Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Eight

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

STEPS Eight and Nine are concerned with personal rela-
tions. First, we take a look backward and try to discover
where we have been at fault; next we make a vigorous at-
tempt to repair the damage we have done; and third, hav-
ing thus cleaned away the debris of the past, we consider
how, with our newfound knowledge of ourselves, we may
develop the best possible relations with every human being
we know.

This is a very large order. It is a task which we may per-
form 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 accu-
rate and unsparing survey of the human wreckage he has
left in his wake. To a degree, he has already done this when
taking moral inventory, but now the time has come when
he ought to redouble his efforts to see how many people he
has hurt, and in what ways. This reopening of emotional
wounds, some old, some perhaps forgotten, and some still
painfully festering, will at first look like a purposeless and
pointless piece of surgery. But if a willing start is made,