Human nature will go to great lengths to cover up wrong doings and to excuse its mistakes. In Newark, New Jersey, a lady lost a purse containing twenty-five dollars. A week later it came back in the mail with only fifteen dollars, plus a note from the anonymous finder explaining she had once lost a purse with ten dollars in it. The fact that she once was robbed gave justification to rob a portion from the twenty-five dollars. This justification and rationalization of wrongdoing affects us down the line. It is not isolated but very common.

All too often what we regard as vices in others, we describe as virtues in ourselves. Somebody else acts in a certain way and we call it hypocrisy; if we do the same thing, we term it diplomacy. In others it is cowardice; in us it’s tact. In others it’s …