My name is Jeff. I just recently turned 20 years old. I am currently involved in a treatment program called Sober College in Southern California. I wanted to talk about and receive some feed back regarding the 8th and 9th steps. I just finished the 6th step with my sponsor. I believe steps 8 and 9 can be classified as "action steps". What this means to me is that we've taken a thorough look at ourselves and are ready to begin taking personal responsibility for our actions and behaviors in the past and the present. Step 8 tells us "we've made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all". This list is largely derived from your Resentments list you've made in the 4th step. I know for me personally I did not really understand what "making amends" was truly about. I thought it was about apologizing for your actions. What I've come to realize is that to truly make amends to someone you need to apologize for the action and find out how you can make things better. An apology, although it may have good intentions behind it, often is truly a selfish act. The person apologizing is looking for some form of pardon or forgiveness from the individual they've wronged. With amends you are actually taking the steps necessary to try and change your actions in the future. This is what step 9 is all about. If you have any feedback or thoughts or advice on making amends I encourage you to please respond. Thanks