Someone told me recently:

Step 10 says: "When were wrong promptly admitted it." Not "if we were wrong promptly admitted it."

If he is right, then we are always wrong .... Apart from being a paradox, can this possibly be true? Are we always wrong?

In some sense, the answer must be yes. By practicing Steps 10 thru 12 on an ongoing, meaningful basis, we grow closer and closer to the truth. But in this practice, "we claim spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection." No matter how enlightened our thinking, some error remains. By very virtue of our human-ness, we are always to some extent wrong, at a distance from the truth.

Accepting this about ourselves is not always easy. It's yet another reason that the journey through Ten, Eleven and Twelve is often a journey of both humility and humiliation. And another reason for making that journey in the company of loving friends.