How easy is it for us to say how we will live compared to how we actually do? Who can say they've never faltered from a self imposed moral or ethic they've set out for themselves? And, if we do stray, does that mean our banner does not get to fly as clean and bright?
It is no secret and has come up in my other blog entries that I cannot stand hypocrisy. I would rather a honest devil than a lying angel. Make no compromises about your life and make no pretenses to yourself or the world about the way you live. We all change, evolve and adapt.
For the human mind is seldom at stay: If you do not grow better, you will most undoubtedly grow worse. ~Samuel Richardson
But I cannot stand those who warp their beliefs to suit them. I am repulsed by those who go out of their way to excuse deviating from a standard to which they measure others but, more importantly, to which they measure themselves. We're allowed to change and with us, our beliefs change. What I question is when we change our beliefs to serve our own self interest. As Robert Brault once said, "You do not wake up one morning a bad person. It happens by a thousand tiny surrenders of self-respect to self-interest."
We will falter. We will fall from the path we have set before our feet. We will put aside our morals for one day, because our morals hinder some goal or some pleasure. We cannot all be martyrs. But perhaps we could be honest. Perhaps it is better to know you are wrong than to hope you are right.
