The Twelve Steps - Back to Basics
Step VIII & IX

by Wally P.

Step VIII - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Step IX - Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

So far in our journey through the Twelve Steps, as they were taken during the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous, we have completed the three steps of Surrender (Steps One, Two and Three) and the four steps of Sharing (Steps Four, Five, Six and Seven). As we mentioned in earlier articles, the entire process was usually completed in one sitting and took a couple of hours or so.

We are now ready to take the two steps of Amends (Steps Eight and Nine). Amends is a two part process: making restitution to those we have harmed and forgiving those who have harmed us.

We start by reviewing the Fourth Step inventory we put together with our sponsor or sharing partner. It contains our Eighth Step amends list. The Big Book authors confirm this in the third paragraph on page 76:

"Let’s look at Steps Eight and Nine. We have a list of all persons we have harmed and to whom we are willing to make amends. We made it when we took inventory. If we used the assets and liabilities checklist described on pages 64-69 of the Big Book, the amends list consists of the persons and organizations to whom both the sponsor and newcomer agree restitution needs to be made. Although there are no hard and fast rules, the Big Book authors express the belief that we overcome resentment with forgiveness (page 67), fear with faith (page 68), and selfishness, dishonesty, inconsideration, jealousy, suspicion and bitterness with restitution (page 69). As we stated previously, the list contains only generic names and no information that might be considered incriminating."

In the Ninth Step, the Big Book authors provide us with detailed information on specific forms of restitution. In the first paragraph on page 77, they tell us we are to meet face-to-face with people we dislike:

"Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth. It is harder to go to an enemy than to a friend, but we find it much more beneficial to us. We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit, confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret."

They also tell us what we are to do about our bills, which is to pay them. In the second paragraph on page 78, they write:

"Most alcoholics owe money. We do not dodge our creditors. Telling them what we are trying to do, we make no bones about our drinking; they usually know it anyway. . . . Approached in this way, the most ruthless creditor will sometimes surprise us. Arranging the best deal we can we let these people know we are sorry. . . . We must lose our fear of creditors no matter how far we have to go, for we are liable to drink if we are afraid to face them."

According to the Big Book authors, we write letters to those people we cannot meet with face-to-face. In the third paragraph on page 83, they inform us that:

"There may be some wrongs we can never fully right. We don’t worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could. Some people cannot be seen; we send them an honest letter."

Here is where the sponsor or sharing partner can be very helpful. He or she assists the newcomer in writing the letter to the person or persons who cannot be seen. Then together they perform the ritual of mailing the letter. For those people who have passed on or who cannot be found, the letter has no address or stamp on it. What is truly amazing is that the letter goes exactly where it needs to go in order for the newcomer to receive the healing he or she needs concerning the situations or circumstances described in the letter.

Another concept from the early days of A.A. is for the sponsor or sharing partner to be the first person the newcomer sees after an amends is made. Regardless of whether the meeting goes well or badly, the sponsor and newcomer get together immediately after the amends to discuss what happened and decide if anything more needs to be done to sweep off (the newcomers) side of the street.

In the next article we will take the first step of Guidance, which is Step Ten. We will learn how to remain connected to the One who has all power and how to distinguish between the voice of addiction and the voice of recovery.

Wally P is an A.A. archivist, historian and author. He was the Arizona Area archivist from 1992-1993, a member of the National Archives Study Committee from 1994-1995, and since 1999 he has been the caretaker of the personal archives of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith.

He is the originator of Back to Basics, a re-enactment of a series of 1946 A.A. Beginners’ Meetings during which newcomers TAKE all Twelve Steps in four one-hour sessions. More than 300,000 people have taken the Steps using this time-tested and very effective “program of recovery.”