Burden of Sin

Here's a tip. If you murder someone, erase it from your memory. Don't dwell on it. Whistle happy tunes. Naturally, that's hard if not impossible to do. But so many people are caught for murder because they retraced their steps. One finds this dynamic in pastoral counselling, and I know it from personal experience, too. People who commit a crime, an offence, an outrage -- without being found out -- are so often unable to rest. They check on it, they go back over it. A year or two later, they'll send a single e-mail, or pay a single visit to the scene of the crime. Perhaps they'll check on whether anybody suspects them. It's human nature. Sometimes, they will simply hand themselves over. It all got too much. OBSERVATION: A churchgoer once reported himself to authorities for a crime (not murder), after years on the lam. I admired his courage, and a wise magistrate helped him get his life back on track.