Hypocrisy: It’s Just A Matter Of Degree - Grasshopper

I can’t say with certainty that “everyone is a hypocrite,” but I want to.

Hypocrisy’s dictionary definition is: The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. In short - pretense.

 

I believe it’s valuable to inspect our own behavior from time to time and stop denying that we’re full of shit and claiming we don’t have the traits we’re highly critical of in others.

 

We seem to give ourselves a pass for being human by pretending we’re not, but don’t extend that permission to others - especially people we don’t like.

 

The high ground of hypocrisy exposes our weaknesses and makes us an easy target for other hypocritical beings who have yet to discover their own “10 pounds in a 5 pound bag.”

 

Yes, some have made hypocrisy into an art form. Just follow the rhetoric of many politicians and TV preachers and you can get your fill in one speech or sermon.

 

But back to degrees . . . most of us have our own soapbox; it’s just not as tall or surrounded by as many people as the aforementioned offenders, but we prattle from it nonetheless.

 

The trick is to notice our hypocrisy when it comes out to play, which, by the way, will happen on a sunny or rainy day. By noticing and halting the rough treatment we’re about to mete out to others for what we’re also guilty of, we find a way to connect to those whom we have kept at arm’s length. It also makes us more human.

 

We all have feet of clay; claiming we don’t is hypocrisy. By owning up to our own corner of the hypocrisy market, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our imperfect neighbors and the byproduct is empathy - something hypocrisy will never deliver.

 

All the best,

John