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I believe that it is truly our ability to forget that creates us to become a hypocrite. I do not believe that religion has anything to do with us being "hypocrites", so I will not address religion in this piece.

As a child, my father, (although he was and still is one of the most intelligent people I know), had to work hard jobs to make ends meet. He had to do this for a very long time. When I was a child, we would drive through New York, and people would wash our windshield. At the time, he would give them change and would tell me that as long as those people were doing honest work, that it was okay. They were trying, he would tell me. And that meant a lot. They were trying to put food on the table, trying to care for their families, doing what it took, whatever it took, to do the right thing by those families.

And I watched my father work himself to the bone, doing whatever jobs he could do to make our ends meet. He was a cab driver, a mail carrier, a handy man on the side to make even more money. He worked so hard just to give us the things we needed or wanted.

Than my father put himself through night school, through college courses. And he worked as well, during the day. He made something big of himself and started to make great money. And he forgot what it meant and began to treat people who were lower than him in an unkind way. Oh, he would never admit to it, and I love him still. But ask him if he ever invited the janitor to his Christmas party, when everyone else was invited. Ask him if he ever invited the lower people in his company, and if he answered honestly, it would be a resounding "No".

He has since changed again and become the man I used to know. And for that I am grateful. But when someone treats people badly just because of their stature in life, when they themselves were there, they become a hypocrite.

Now, just the other day I was on facebook, and saw that my niece put up a few words to express herself. It said, "You already have kids you two cannot take care of. I feel so sorry for that child. What makes you think you can take care of another?" And I was shocked, completely shocked.

You see, my niece is seventeen. She has a baby who is six months old. She had nothing for that child when she found out she was pregnant. She was too young, and didn't have a good job. As it is, she cannot take care of herself let alone a child. So everyone pulled together. We all got her things and not just any old things, mostly brand new things. We made sure that baby had everything she would need and more. I, myself, even babysat for her free of charge for two weeks straight. And now, I am amazed that she could be so cruel to someone else in their time of greatest need.

What a hypocrite. How easily we forget what has been done for us. And how easy is it for us to turn our backs on someone in a very similar position. It must be part of our nature to do this, to just forget and to treat others in the total opposite way we were treated, or in the way we wish we had been treated. We must make an effort to remember what it is like to be in that position, and we must remember to treat others in a way that shows we are not hypocrites at all, but caring individuals who should offer an extended hand.

Learn more about this author, Catsy Jones.
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