I’m a hypocrite, but one of the good ones….hmmm??
Or should I say honest? Now I’m confused
We walk the path of life by labeling people as either good (acceptable) or bad (unacceptable) judging everything and everyone around us. We force people to walk with the pleasure of being “in” or with the burden of being “out”. But we could not be more wrong. In this post I will show you how Hypocrisy may not be such a bad trait.
Definitions
Hypocrisy is the state of falsely claiming to possess characteristics that one lacks. Hypocrisy involves the deception of others and is thus a kind of lie.
An antonym could be Honesty, which refers to a facet of moral character and connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc. Furthermore, honesty means being trustworthy, loyal, fair, and sincere
Just by looking at the definitions you can easily think what would you like to be: but there is a trick to it.
Samuel Johnson made this point when he wrote about the misuse of the charge of “hypocrisy” in Rambler No. 14
Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory, as a man may be confident of the advantages of a voyage, or a journey, without having courage or industry to undertake it, and may honestly recommend to others, those attempts which he neglects himself.
Practical Example
I invite you to reflect on this chat I’ve had with my social guru, JD:
“Hey JD”, I asked, “have you read that book about positive feedback I gave you?”
“Yeah, I like it very much” — JD replied
“Well, I have worked for the writer and he is being hypocrite” — I said in an angry manner.
“How so?” — JD asked me
“He writes about staying positive, encouraging people and having a healthy work environment, but working for him was a nightmare. He was an awful leader that led to many confrontations in the company.”
“Hmmm?” JD reflected. “What if he wrote what he believes is the best practice, even when he is not the best boss? What if he is trying to be better and wrote the book to acknowledge how he would like to be?”
Speechless, I stared at him, went home and reflected for days and came with this:
Confession
I’m a hypocrite. I’m not all that I show, advice and talk. Sometimes I’m an angry person for a big part of my days and I lose my temper extremely and ridiculously easy both at my job and at my house. I can’t avoid answering back in a furious and fierce way when I dislike a comment.
When you realize something about yourself that may feel as a negative characteristic, you don’t need to be guilty about it and try hard to change. Be aware of it, open yourself and have good intentions.
I may not stop being a hypocrite, but I sure know what’s best. That has allowed me to act and recommend what I think without the burden of being a hypocrite unacceptable human being living out of the social principles of life.
We despise hypocrisy and love honesty. But it may be better having a hypocrite like me, trying hard 24/7 to show what I think it should be, what I believe empowers and enrich people, than a silent honest person that never stands up for his principles.
There you have it: I’m a hypocrite, but I help people become better, happier, self confident and believers on their selves and their work.
Don’t label people; Reflect on their Intentions
