"For us, the process of gaining a new perspective was unbelievably
painful. It was only by repeated humiliations that we were forced to
learn something about humility. It was only at the end of a long road,
marked by successive defeats and humiliations, and the final crushing
of our self-sufficiency, that we began to feel humility as something
more than a condition of groveling despair. Every newcomer in
Alcoholics Anonymous is told, and soon realizes for himself, that his
humble admission of powerlessness over alcohol is his first step toward
liberation from its paralyzing grip." (Twelve and Twelve, Step Seven,
pg. 72)