When there is no choice but "who am I?"

*****

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Great singer song writers, such as Hank Williams, may have little time for "ethics. Still some, like Williams and Johnny Cash become preachers for our time.

They would probably be the first to admit that moral actions most often come not from preaching but from those special times when there is "no choice" but to act -- regardless of the price to be paid.

Doing the "right thing" may cost you -- in the end it may bring you peace.

But don't count on it.

The greatest miracle, a "satisfied mind" may not be easy to win.

Doing the "right thing" may carry no reward.

The nature of moral choice may be that there is no choice. The choice is dictated by the answer to the question "who am I?"

*****

Lean back, think of those you have touched, those you have reached out to.

But remember that suffering in itself is no virtue. It must be chosen -- sometimes even when there is "no choice" -- as the sometimes high price for doing the right thing.

Doing the right thing may cost you -- in the end it may bring you peace.

But don't count on it.

Ask Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrestled to the time of his hanging with the question "Who am I?"

Yet his choice was almost automatic -- for there was no other path given "who he was."