Confession

Being raised in a Catholic household does strange things to a person, probably the best known side effect being unwarranted Guilt. 


It can arise, unbidden and unjustifiably, at any moment, as one recalls past events. There is no infraction too minor, nor any statute of limitations. It happened to me this evening. 


I was steeped in the knowledge that the cure for Guilt is to confess and seek absolution, so here goes: 


It was about 12 years ago. We were selling our house in a small town in Georgia. Our agent was motivated to sell our house, as we had a contingency contract to buy another one of her listings. Get it? Big commissions on the line. She scheduled a showing of ours, and let it slip that one of the family members was a minister in a conservative congregation. 


Well, I've mentally run what I did through all the moral and ethical no-no lists I can think of, and I'm pretty sure I have nothing to feel guilty about here, unless you consider targeted home staging wrong.  


Still, I feel a little dirty for using the intel to appeal to the buyers' likely prejudices. I left one lone book in a place of prominence in our living room: Focus on the Family's Complete Book of Baby & Child Care. 


They bought the tableau, and the house. 


Mea culpa. Any suggestions for penance?