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Daily Reflections: My Side of the Street

"OUR SIDE OF THE STREET"
We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while can be accomplished until we do so, never trying to tell him what he should do. His faults are not discussed. We stick to our own.
— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 77-78
I made amends to my dad soon after I quit drinking. My words fell on deaf ears since I had blamed him for my troubles. Several months later I made amends to my dad again. This time I wrote a letter in which I did not blame him nor mention his faults. It worked, and at last I understood! My side of the street is all that I'm responsible for and — thanks to God and A.A. — it's clean for today.
I like today's reading.  It is at the core of how I'm trying to live my life. I can only be accountable for my mistakes, my decisions, my actions. Since I'm not responsible for anyone else, I will never try to lace my apologies or amends with blame. It's the difference between saying "I shouldn't have said that" vs. "I'm sorry you took it the wrong way."
I used to be afraid that by sticking to just my side of the street, others may take it for granted and assume I'm always wrong and they are always right. I realize now that it doesn't even matter. No matter how the other person responds, I'm still accountable for my side of the street.
Doing the right thing isn't  always easy, and it doesn't always benefit me in the short term, but it is always the right thing to do and that is enough. The peace I have from doing right, or making amends when I haven't done right, is worth all costs.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 12, 2016 at 3:50 PM

    This reflection reminds me of our adage "progress not perfection." I wish I could tell you that I work a perfect program and that I don't make mistakes, but the reality is that I still far short. There are times when a certain situation does not go my way, or I don't like the way someone is treating me that I revert back to my alcoholic thinking of wanting to act retaliatory. Thankfully, as a result of these steps, more often than not I catch myself in my Stinking thinking and get to service; however, for those times where I fall short and need to make amends I now have a healthy construct to do so. Although after I make amends the other party may still have feelings of resentment or anger towards me, my side of the street is clean. Then I continue to pray for the other person.

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