The Man Who Sings Lullabies to His Conscience

RESPONDING to the accusation that he was rationalizing, that he was merely attempting to justify his own actions, the brilliant but misguided young man replied: “Of course, I am justifying my own actions. A man cannot enjoy life if he cannot justify his own actions. No man can find peace or pleasure so long as he is pursued by an awareness of guilt. This is true both of those who are calloused to wrong-doing and of those who still have an active sense of justice; and this fact is often the beginning of a dull and dying conscience, because once a man has done something that he knows he should not have done, he immediately begins to tell himself why he was justified in doing it. If he takes money that does not belong to him, perhaps he tells himself that he has earned it⎯that others with less ability are getting more. Or perhaps he tells himself that he is only borrowing it and will replace it. And so it goes through the whole list of mistakes and misdeeds that men are guilty of. Most men who do what they should not do are able to tell themselves many good reasons why they did what they did. And so the wrongdoer sings lullabies to his conscience. Unto the day when there will be a rude awakening, when the conscience of every man will be quickened no matter how soundly he has sung it to sleep.