You know, it's a funny thing. When I was young I had a friend who was a gifted shoplifter and I admired her talents. (We were both nice middle-class Jewish girls.) I could never equal her specialties so found my own niche, which was grocery store price label switching and magazine pilfering, and I was pretty good; only caught once by a register clerk who was unfortunately quite knowledgeable about what stuff ought to cost, and I said indignantly that if that's what it ought to be marked, I don't want it! But anyway. After awhile, despite how good I was at this low-level criminality, I began to feel that even if I was getting away with it, there was a Higher Authority who knew what I was doing and that It Was Not the Right Thing to Do, and I came to the painful conclusion that if I couldn't quite afford to pay for brie, I'd better just resign myself to NYS Extra Sharp Cheddar.

And with me not being able to live with myself as such a minor little chiseler, I've never understood how anyone can live with themselves, and face their children, when they lie about everything that affects the lives of people and nations and the world, 'n all. I ain't no great moral philosopher. I just believe that what goes around comes around, eventually.