Amends Are Rough on the Ego? Yes, Indeed!

THIS is the Step in which we do our best to put right past wrongs. Before getting into any of my own ideas and experiences, I'd like to touch briefly on some points the Big Book makes about the Step, which have been useful to me. A.) We don't recover and then take the Ninth Step. We take the Step in order that we might recover. B.) There is more danger in waiting too long to take it than there is in taking it too soon. The early members of AA didn't wait ten months or three years before they started making amends. Dr. Bob spent the first day of his sobriety personally seeing his patients and making the very difficult amends an alcoholic physician would have to make. C.) The purpose of the Ninth Step is 'to clean our side of the street. We don't criticize or take the other man's inventory. D.) The amend in the situation involving wrong on both sides is as important for us to make as the one in which we are totally wrong.