that I have no clue of what I am doing.

But guess what? Somehow or another it always works. What would we do without the Holy Spirit?

Annual A.A. Picnic

and

Long Timers Meeting

Today my A.A. home group is hosting our annual barbecue and Long Timers Meeting. It is open to all A.A. groups in the entire area and we usually have about 100 to 150 folks come. After much eating and drinking of soda pop and coffee (well it is A.A., after all), we get to hear the "long timers", those with 20 years or more, speak about their journey to sobriety. My A.A. birthday is July 25 and I will be 19 years old. So I guess I'll be waiting almost two years to speak.

My home group meets at our church, St. George's in Post Falls, and Father Bill always lets us use the hall for our party. The Knights have a huge homemade grill that we get to use and everyone brings salads and sides. Isn't Father Bill good to us?

I'm sure I'll be all fired up to do the next step in A.A. after listening to many, many inspiring stories.

More Sun,

More Weeds,

and Catholic Carnival

I'll be hosting Catholic Carnival on July 8th. I'm sure it will be fun and am hoping to get lots of fun posts submitted. It is a wonderful way to find new blogs and new friends. Spread the word and let's promote our Catholic blogs.

Stepping waaaaaaaaaaaay out of my comfort zone, I actually posted my picture on Facebook. Be my friend and you can see what a little old Italian lady looks like. Ah, well gee - she looks like a little old Italian lady that likes red high heels.

Be my friend on Facebook.

Sunshine Thursday

Look in the Sky -
It's a bird,
It's a Plane ----

NO, It's the SUN!

Today, after weeks of rain, we have spotted a glowing object in the sky. Thanks to the internet I was able to research this strange phenomena. Guess what? It's the sun.

That means instead of wowing you all with my intelligence, wit, and charm, I'm headed out to start the process of pulling more weeds, trimming bushes, tying up peony's, and spraying trees.

Facebook Update

Let me be the first to say that Facebook can be fun. My predictions were correct - an enormous amount of time can be chewed up playing with this application. Do I care? Nawwwww! Let the party begin!

Be my friend at Facebook

Meeting New Folks

It's time to spread the message about some new folks in my life plus some updates on old friends.

My newest BFF is Kirk over at Practicing God's Presence. Kirk is a gentle soul who teaches in Germany, but hails from Great Britain. He lives in the gorgeous historic town of Kaiserswerth and is busy posting pictures of his new home.

Kirk lives with his best friend AGA (which is not a stove/cooker, but his friends initials.) Even though I would like to keep Kirk all for myself, I realize he must be shared with the entire world.

Tracy, over at Tracey's Simple Life , has just gone nuts and redone her blog and it is gorgeous. I really like the yellow back ground color.

Esther over at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii is well known to many, many folks but I just found time to drop in and was bowled over by all this lady manages to do - not to mention one of the loveliest blogs I have ever encountered. I'm going to hang out there just to see how to make my blog look better.

Tom in Vegas, my cyber-nephew and another gentle soul, is getting beat up about Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Please get over there and help him unless like me, you think de Chardin is a lunatic.

A Ruined Life

More and more folks are getting signed up on Facebook. I even have a Facebook page now, albeit with few friends. I'm not sure I want a bunch of friends. Facebook is shaping up to be another way I can avoid my work, waste time, and just generally mess up my life.

I excel in work avoidance. We used to call it procrastination and considered it a weakness in one's character. In today's world we have a myriad of ways to avoid work. We can blog (either posting or reading), talk to our friends on Facebook, update our MySpace page, keep up with the sporting events (full-time job), recreational shopping, and on and on.

I'm sitting here right now doing this post instead of my work. I've promised myself HUGE rewards for doing my work. A coffee drink and a trip to the Library usually works as a reward. So having said all that, here's my Facebook address. Help me ruin my life by being my friend.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1145963708 At least I think this gets you to my Facebook page. If not: I am Adrienne Streeter on Facebook.

Off to do some work - I hope...................

The Family

Meet the Family

Sophia, called Sophie by her friends, is my husband's dog. We rescued her from the Humane Society just before her date of execution. Sophie had been abandoned on the side of the road, along with her puppies, in the Silver Valley of North Idaho.

We had been calling the shelter every day for weeks waiting for a smaller dog to come in and be made available for adoption. One day I called and the young lady described in glowing details this wonderful little gold dog. I turned to Harold and said, "Quick, get your coat and lets go, it sounds like your dog."

When we arrived they brought Sophie out and she took one look at Harold and displayed the most amazing set of teeth. Folks, she wasn't smiling.

"Ummm, there were a few things we didn't mention on the phone" said the perky little girl.

No kidding.

This poor little dog had probably been abused, and as a result, was terrified of everyone. She was deemed un-adoptable by the shelter, but the girls working there fell in love with her and kept trying to pawn her off on someone.

After observing her from across the room for about 30 minutes I was getting a bit impatient with the whole thing. I told my husband to sit down, marched across the room, told Sophie we were tired of this nonsense, and took her and pounced her into Harold's lap and promptly fled. Sophie, frozen in fear, looked around, sighed deeply, and laid her head on Harold's arm. It's been there for over 15 years.

Sophie

Angela wrote the book on relaxation. She is the queen bee and everyone does her bidding. Here she is in a patch of spring sun doing what she does best. She was even relaxed and "above it all" while in her Humane Society cage waiting for a couple of suckers like us. Way to go, Angela.

Angela

Erica chose us as her special family. We are blessed and oh so grateful to have added her to our family (as though we had a choice.) You can read Erica's story and what I learned from her here.

Erica

And last, but never, ever least is my Elle, the sociopath wanna-be Yorkie. I consider her another "rescue." I was working for a vet who did the puppy checks for a pet store. Folks - DON'T buy dogs at a pet store. Can you say puppy mill? One day shortly after my Yorkie died they called from this store and said they knew I liked Yorkies. The vet had given Elle a "grade four patella"on her puppy check and now she was worthless. Did I want her? How can you turn down a 2 pound puppy?

Home she came and then she started to grow, and grow, and grow. Her fur grew too, but was so weird and fine it tangled to the point of matting. Uh, that's not Yorkie fur. We finally had to have all her fur clipped, and the result was a dog that even vets look at and say, "what is it?" Oh yes, she's cute, but clearly the cages of that puppy mill were left open one night.

Elle

Since my husband and I are getting ready to celebrate 19 years of sobriety we know what it's like to be rejects of society. We try to extend our concern and care to all rejects, even the "fur-people."

"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread, but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing, but naked of human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a home of bricks, but homeless because of rejection." - Mother Teresa

Twelve Steps for Catholics ~ part 14

Step Eight: "Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all."

Step Eight is where we start to separate the men from the boys (or girls from women, if you prefer.) And just wait till you have to do Step Nine. Woohoo – some fun!

So far we’ve been focusing more on ourselves. Now we’re going to have to face up to what our behavior has done to the people in our lives. We’re going to have to practice more of that “rigorous honesty” we hear so much about.

“This is a very large order. It is a task which we may perform with increasing skill, but never really finish. Learning how to live in the greatest peace, partnership, and brother-hood with all men and women, of whatever description, is a moving and fascinating adventure. Every A.A. has found that he can make little headway in this new adventure of living until he first backtracks and really makes an accurate and unsparing survey of the human wreckage he has left in his wake." Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions - page 77

We started this process when we did our moral inventory, but now we are going to dig a bit deeper to uncover our part in broken and damaged relationships. We are also going to learn how to forgive. It is no fair dredging up what others have done to us. That just speaks to resentments that have not been resolved. Always remember anger and resentments are poisonous to our well-being.

And don’t for one teensy, tiny moment think that the only person you hurt with your drinking was yourself. That’s hogwash, so you may just put that thought back in the trash heap of insanity it was pulled from.

Lets look at some of the things mentioned in the Twelve by Twelve as possible ways we could have harmed others. Were we consistently bad tempered or did we lie or cheat? Was our sexual conduct inappropriate? Were we miserly, domineering, irresponsible, callous, or cold with our families? Have we been irritable, critical, impatient, or humorless? Have we wallowed in depression and self-pity? I was a master at most of the faults listed and if you were to ask my husband, he would tell you I’m still controlling and critical.

As you ponder your life and relationships, try to avoid extreme judgments, both of ourselves and of others. Now is not the time for exaggerations. Get out a pen and paper and get to work.

“Whenever our pencil falters, we can fortify and cheer ourselves by remembering what A.A. experience in this Step has meant to others. It is the beginning of the end of isolation from our fellows and from God.” Twelve x Twelve - page 82

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." Matthew 5:23, 24

Twelve Steps for Catholics ~ part 13

Step Seven

part 2

"Humby asked Him to remove our shortcomings."

In the book Alcoholics Anonymous, which is the book we drunks consider our “other Bible”, you will find the 7th Step Prayer.

“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character that stands in the way of usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here to do your bidding. Amen”

And that is about everything the Big Book says about Step Seven. Because it says so little, it says a lot. The writers assume if you have properly worked the preceding steps, you are realizing that your pride has been the basis for your problems. Admitting we were powerless without God has been the all-important moment in our life.

Some folks equate humbleness with weakness, when in reality, the humble man is the one with the strength. Listen to what Vince Lombardi (1913-1970), one of the most successful football coaches in the history of the game, has to say about mental toughness and humility:

"Mental toughness is many things. It is humility because it behooves all of us to remember that simplicity is the sign of greatness and meekness is the sign of true strength. Mental toughness is spartanism with qualities of sacrifice, self-denial, and dedication. It is fearlessness, and it is love."

True humility is recognizing our place in the world. It is accepting that we are part of humanity or, as many mothers like to tell their youngsters, “The world doesn’t revolve around you.”
On the next two Steps, we will be testing our grasp of the concept of humility. Step Eight is going to ask us to list all the persons we had harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. In Step Nine, we will have to make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

When pride comes, disgrace comes; but with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2