Several times an hour I am reminded of something that makes me wince. The active list of shames goes back to childhood, is still being added to, and must be in the thousands.

Some of them are not actually offenses. After all, shame is only an emotion; it doesn't prove you were wrong, any more than being proud proves you were right. Most of them, however, are real evidence that I am a bad person, socially acceptable only insomuch as my cowardice inhibits my meanness.

Of course, there are many people much worse than I am. The news is full of them. But I have always had the luck to consort with my betters.