Your
dad caught you smokin’ and he said “No way”
But
that hypocrite smokes two packs a day
Beastie Boys
“Fight For Your Right (To Party)”
Hypocrisy
is the homage that vice pays to virtue
[Jane confronts Nick upon discovering that Nick has slept with a girl he previously referred to as a slut)
Nick: Yes, but a very
attractive slut.
Jane: So, you're just another hypocrite.
Nick:
That's not hypocrisy. It's sin.
Metropolitan (film)
Not so long ago, a young friend
with a baby girl lamented some of the limitations on the way she was raising
her daughter. She wanted to raise her with a better morality and spirituality
than she felt capable of. I understand that concern, and I often share it. I
think it’s one of the most inspiring parts of parenthood, honestly. It makes
you want to be a better man/woman/what have you. And it can really lead you
down a better path, as was the case for my own parents many others. But I worry sometimes that people
occasionally forgo that path because they are afraid of being called
hypocrites.
Seems like I’m always hearing a
lot about hypocrisy. Sure hypocrisy is bad, and I don’t advocate it (as they
say, do what I say, not what I do….) But that’s just it—all too often, the
accusation of hypocrisy is just a cover. Back when I was teaching and this
would come up (as it almost inevitably did) I would point out that the easiest
way to avoid the charge of hypocrisy is to lower your standards. If you don’t
think anything is wrong (or claim that anyway, ‘cause it’s always just a line),
then no one can accuse you of hypocrisy. But is that really better for anyone? All
too often, we use the charge of hypocrite to annihilate any standards—especially
standards we don’t share. You say you believe in kindness? But you’re not kind.
Hypocrite. Buh-bye kindness. But is this the world we want to live in? There is
a big difference between hypocrisy and frailty.
I’ll take a world of so-called hypocrites who are really just fallen
people failing the standards they truly believe in any day. Just please don’t
give me a world of people who are oh-so-consistent with the utter degradation
they preach.
Let’s go ahead and face our fear
of hypocrisy--which is really just a
fear of failure—a failure which our enemies will insist on using against us. Hypocrisy
is real. But it isn’t cured by lowering standards, but by true compassion. For
others and ourselves.
