Hypocrisy

The band Matchbox Twenty once sang, “And everyone here, hates everyone here for doing just like they do.” Every day people get mad at other people for doing something, but they do it themselves. Hypocrisy is a word that defines something that people see every day, but might not realize. Hypocrisy is, for example, when you tell someone not to do something that you do yourself. Hypocrisy is a deception because in that brief moment when you are telling that lie, you want the other person to believe that you are better than they are.

Hypocrisy (n): a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion. The word originally came from the Greek word hypokrisis which meant acting out, then turned into the Latin word hypocrisis, then turned into the Middle English word ypocrisie (merriam-webster.com).

The term hypocrite is often overused and can come out harsher than it may have been meant to. Many kids will throw that term around while fighting with their parents at some point during their adolescence. Most kids think that their parents tell them not to do things they did when they were kids because they’re hypocrites, but most of the time it’s because they did the same things and learned their lessons.

The term is often used now as an insult when someone is told not to do something by someone who is doing the same thing. A great example of this is when people start smoking cigarettes. Long-time smokers will tell them to quit while they still can, but new smokers never see it as friendly advice, just a judgement.

Along the lines of smoking, when my Uncle Scott was 12 years old, he started smoking cigarettes to impress a girl. At the end of the day, he did end up dating the girl. In the long run though, their relationship didn’t last, but his addiction to cigarettes did. In 2003, after smoking for nearly 20 years, my uncle had a heart attack. The doctors said it was probably...