hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is one of the things I hate most. The scary thing is that the more I think about it in the lives of others, the more I see it in my own. It is mind-boggling to realize that humanity is pretty much characterized by hypocrisy. If I think about hypocrisy too much I pretty much go crazy, because I certainly stand condemned - despite the fact that I often go out of my way to avoid appearing so.

I was reading Oscar Wilde's sardonic satire The Importance of Being Earnest today. Really all of it seems funny in a wild sort of way. It seemed I should laugh at a lot of the statements made by the characters, but I couldn't really, because it was all too true. Which is exactly why his play is so awesome. His characters say all the things we usually avoid saying in real life...things we usually avoid saying but hear anyhow, in the silence of the unsaid.

What a lot of energy (and time and money) we spend trying to maintain appearances! This is also a mind-boggling thought. It is a dangerous pursuit that is just fulfilling enough to tantalize and just unfulfillable enough to destroy. And it easily takes over a life.

If more people would be courageous enough to tell the truth then maybe it would give the less brave the courage to do so too. But so long as we all play the game, life is one massive facade. It will only break down when a few courageous people dare to bare themselves. Who else will do it?

On a side note, evil hides in [many forms] of darkness. So long as we hide, guess which side wins out?