By Blaney Pridgen

All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

Those nagging feelings of guilt we often have are a part of being human. There are
three kinds. The first is Real Guilt. For example, you are a child. You steal some
candy from the store. You sneak around and eat it. You feel bad, you go back and
pay for it. You apologize. The second is Neurotic Guilt. You steal it. You eat it.
You never told anyone and every time you pass a candy store you feel sick. The
third kind is Ontological Guilt. Your kid steals candy and you feel guilty. It is the
guilt of not making the world safe for those you love, the guilt of not being God.
Real Guilt is good. We do something we know is bad. We regret it. Compunction
is a start at humility. Confession is good for the soul. We make reparations and
often experience pardon and forgiveness.
Neurotic Guilt is not good. We have a difficult time owning up to what we did if
ever. We hide it from others and lie about it. We live in denial, which robs energy
from our souls. We project our guilt on others and lose our ability to forgive them.
What could have been reparation becomes retribution.
Ontological Guilt is an unavoidable part of being human. It can be good or bad.
When it is good is when we identify with the brokenness of the human condition
and have empathy for the victims of that brokenness, even if we did not directly
cause it. It is what we might experience when we buy luxury athletic shoes made
in a poor, despotic country by child labor. It is when we see too many street people
and wonder what has gone wrong and what we might do about it. It is when we
sincerely want to advocate for good laws in a free and compassionate society, but
still vote in context of fear, self-centeredness, and a fruitless desire for the good old
days which never really were. It is when we see our children growing up in an
unsteady and confusing world and want to make life safer for them, but we can’t
control everything or even anything. In all of these and more, we can become
cynical, blaming, and despairing (bad) or we can choose to struggle for hope and to
pursue what we know is right (good). We can’t be God, but we can know what is
good. And even if we don’t know what is good, then we can at least listen to the
prophets whom God sends to tell us as God always does.
We can hardly be right and good by simply pretending we are or might be. Guilt is
tenacious. Compunction, confession, and reparation are good medicines for all

guilt and for a healthier world. Finally, knowing we are wrong can become the
beginning of being right.