The Art of Denial

I am surrounded by men who refuse to take a look at their own lives and realize they made terrible decisions. Accordingly, I daily must review my own choice making and decide if the choices made were the best out of the available ones.
I am amazed at how much effort and energy people take to disavow responsibility for their situation, speedily transferring blame, justifying, rationalizing, etc. With the plethora of excuses I have heard over the years I am convinced that a human being can justify any and every type of poor decision making and behavior that has ever been conducted by humankind.
Looking back at history's evildoers and contrasting them to the ones I work with, the conclusion arrives that men such as Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, et al, were convinced they had justification for their actions. I am positive of the fact. A man can brainwash himself into thinking just about anything.
Turning inwards, therefore, and examining my own thought patterns, has become a daily routine of self-examination and difficult introspection. Never allowing myself to judge my behavior with those of the lawbreakers, but of the possibilities that arise within my own conscious, provides me with the appropriate information to make sound choices.