Step Nine uses the word “direct.” That means the amends is connected to the person who was harmed rather than passed through a chain of messengers.
Before recovery, many of us were excellent at indirect communication. We could tell six people how sorry we were while carefully avoiding the one person who needed to hear it. We could post a mysterious quote online and hope the correct person somehow recognized our spiritual growth.
“Direct” removes some of that fog. It describes honesty without a middleman. At the same time, the later words of the Step still matter. Direct does not mean reckless, forced, or immediate. It does not erase the warning about causing injury.
The word simply keeps an amends from becoming a rumor about how much we have changed.
What is the difference between a direct amends and an indirect one?
