Life at the Bottom

"[A] burglar demanded to know from me why he repeatedly broke into houses and stole VCRs. He asked the question aggressively, as if the 'system' had so far let him down in not supplying him with the answer; as if it were my duty as a doctor to provide him with the buried psychological secret that, once revealed, would in and of itself lead him unfailingly on the path of virtue. Until then he would continue to break into houses and steal VCRs (when at liberty to do so), and the blame would be mine.

When I refused to examine his past, he exclaimed, 'But something must make me do it!'

'How about greed, laziness, and a thirst for excitement?' I suggested. 'What about my childhood?' he asked.

'Nothing to do with it,' I replied firmly.

He looked at me as if I had assaulted him. Actually, I thought the matter more complex than I was admitting, but I did not want him to misunderstand my main message: that he was the author of his own deeds."

-- from Life at the Bottom, by Theodore Dalrymple