Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Seven

"Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcom-
ings."

SINCE this Step so specifically concerns itself with hu-
mility, we should pause here to consider what humility is
and what the practice of it can mean to us.

Indeed, the attainment of greater humility is the founda-
tion principle of each of A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without
some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all.
Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop
much more of this precious quality than may be required
just for sobriety, they still haven't much chance of becom-
ing truly happy. Without it, they cannot live to much useful
purpose, or, in adversity, be able to summon the faith that
can meet any emergency.

Humility, as a word and as an ideal, has a very bad time
of it in our world. Not only is the idea misunderstood; the
word itself is often intensely disliked. Many people haven't
even a nodding acquaintance with humility as a way of life.
Much of the everyday talk we hear, and a great deal of what
we read, highlights man's pride in his own achievements.

With great intelligence, men of science have been forcing
nature to disclose her secrets. The immense resources now
being harnessed promise such a quantity of material bless-
ings that many have come to believe that a man-made mil-
lennium lies just ahead. Poverty will disappear, and there