Endigar 569 ~ Daily Inventory

From the Daily Reflections of October 8;

. . . and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.   (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 59)

I was beginning to approach my new life of sobriety with unaccustomed enthusiasm. New friends were cropping up and some of my battered friendships had begun to be repaired. Life was exciting, and I even began to enjoy my work, becoming so bold as to issue a report on the lack of proper care for some of our clients. One day a co-worker informed me that my boss was really sore because a complaint, submitted over his head, had caused him much discomfort at the hands of his superiors. I knew that my report had created the problem, and began to feel responsible for my boss’s difficulty. In discussing the affair, my co-worker tried to reassure me that an apology was not necessary, but I soon became convinced that I had to do something, regardless of how it might turn out. When I approached my boss and owned up to my hand in his difficulties, he was surprised. But unexpected things came out of our encounter, and my boss and I were able to agree to interact more directly and effectively in the future.

 

END OF QUOTE

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shooting+yourself+in+the+foot

I have some problems with the contributor’s story.  I do not see anything about him talking to others in the recovery network, nor do I read anything about talking to his sponsor, nor anything about prayer and meditation.  It sounds like he made the decision to issue the report and the decision to apologize both in isolation.  If he has a problem with a broken guilt-a-meter from co-dependence or some sort of family abuse, his apology might have been a fear response.  The one person he did talk to, a co-worker, advised him not to apologize.  His boss was taking heat probably because there was some validity to the report.  There was a lack of proper care for some of their clients.  If the boss was part of the problem, going to him to interact directly might not be the best course of action.

I think this points out that we need to talk to Gomu (God of our understanding) and others in the recovery network when we are considering the need for an amends as a result of our daily inventory.  I think to “promptly admit” our confirmed wrong does not mean to impulsively take action without counsel.  It simply means to be proactive in facing the issue.

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