For some time now, I have been thinking about conscience. It started in July in the church in Wellfleet when the priest was giving his sermon. He was quite the character, taking the microphone off the dais and pacing back and forth, like on a stage, doing a monologue. Well, I guess he was doing just that. Anyway, he said when he was growing up his nun teacher said they should examine their conscience each night, searching and reviewing their day's actions, both good and bad and asking if they were mean or good to others. He made a joke that most people today examine all the bad things other people did to them that day, not the other way around.

Growing up, Bucky use to say that we had a devil on one shoulder telling us bad things to do, and an angel on the other, leading us in the right direction. I can remember her saying to one of the kids, "I see that devil on your shoulder", and they would twist their head and try to look at their shoulder to see him too. When I was working in IBM we each had a white board in our office, supposedly to figure out complicated formulas or jot down ideas. No one used it for that purpose. My girlfriend was religious and she would put Bible quotes. It drove our manager nuts because they are not suppose to criticize anyone's religion, but also not to promote religion. I found a quote I liked and wrote it on my board: There's no softer pillow than a clear conscience. My manager would frown when she read it, trying to figure out what it meant and how it applied to IBM. I looked that saying up recently and it is attributed to almost every country, so I guess it is not original. But I liked it then, and still do.

You must have to lose your conscience in war. I just finished reading "Unbroken" about an Olympic runner that is captured by the Japanese during the war. What they do to him and the other captives made for difficult reading. War IS hell and anyone with a conscience would have a hard time in it and for years and years after.

Maybe they should start teaching about conscience in the schools. Walt Disney did it with Jiminy Cricket and that old devil on one shoulder, angel on the other is also a good place to start.