A.A. Oldtimers…On the Ninth Step
A.A. Grapevine, July 1945, Vol. 2 No. 2
“Made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.”
Like others of the Steps, Number Nine is closely related to Number Three –“to turn our will and our lives over to God as we understood Him.” If we have accomplished this step to any measurable degree, we have attained at least a small measure of humility and a realization of our dependence on Him.
Having prepared a list of all people we have harmed and brought ourselves to the point where we are willing to make amends to them, our Ninth Step is one calling for positive action. There is a world of difference between being willing to do a thing and actually doing it. How many times in the pre-A.A. state have we said “I am sor-ry, I won’t do it again” and felt that that constituted complete amends.