Getting Real about Ourselves

One handy way to answer the question posed to God, "Why have you made us like this?" would be to turn it around, blame who we are on us. Before I become that drastic, I'd like to explore our amazing powers of self-justification.

Back in the early 1900s, a psychiatrist told his patients to look at themselves in the mirror and repeat the affirmation, "Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better." We all think that. Sure, we've started out a bit rocky, but we're all on a self-improvement project, and one day we'll be better people.

Unless, of course, we carry some fatal flaw with us. If we're fundamentally broken, all of us, then getting better and better may be a tall order.