The word- SHORTCOMINGS
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 567
The word- SHORTCOMINGS
This word I have heard it said in older black & white movies.
I assume it means, "short tempered", or when we lose the plot and get angry?
Rarely, or hardly ever, have I heard the word used in modern times. ( for me "modern times" is 1974-current). Posh people seem to use it, but not in my neck of the woods, or at school. It was never used in every day talk.
So what exactly is "shortcoming" in reference to the steps, or better still, what other word is relative to help visualize the connection, cosidering we have just done steps 4,5,6 and there is no mention of "inventory our shortcomings"
So what did they mean by that word "shortcoming" when the BB was written in that era?
Thanks.
I assume it means, "short tempered", or when we lose the plot and get angry?
Rarely, or hardly ever, have I heard the word used in modern times. ( for me "modern times" is 1974-current). Posh people seem to use it, but not in my neck of the woods, or at school. It was never used in every day talk.
So what exactly is "shortcoming" in reference to the steps, or better still, what other word is relative to help visualize the connection, cosidering we have just done steps 4,5,6 and there is no mention of "inventory our shortcomings"
So what did they mean by that word "shortcoming" when the BB was written in that era?
Thanks.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,902
one of my old sponsors used the word "defects" for the know stuff that was revealed during the process of the steps,and the word "shortcomings" for the unknown yet to be revealed-the things we unknowingly may be doing
however,
during the early days of AA when the 4 absolutes was used,they did a inventory using the 4 absolutes and what the defects was,and the word shortcomings was used to see where they fell short in life
example
drinking and off with a woman while their wife was home with the kids
they considered that a defect,adultery as we know it.It is selfishness and inconsiderate for sure
where they fell short is
they wasn`t at home being a good husband or parent
and when they was,they wasn`t as good a husband or
parent as they could have been had they been sober all along
so,they looked at both sides of the coin
I got this info from a 1980`s CD talk given by a man who got sober at the King School Group shortly after the big book was published and Dr Bob helped sponsor him.In his talk he described how they used the 4 absolutes to do the inventories and step 11 daily
so,since Bill wrote most of the big book and the 12x12,I figure he still thought of the 4 absolutes at times
Boleo has some info on those early days too,he may be along today
however,
during the early days of AA when the 4 absolutes was used,they did a inventory using the 4 absolutes and what the defects was,and the word shortcomings was used to see where they fell short in life
example
drinking and off with a woman while their wife was home with the kids
they considered that a defect,adultery as we know it.It is selfishness and inconsiderate for sure
where they fell short is
they wasn`t at home being a good husband or parent
and when they was,they wasn`t as good a husband or
parent as they could have been had they been sober all along
so,they looked at both sides of the coin
I got this info from a 1980`s CD talk given by a man who got sober at the King School Group shortly after the big book was published and Dr Bob helped sponsor him.In his talk he described how they used the 4 absolutes to do the inventories and step 11 daily
so,since Bill wrote most of the big book and the 12x12,I figure he still thought of the 4 absolutes at times
Boleo has some info on those early days too,he may be along today
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: LA - Lower Alabama
Posts: 5,068
Bill W, by his own admission, did not like to use the same word twice. He liked to think if he used synonymous words, he would connect to a larger audience. That being the case, it is safe to assume that Bill W's use of "shortcomings", "defects of character", "sins", et al basically meant the same thing.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,902
Pete,I about forgot one thing
some of the early AA`S believed in the sins of commission ( defects-the things we did ) and the sins of omission ( shortcomings-the things we should have done but did not)
some of the early AA`S believed in the sins of commission ( defects-the things we did ) and the sins of omission ( shortcomings-the things we should have done but did not)
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,452
Also...the "nature of our wrongs"...
I just found this also...hope it is helpful:
7) Humbly asked Him (God) to remove our shortcomings.
What shortcomings? The “exact nature of our wrongs” in step 5 is expressed in terms of “defects of character” in step 6, and offered up to God for removal as “shortcomings” in step 7. Bill Wilson, when asked why he used three different sets of words to define character defects, said it was to avoid repetition. Therefore, he intended that there be no significant distinction. Some members waste time needlessly by differentiating the three expressions, which we term, simply, as character defects.
When step 5 is performed well, we leave with a list of our character defects. In step 6 we progressively become willing to have these removed from us, and in step 7 we pray that they might be.
I just found this also...hope it is helpful:
7) Humbly asked Him (God) to remove our shortcomings.
What shortcomings? The “exact nature of our wrongs” in step 5 is expressed in terms of “defects of character” in step 6, and offered up to God for removal as “shortcomings” in step 7. Bill Wilson, when asked why he used three different sets of words to define character defects, said it was to avoid repetition. Therefore, he intended that there be no significant distinction. Some members waste time needlessly by differentiating the three expressions, which we term, simply, as character defects.
When step 5 is performed well, we leave with a list of our character defects. In step 6 we progressively become willing to have these removed from us, and in step 7 we pray that they might be.
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Bill W. on Rev. Sam Shoemaker
“It was from him that Dr. Bob and I in the beginning had absorbed most of the principles that were afterward embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, steps that express the heart of A.A.’s way of life. Dr. Silkworth gave us the needed knowledge of our illness, but Sam Shoemaker had given us the concrete knowledge of what we could do about it. One showed us the mysteries of the lock that held us in prison; the other passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated.”
From A.A. Comes of Age, pages 38-39, reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services.
Reverend Sam Shoemaker on Step Seven:
How often have we prayed for “things,” or favoring circumstances, or a hundred and one things that were really selfish in nature! Here is where real prayer begins — not ends — in asking God to change me.
“Lord, I’m not much. You aren’t getting much of a prize. It’s mostly broken pieces I’m giving you. But I ask you to mend them. You can take the pride and the lust and the anxiousness and the fear and the resentment. Please do take them, and me with them.” Something like that.
We may say it in the quiet of our own rooms or we may say it kneeling in our church, or we may say it as we pray with another person. There must be an intended finality as we make such a prayer. We can’t do it with tongue in cheek. So far as it is possible, we mean to be done with the offending thing. We find again that “willpower” only goes far enough to secure our intention; the actual praying of such a prayer already implies help from him to whom we pray.
Sins get entangled deep within us, as some roots of a tree, and do not easily come loose. We need help, grace, the lift of a kind of divine derrick. The amazing thing is that such a prayer is answered if we truly want it to be. Our own wills are so much a needed part of this that it almost looks as if we had done it. But the help from God is still more a needed part of it; we are sure that without him we could not possibly have done it. We learn great truths, long known and often discovered, as we begin a genuine spiritual awakening.
From The Best of the Grapevine, Volume 2, page 130, reprinted with permission of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
“It was from him that Dr. Bob and I in the beginning had absorbed most of the principles that were afterward embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, steps that express the heart of A.A.’s way of life. Dr. Silkworth gave us the needed knowledge of our illness, but Sam Shoemaker had given us the concrete knowledge of what we could do about it. One showed us the mysteries of the lock that held us in prison; the other passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated.”
From A.A. Comes of Age, pages 38-39, reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services.
Reverend Sam Shoemaker on Step Seven:
How often have we prayed for “things,” or favoring circumstances, or a hundred and one things that were really selfish in nature! Here is where real prayer begins — not ends — in asking God to change me.
“Lord, I’m not much. You aren’t getting much of a prize. It’s mostly broken pieces I’m giving you. But I ask you to mend them. You can take the pride and the lust and the anxiousness and the fear and the resentment. Please do take them, and me with them.” Something like that.
We may say it in the quiet of our own rooms or we may say it kneeling in our church, or we may say it as we pray with another person. There must be an intended finality as we make such a prayer. We can’t do it with tongue in cheek. So far as it is possible, we mean to be done with the offending thing. We find again that “willpower” only goes far enough to secure our intention; the actual praying of such a prayer already implies help from him to whom we pray.
Sins get entangled deep within us, as some roots of a tree, and do not easily come loose. We need help, grace, the lift of a kind of divine derrick. The amazing thing is that such a prayer is answered if we truly want it to be. Our own wills are so much a needed part of this that it almost looks as if we had done it. But the help from God is still more a needed part of it; we are sure that without him we could not possibly have done it. We learn great truths, long known and often discovered, as we begin a genuine spiritual awakening.
From The Best of the Grapevine, Volume 2, page 130, reprinted with permission of the A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 567
Thanks, all very good answers. Much more clarity to associate step 7 with our inventory, Step 4.
So I looked it up the dictionary, ( Readers Digest Word Power, 2010)
It writes:
shortcoming: noun, a failure to meet a certain standard; a fault or defect.
SYNONYMS: - defect, drawback, failing, flaw, imperfection, weakness.
Therefore, if we substitute "shortcoming" for "defect",
Then we are asking Him, to remove the "defects" we looked at when we did inventory, and then Step 5, then Step 6 to become willing, then step 7, the leap of faith to humbly ask- action over steps 4 and 5
? yes
So I looked it up the dictionary, ( Readers Digest Word Power, 2010)
It writes:
shortcoming: noun, a failure to meet a certain standard; a fault or defect.
SYNONYMS: - defect, drawback, failing, flaw, imperfection, weakness.
Therefore, if we substitute "shortcoming" for "defect",
Then we are asking Him, to remove the "defects" we looked at when we did inventory, and then Step 5, then Step 6 to become willing, then step 7, the leap of faith to humbly ask- action over steps 4 and 5
? yes
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: CAPE COD, MA
Posts: 1,020
I’m a frugal person but not cheap. I personally thing being frugal is good especially in the current economic situation and with me retired. However as with a lot of things personal characteristics can become overbearing on others particularly my DW as in the last 5-8 years I was constantly “reminding” her to fill the washer, shut off lights not being used, be quicker shutting the refrigerator door and on and on. All this without realizing how it affected her because being a good alcoholic “I was right,” OMG what a mess I ended up with. Being frugal led down a path of becoming a major character defect joined be others like control, anger and the inability to see how I treated others because of my beliefs. It seems slow but I’m doing some serious work with steps 6 & 7.
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Brantford, Ontario
Posts: 1
shortcomings
I wasn't aware of the meaning of the word shortcomings .....I think I was to caught with myself until the time of my sobriety and learning to 
listen to my higher power ,,,,and listening to my motives....
listen to my higher power ,,,,and listening to my motives.... 
AA Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Silicon Valley
Posts: 2,977
what are shortcomings/ defects of character?
choices that distance me from God
my judgement of others
my being very critical and negative
my failing to look at my past in conflict
my pride
choices that distance me from God
my judgement of others
my being very critical and negative
my failing to look at my past in conflict
my pride
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