That wasn't me, I wasn't even there

We are what we do. I don’t buy the idea that sometimes our choices are made by something other than our true selves.

It's always the poor choices we disown. We never say:
Yes, I *did* give a lot of money to build that hospital, but that's not really me -- usually I'm a selfish so-and-so.

We say things like:
I don’t know why I [hit my wife, slept with my best friend’s husband, robbed the 7-11] -- that’s just not LIKE me.

I say crap. That is *exactly* like you -- in fact, it *was* you -- at least in that case at that time.

You can say “I hold as valuable standards and goals that I don’t always live up to.”
You can say “I have lots of other good traits and qualities.”
You can say “I’ve learned a lesson, and will never do X again.”

But trying to draw a distinction between what we are “really” like and what we do is mostly hypocrisy or self-delusion.

Now you know.