...a troubled conscience.

I can't always let my conscience bother me. I mean it in an abstract way. The fact that there are starving people in the world. Dying daily of starvation. The fact that there's mass killings. War. Genocide. The fact that there are poor and destitute people. I have to accept all this. And not let it bother my conscience to the point of being obsessed over it. I save the real exercise of my conscience for my daily direct personal relationships. If I see a friend or an acquaintance in dire straits. And if I try to ignore this calamity -- well, then I'm not doing the right thing. That would bother me. Bother my conscience. Because this is no longer an abstract situation. It's happening. More or less right in front of me. And I have the power and the ability and maybe the responsibility to so something constructive about it. I can't fix the world. But I often can fix or alleviate a situation happening around me. In my immediate environs. I'm able to make a choice. To help or not to help. Sort of like the Good Samaratan. I am confronted with a real live being in need of help. It may be a beggar. An indigent. And if I ignore this individual, I may very well have a troubled conscience. --Jim Broede