The Hypocritical Oath

Family life is a microcosm of the larger world.  What suffices for politics at home plays out in the public arena as well.  John Edwards, for example.

And so it goes with hypocrisy.  Is it cynical to say you should doubt anyone who holds themselves out as virtuous?  But, rather than eschew the virtuous, I'd like to see us get beyond claimed virtue and into virtuous conduct.  This is an example of walk the walk.  Talk the talk is a terrible waste of time and probably a huge red flag of hypocrisy in action. It's likely that he who claims virtue hasn't any.

Rather than express concern for our children, we should care for our children.  Our actions should be readily discerned as being in their best interests.  I, for one, like the idea of children having health insurance that cannot be denied.  I like the safety to the children and to the families that that coverage affords. 

Rather than lie prostrate in piety seeking salvation for young souls, I'd rather have clergy not brutalizing their young charges.   I'd rather see the denominational leaders act swiftly and decisively ostracizing and even excommunicating clergy who clearly don't believe in an afterlife, given the content of their conduct.  Rather than spending meager family fortunes on religious icons as emblematic of the bread of life, I'd like to see parents provide real bread and milk for their hungry children. 

Rather than claiming you are all in favor of our children's futures, I'd rather have you take aggressive steps to provide air that doesn't choke children's lungs and water that is more than just a medium for moving manufacturing chemicals downstream.  Rather than decry that the spouse you once proclaimed you'd spend the rest of your life with is now the devil in disguise, hell bent on sending your children to ruin, I'd like to see you turn off your tv, so the marketers who perceive your children as consumers rather than children, no longer have access to them.

I also don't like spending the family's money on strip clubs while you are claiming that your children are the most important thing in the world to you.

Call me crazy.

Hypocrisy reigns in the halls of congress and in the pulpits across America.  But hypocrisy reigns in softer tones in living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms each and every day.  I know that the quality of life improves with each degree of hypocrisy exposed and rooted out, regardless of its source.

I pray we all root out hypocrisy in our hearts, in our homes and in our homeland.

Michael Manely