November 11
In every breast there dwells an impartial spectator; he acts rightly who acts so that this witness within approves.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments (freely rendered)
Listening mode
In every breast there dwells an impartial spectator; he acts rightly who acts so that this witness within approves.
Sometimes it helps to tell something you did as if someone else had done it. Someone cancels a plan at short notice and gives a reason that is only half true. This version leaves out everything you would usually add straight away: the long week, the good intention, the guilty conscience afterwards. The verdict comes faster.
But that doesn't make the bare version more honest. The long week really happened, and a stranger who knew about it would probably take it into account. Being impartial, then, would not mean striking out your circumstances. You give them exactly the weight you would give them for someone else, no more and no less.
That is harder than it sounds, and in both directions. Perhaps you find excuses for yourself effortlessly. Or perhaps you forgive yourself nothing that you would let a friend off at once. From the place where a fair spectator would sit, the one is as far away as the other.
If you tell the story a second time, with the week but without the half-excuse, it almost sounds like someone you know. You would probably advise them to call tomorrow and fill in the rest.
