Parable and Psalm: Blame and Guilt

There was once a little boy who was caught by his brother with his hand in the cookie jar. He blamed his brother for finding him; he blamed his mother for putting the cookies in the jar; he was on the point of blaming the cookies themselves when he realized that he himself was to blame.

While I spoke not, except to curse my brother,
and looked around for others to be blaming,
my heart dried up, as by the bright sun flaming;
I was the one who should have been a-shaming,
I and no other.
(v. Ps. 32:3-5)

— Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG
The Servant VII.2 February 1983

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