I often wonder how Pilate felt after the crucifixion of Jesus.  By all accounts, he at least appeared reluctant to follow through with the death sentence, but he was also plagued by the need to maintain the support of the people he was governing.  Had the choice been in his hands, then he would have saved Jesus’ life.  The funny thing is, the choice was in his hands.  And yet he chose not to save Jesus’ life.  Instead, he chose to capitulate to the demands of the crowd.  Now I realize that Jesus’ death was ordained by God and that there was no way around it, but Pilate played a human role, and he had to live with the emotional consequences of killing an innocent man because he didn’t have the backbone to stand up to what was right.  Isn’t it funny how the consequences of doing what’s right are always more bearable than the consequences of doing what’s wrong?  The times in my life when I caved to peer pressure led to more guilt and regret than any time when I chose to stand up for what I knew was the right thing.  An ounce of acceptance isn’t worth a pound of pain.