12 Steps & 12 Traditions

This month’s Step and Tradition articles from the Digital Archive:

Vol. 7 No. 5

Like a Ship at Sea

IN search for a daily "operating schedule" which would help to make the tenth step habitual and as pleasant as possible, the writer hit upon the following analogy and found it helpful.

On a ship's bridge, at sea, the navigator is charged with keeping his ship on her course. When he is piloting near islands, shoals and coastal waters, he must constantly take sights or bearings of rocks, light-houses, mountain peaks and other reference points that appear on his chart. The compass bearings of these objects from his ship enable him to mark his progress on the chart and to steer a safe course.

The point of the analogy is that the navigator constantly regards each of the menacing objects in the sea around him as aids to the safe passage of his vessel. As long as he notes the bearing of each one it cannot harm him.

The "sighting" or experiencing of fear, resentment, self-pity, anger and self-righteousness doesn't mean that the ship is off her course at all. Each is a menace to be expected and encountered every day of a normal busy life. If, however, the watch on the bridge is habitually alert, the menace can be an aid to safe passage.

Frank M.
Piedmont, California

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