"On Hypocrisy"

hypocrisy:  n.  the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another; moral self-contradiction.

"Practice what you preach.  Words are cheap.  Actions speak louder than words. Do as I say, not as I do."  These are all variations on the same theme, that of hypocrisy.

No lesson is quite as effective as that taught by a child.  While helping two of my grandgirls get off to school yesterday, I ran head-long into my own personal experience with hypocrisy.  

The girls were eating their breakfast, and one dove into a new cereal, one she hadn't eaten before.  She commented she didn't like it, and my suggestion was that she try another bite.  After several more tastes her assessment remained the same--she didn't like it.  Having been raised by a mother for whom throwing away uneaten food was almost a cardinal sin, I was reluctant to toss it and tried cajoling her into eating it.

The little one entered in.  "Why does she have to eat it if she doesn't like it?"  Have I mentioned that having a verbal exchange with this girl is like trying to run a marathon with a pit bull attached to your ankle?  I gave it my best effort, but she doesn't give up, and she did have a point.  If I don't like the taste of a food, I don't eat it!  Point made.  There you go--a muffin with cream cheese for brain food instead of cereal as the two headed out the door to school.

We have all had our own observations of and/or experiences with blatant hypocrisy--the minister who preaches of purity and righteousness from the pulpit only to have his private, personal life revealed in lurid detail; the politician who espouses representing his constituents with integrity and the ensuing exposure of fraudulent behavior at the expense of those very ones he represents.  Then there are those personal, one-on-one experiences.  On any level, hypocrisy evokes a very real sense of betrayal, because it is just that--betrayal. 

I am, however addressing the more subtle kind of hypocrisy, the kind that masquerades itself as a caring, nurturing parent, grandparent, or friend.  How many times do we make a suggestion to another with emphasis when it is something we would never apply to ourselves or we are incapable of controlling and mastering within our own lives?  For example, it is so easy to tell another how to lose weight, gain health, save money, organize their lives, raise their children, control their anger.  I am of the thought that if I am not living it, I do not own it and have no right to speak of it to another.  

Ever since my cereal experience with the grandgirl and the introduction of that word "hypocrisy" into my thinking, I have been resisting the idea of making a personal application of it.  Me?  A hypocrite?  Can you hear the tone of dumbfoundedness in my voice and visualize the expression of incredulity on my face?  Surely not me!  The truth is that in that interaction, at that point in time I was a hypocrite.  Trying to get my grandgirl to "Do as I say, not as I do," is the very definition of hypocrisy. 

Today as I was mowing a pasture aka a lawn, I found myself thinking about these things.  I wonder how many times, in how many different ways, I am guilty without even realizing it.  I am quite certain that wasn't the first nor will it be the last.

Thanks to an 8-year-old pit bull of a grandgirl I was able to see myself through her eyes. She put me on alert, and for that I am thankful.  Besides, she'll have no problem "calling me out" in the future, if necessary.  "Out of the mouths of babes."