Self-Justification

There is almost nothing it seems in which men cannot justify themselves in their own eyes, if they set out to do so. The embezzler, for example, seldom steals money in his own mind, or at least he seldom admits to stealing money. He simply borrows, perhaps with the hope of putting it back. And the thief says to himself that he is simply taking what, in some rationalized way, should have been his anyway. Perhaps he says he is simply collecting a debt that somehow society owes him. And the swindler seldom swindles. He is simply working with his wits – or he may say to himself that his victim would not have used their money wisely anyway. Thus by a process of self-deception, by singing soothing songs to an accusing conscience, it is possible to find apparently plausible excuses for almost any questionable action or utterance. Sometimes men seek to conceal their real motives by saying to themselves that they are doing what they are doing for some ultimately worthy reason: In other words, what they are doing may be wrong, but they tell themselves that the ultimate end they have in mind is altogether right, and so the end justifies the means – which is a dangerous doctrine. Furthermore, the person who continually justifies himself in doing what he shouldn’t do soon finds it difficult to tell the difference. And repentance is virtually impossible without willingness to admit a mistake. Improvement is virtually impossible without a willingness to concede faults and inefficiencies. And evil and error make their easiest advances in a situation of self-justification. And bad as they are in and of themselves, the disposition to justify tem may be much worse – for, publicly or privately, the recognition of wrong, the admission of a mistake, is a prerequisite to repentance and improvement.