Hypo"critical" Situation

Have you ever heard the phrase "do as I say, not as I do"? This phrase is often used when one is caught committing an act that they have previously put down. I find it disturbing that the phrase is so common, because it means that many many people are hypocrites to their own causes.

For example, I've observed situations before in which a parent lights a cigarette, while simultaneously disapproving of the action with their children, claiming to know better and that the entire act is wrong. Now I'm no advocate to smoking, but it shouldn't be the case that the current smoker tells a non-smoker not to smoke. It just shouldn't work that way, and most of the time doesn't. Studies have shown that a non-smoking parent who teaches their kid of the errors of cigarettes has a greater chance of their child being a non-smoker than a smoking parent who claims has personal experience on the subject and disapproves of smoking. It's just that simple; hypocrisy isn't trustworthy.

All that being said, I think we should hold ourselves accountable for the hypocritical things we do. Even knowing this, I find myself acting in opposition of the values I uphold. But the point is, we should do our best to keep our ideals straight, and to not act in blatant disregard. However, in doing so, we must not become so close-minded that we fail to recognize other points of view as possible, because we are just shifting to an extreme, and living life in extremes is easy; learning how to maintain a balance is the difficult thing to do.

All in all, to battle and understand hypocrisy, we must understand that most people act on a situational basis, disobeying ideals for the moment to carry out behaviors that contradict them. While this isn't a cut and dry issue, I think our behaviors should match our ideals, however you see fit to do so. If you wish to form your beliefs around the way you act, go for it. If you want to choose a set of ideas to abide by, reform your behavior and maintain it. Either way, you will be avoiding hypocrisy, and you will most likely find that you are peaceful in the knowledge that you choose your actions or basis for actions; they don't choose you.