Taking Sheila’s comment about examining our motives for murder, I believe that our desire to murder someone who offends us is part of a deeper question: what is it about the person we want to murder that reminds us of the very thing we hate about ourselves? For example, adults who sexually, physically, or emotionally abuse children are despicable people many of us (including me) would like to murder. Then I think: what about compassion for the abuser who was abused by his or her parents? What about delving into the reasons for the abuser’s despicable behavior? But most important — and this is the hard part, folks — what is it about the abuser’s behavior that enrages us because it reminds us of some dark aspect of ourselves we are unwilling or unable to confront and deal with? Murder triggered by the latter case isn’t "righteous" or "justified," it is merely our way of denying and rejecting a part of ourselves we fear and despise. Murdering someone we despise so we can stand back, dust off our hands, and congratulate ourselves for being "virtuous" or "right" may feel good to us, but it doesn’t address the darker issues we bury in ourselves when we project our anger on to another person and punish them for the very thing we despise about ourselves. — PDS

Now playing: The Hollies, "Very Last Day"