Sometimes a name belongs on the list, but the person is gone. We lost touch years ago. We don’t know where they live. They may have died. There may be no safe or appropriate way to contact them.
That can leave us wondering what we are supposed to do with the harm.
Step Eight doesn’t require us to solve that today. It asks us to become willing. We can put the name on the list. We can talk honestly with our sponsor. We can stop pretending the harm disappears simply because the person is unavailable.
Recovery often teaches us that willingness has value even when the solution isn’t obvious. There may be ways to make things right that we cannot see yet. There may be changes we can make in how we treat people today. For now, we don’t have to invent an answer. We just have to tell the truth.
Can I become willing to address a harm even when I don’t yet know how it could be repaired?
