“. . .OF ALL PERSONS WE HAD HARMED”
“…and became willing to make amends to them all.”
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 77
One of the key words in the Eighth Step is the word all. I am not free
to select a few names for the list and to disregard others. It is a list of
all persons I have harmed. I can see immediately that this Step entails
forgiveness because if I’m not willing to forgive someone, there is little
chance I will place his name on the list. Before I placed the first name
on my list, I said a little prayer: “I forgive anyone and everyone who
has ever harmed me at any time and under any circumstances.
It is well for me to contemplate a small, but very significant, two-letter
word every time the Lord’s Prayer is said. The word is as. I ask,
“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us.” In this case, as means, “in the same manner.” I am asking to be
forgiven in the same manner that I forgive others. As I say this portion
of the prayer, if I am harboring hatred or resentment, I am inviting
more resentment, when I should be calling on the spirit of forgiveness.