"and you may ask yourself, am I right, am I wrong..."?

Question

.."and you may say to yourself, my God what have I done??"

Anyone you could think of who should be asking themselves these questions? Do you think they'd be honest with themselves? Are they the sort of person who never questions their actions? And how does this effect the rest of us?

Oh and for the wiseguys out there, no need to say me, as I already question myself and make reasoned decisions, hopefully with the most universally benefitial outcomes, k? So think of some else...

okay this is OBVIOUSLY a quote, and yes it's the Talking Heads, great pardon I ask of those offended on their behalf, though I imagine they would not be so troubled.

THANK YOU Mrs. SSG for being the first to get the point of the question and answering it in earnest. Much appreciated as are the folks who respond with similar consideration.

I guess the non-inspired are unavoidable on Answers.

Thanks to all who considered this question thoughtfully and answered honestly..

I wish the best to the families of soldiers, like Mrs. SSG - and pray for the safe return of all our loved ones.

Answer 1

So ironic that I happened upon this question (even if I did not fully understand what you were asking the first time I read it) I did read it again and I think I get the basic premise of your Q & if I do then I often find myself mummbling under my breath (sometimes outloud) to myself, "My God what have I done?" In fact just two weeks ago Thursday at exactly 9:06 P.M when the jury filed back in after the penalty phase of a capital murder trial I prosecuted. We had already concluded the "guilt/innocence phase, lest we would not have been at the punishment phase. As I heard the Judge ask the jury foreperson if they had reached a unamimous verdict, the words "we have" echoed in my eardrum, afraid of what i would hear next, My legal asst and I discreetly & under counsel table squeezed each others hand as we always do in death penalty trials, of course outside the viewing of the jury. My heart beat so loud I fear the jury can hear it and so so hard it appears to be be making my suit coat rapidly rise and fall. You see most people just naturally assume that all District Attorneys do a victory dance when we "win" a trial, but that is not the case for everyone, our job is not to "win trials" but to "seek the truth" and as hard as that is I took an oath to uphold the law & to prosecute cases to the fullest extent of the law. I am tough and I am an aggresive attorney & I make no apologies for that, but for whatever reason I cannot put into words when the jury forepesron reads those words "we the jury find that the state has shown at least one aggravating factor as provided in the law namely-----------------, and after considering all of the mitigating factors presented by the defense , do hereby unamimously sentence the Defendant, John Doe to Death by lethal injection. I begin to quiver and I have mixed emotions. If it is a monster, a child killer , torturer, then i admitedlly have no sympathy for him whatsoever (that does not mean I care to witness his actual execution) as som DA's do, but on the other hand as two weeks ago Thursday when those very words were said aloud and I turned and looked at the 18 year old boy, who was so scrawny who looked to be 15 , saw absolutely no emotion in his face, not one tear, then heard an outcry in the audience, the victims family crying for the husbad & father they would never see again, then look to the defendants family just as his large cancer stricken mother falls to the floor crying out "no no no" Nand has to be removed by force from the courtroom I asked myself "am i right? or am I wrong? The law be damned do I have the right to hold the fate of another's life in my hands(then i have to remind myslef that I only present the case to the jury & t is the 12 memebrs of the jury of his peers after evidence on both sides that dtermined this young boys fate) BUT THEN I GO BACK TO ME, BUT IF I HAD NOT ARGUED SO PASSIONATLEY FOR THE DEATH PENALTY, IF I HAD NOT HARPED SO STRONGLY ON THE ISSUE THAT THE LAW REQUIRES THAT THEY SHOE NO SYMAPATHY TO HIM BECAUSE OF HIS AGE, then i think about the cases where I personally did not think the defendant deserved the death penalt, but in our jurisdiction when it is a dp case, we leave that choice to the vitims family, so at times i prosecute and seek the death penalty when my own personal subjective opinion (rather i should say i were a juror on that particular cas i would have voted for lofe imprisonment NOT the death penalty, i am tormented by the thougt that I do put more of myself into certain cases, i am more passionate, thus more persuasive in some cases., so as i loooked at the boy and at his family and recalled his own father testifying in his prison garb as he was doing life for murder himself, and how his mother was so hostile and cobative and argumentative as a witness, she blamed every single thing he had ever done in his life on anyone but him, it hit me that this kid never stood a chance in life, his mother never taught him right from wrong, never established any boundries, he never learned that there were consequences for his actions (mom would always bully his way out of it)------------there he was standing next to his court appointed attorney who slept through most of the trial, i could not help but think of his co-defendant who i tried just 6 months prior, an educated preppy looking boy, attending college, father a DR. mother a college professor,having hired their son the very best criminal defense attorney money could buy, how they took the stand and blamed themsleves , not the system, not the police, not the school, not the judge, not the co-D, not everyone else, they shouldered all the blame for not being there enough, they cried and begged for the jury to spare his life, offering their own lives in exchange as the wept so hard they curled up into the fetal position. the co-d received a life sentence

so two weeks ago, thursday at 9:06 pm as TM was sentemced to die I asked myslef "MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?" then as the prosecution team goes to our local waterng hole to "celebrate our victory" I drown my sorrows and become very unsociable as I cry for the the v
s family, the coD's family who will visit their son at Angola until they die and then he will likely have no more visitors and will die alone without any family at angola and will be burried in one of hundreds on unmarked graves by fellow inmates, and i cry for the poor undereducated, social misfits, the dysfunctional family who unkowingy raised a boy capable of taking the life of another and i cry for them for now they will lose their son as well as he will die in about 12 years (after all the appeals are exhausted) by a needle in his arm at angola where he will have spent the last twelve years in a 10X12 windowless room with onlu one hour per day of sunshime permitted

OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE?"

three men either dead or will soon die, three familes left to suffer, grieve & mourne WHO WINS? NOBODY WINS !THIS SYSTEM HAS TO BE FLAWED

Answer 2

i know so many needle users both family and non family it is sad,they could all ask themselves these questions,whether or not they answer honestly is another thing! my b-in law is one of them and no he doesnt care about himself,us or his kids,5,3 and 15 mths old.
i think the welfare dept could ask these questions as the whole family complains and nothing is done,ever.
my nieces starve, are riddled with nits and bathed once a week if they are lucky.their mum is in jail. i and the family can only do so much they just dont want to change... it is so sad!

Answer 3

Is honesty needed to feel guilt? No

It takes some power, intelligence and ability to do really terrible things.
Those abilities/traits are more than enough to cause that same person to ponder and regret. Yes, they have regrets and ask themselves these questions. "What have I done?"

Answer 4

How did I get HERE?This is not my beautiful house,this is not my beautiful wife...and then the twister comes ,here comes the twister...Beautiful anthem for mid-life crisis in middle-America.You can do unconscionable things,if you have no conscience and have been corrupted by wealth since birth,the grandson of a texas oil millionnaire for example.

Answer 5

anyone in a position of authority needs to ask themselves these questions. as someone whose decisions affect countless lives, a prosecutor, a police officer, a teacher, a priest, a president all have much to gain and much to lose hanging on every word and every thought.

introspection (the ability to reflect on yourself) is a tool that any beloved leader should be able to use without fear of appearing 'weak'. ASK your helpers, that's why you have them. CONSULT your underlings, they may have ideas that haven't occurred to you. BELIEVE in yourself yes, but accept the fact that you can and must try to do better each and every time you step up to the plate. many leaders settle for good enough, or worse, convince themselves that they themselves can dictate what 'good enough' is. reflect, learn, then decide. a good decider is neither flip nor arbitrary, but thoughtful and reflective.

only after you've exhausted all the available resources and come to the best and fairest decision possible for everyone involved, will you be able to look yourself in the mirror and say (not ask yourself), "My God, look what we have done!"

Answer 6

I think, or I at least hope, that Bush asks himself that same question every day because he's second guessing his decision to invade Iraq. I'm not an anti-war nut or anything, but it seems th longer we stay there, it becomes apparent that Bush really has no idea how to finish what he's started.

As the wife of a soldier, I am very concerned. So I hope Bush lies awake at nights pondering, "My God, what have I done?"...


****You're welcome, Sagebella! ****

What's funny, is I didn't even see the Talking Heads reference until I read some of the other responses! LOL Must be my maturity showing!!! LOL

Answer 7

Mrs. SSG stole my answer...except for the 'wife' thing...


There is water at the bottom of the ocean...

Answer 8

Talking Heads i havent heard that for years!

Answer 9

Honesty comes from you own ethical standards. Some people sail through life without ever examining themselves. Some have such a skewed opinion, they have no trouble accepting behaviors that are criminal

And where does that highway go?

Answer 10

I like the Talking Heads too...you should give them credit when you decide to quote them.

Answer 11

You may ask yourself, "why do I need to quote the Talking Heads?"...