Quote analysis - all answers welcome!?

Question

"In my efforts to do well I shot my neighbour and my priest"

What do you personally perceive this quote to mean, I know the true meaning, but I would be interested to see how others interpret it. Fairly detailed answers would be preferable. 10 points for my favourite interpretation!

Answer 1

i think i means it takes alot to change and that sometimes you lose things make mistakes. I think that sometimes you dont realize how bad you can be or how good you can be.

I imagine my uncle when i see that quote actually no  he hasnt shot anyone but he was mentally ill. He tried so hard to be good but it stressed him out and made him crazier and thats what i think of when seeing that.

Answer 2

To me, I believe it means people often hurt themselves and others close to them (ie neighbor), and go against their personal beliefs and morals (priest) in order to achieve success.

Answer 3

Maybe it means that the neighbor and priest were detrimental go goodness and needed to be shot in order to make a better place.

Answer 4

"love your neighbor as you love yourself" the golden rule. Sometimes trying to do that isn't so easy, so in their attempts to love their neighbor they shot them out of frustration.

Answer 5

Shooting the Priest could represent the shooting of expectations, and the governing hand of religion and rules in general. The neighbor I would think is the competition, if there are no rules, expectations or competition you are always the winner……

Answer 6

It means sometimes when you're trying to do a good thing, you end up doing something evil.  

The neighbor and the priest represent goodness and, perhaps, innocence.  A neighbor automatically brings up the parable of the good samaritan, and the command to show love to all people as neighbors.  It also makes you think of them as innocent or helpless, like the man who was beaten  was in the parable.  Adding a priest to this emphasizes the image of "good."  When you put the two together, a neighbor and a priest, somewhere in the back of your mind, you wonder what they could possibly have done to deserve being shot.

It's a rueful statement with a bit of caution thrown in.  Be careful, because even if you're trying to do good, you may inadvertantly hurt someone.