gigi's blog

The Apology Scale

Here is the hierarchy of apologies, their function and their motivation, 1-10, from most admirable to despicable:

1. An apology motivated by the realization that one’s past conduct was unjust, unfair, and wrong, constituting an unequivocal admission of wrongdoing as well as regret, remorse and contrition, as part of a sincere effort to make amends and seek forgiveness.

Rudyard Kipling
If

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

Yesterday, I got a voicemail from a woman I met in AA 2 years ago. She and I started going to meetings at about the same time and saw eachother a couple times a week in the beginning. I never became friends with her, but was aware that she had her share of ups and downs and relapses for a while. I was surprised she called, but it turns out she was calling for a favor related to her new job-not AA related. Anyway, we chatted for a minute and she noted that she hadn't seen me in a long time. "Are you going to different meetings?" I told her I wasn't doing AA anymore.

Over on Humanspirit\'s blog, Causeandeffect commented that every step and every aspect of the program should be scrutinized. I agree and thought the obvious place to start would be with the first step.

Step One: We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable.