Did you ever do anything really stupid? Things that cost you dearly? Maybe you lost a friend or a lover or a job or a career because of your stupidity. Maybe you got kicked out of school or were publicly humiliated. Maybe you went to jail.
Now if you are expecting me to go on and tell you about all of the stupid things I have done you are wrong. This isn’t about my stupidity, it is about yours.
I can see a few pompous asses reading my newsletter and saying smugly, “I’ve never done anything stupid in my lifetime.” Baloney! Just saying that is stupid.
Forrest Gump, that famous philosopher said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
I was just wondering what kind of world this would be if we – you and I – would all say, “OK, sure, I’ve done a lot of stupid, mean and nasty things in my lifetime and I wish I hadn’t and it bothers me.
Here are 3 of the 12 steps used in Alcoholic Anonymous:
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Ho Ho, I was just thinking, What if everybody worked on those three steps, all of us, not just those in recovery programs. What if everybody in this world, including the people in Washington and Moscow and Beijing and everywhere. What if we all set out to becoming honest, caring, fun loving friends and neighbors? Sure its crazy! Nuts! Ridiculous! Impossible! But what good is a newsletter if it can’t stir up your blood and your mind and your heart a little. OK, we’ll compromise. Just do something nice for somebody today and see how good it feels.