"So I'll tell you. I'll tell you because confession is supposed to be good for the soul, and when choosing between the tonics available-from religion to Tony Robbins to the friendly late-night chemist-this unburdening seems to present the least risk. When it comes to my soul, I have adopted a doctor's attitude: First, do not harm.
The complete overthrow of my principles. That was what I had done. A moment in time, and my life-previously not lived to the highest standards, but plenty respectable-blew up. The distance between integrity and the loss of innocence proved to be a razor-thin, a handful of decisions, frictionless, greased with desire. I thought I was choosing a woman. I thought-and I have to swallow this back, but it's the truth, and this is the unburdening, after all-I had earned her. And now she is my ghost, come to judge me.
This is the beginning of moral collapse: to be held captive by a woman's eyes."
Reed Arvin
"The Last Goodbye"