Then the word spoken from the parent, who we now realize is just as morally beleaguered as us, is no longer commensurate with the problem. We can try to reassure one another that we are good people, but it’s merely an analogical reassurance. The real thing can only come from a source of moral judgment, from someone who defines the horizon of moral action. And if we are our own, we ourselves are that source of moral judgment.
