While still new to recovery, most of us had at least one person we just couldn't stand. We thought this person was the most impossible and disgusting person in the community. We knew there was something we could do, some principle of recovery we could apply to overcome our attitude toward this person - but what? We asked our sponsor for advice. We were probably assured with an amused smile that if we just stuck around and came back, we would see that person change for the better. That made sense to us. We believed that NA's steps worked in everyone's life. If they worked for us, then they could work for this terrible person.

Time passed and at some point we noticed that this person no longer seemed as impossible and disgusting as before. Yes, he or she had become extremely tolerable, perhaps even lovable. When we realized who had actually changed for the better, we were pleasantly surprised. Because we came back, because we worked the steps and our Perception of this person changed. The person who had plagued us had become "tolerable" because we had acquired a little tolerance; he or she had become lovable because we had developed the ability to love.

So who is really getting better? There are we ourselves! When we live the program, we gain a completely new view of those around us as we gain a new view of ourselves.