Scruples

Look at this fascinating word:scruples.Just like “Paul” comes frompaulus, small, “scruple”derives fromscrupŭlus,fromscrupus paulus: small stone.

If you get a stone in your shoe, you’ll be uncomfortable, you won’t be able to walk in a dignified manner, sure of yourself. Todayscruples are that part of your mind that makes you uncomfortable when confronted with moral choices you’re not sure of. In those times we don’t know if something is good or bad, right or wrong.

In that sense, this uncomfor...