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are all hypocrites then let us reinvent ourselves and give the word a flattering spin - we invented the negative stereotype and we can rid ourselves of it. After all, we do not find the stereotypical hypocrite running around classical literature, no more than we find hypocrites in the rest of our animal kingdom. Yes, the monarch butterfly is poison to predators; the pseudo-monarch butterfly is a good dinner but looks like poison so the predators shy away; but we do not charge the camouflaged butterfly with hypocrisy! When a woman changes her dress or puts on pants to suit the occasion, we do not call her a hypocrite. And her cosmetic is good medicine all around when the cosmos looks sick and disordered.

No, we are not butterflies; we don't think butterflies self-consciously intend to deceive predators. We are something more than animals, or at least we think we are the kings of our kingdom - 'think' is the key word. We do not have to automatically deceive each other in order to evolve. We can put our best foot forward, put on a jolly good shew, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps - if that is hypocrisy, this is our apologia for hypocrisy. Our camouflage is for our mutual benefit, not for cheating some hungry competitor out of dinner - we would rather feed him for $6.95. Again, we have something more going for us than do butterflies. Darwin's 'bulldog' or propagandist, T.H. Huxley, knew that - Huxley was no social Darwinist. Man is more than an animal: biological evolution per se is his worst enemy if he does not use it to his advantage; otherwise he will destroy his race with weapons of mass destruction. By golly, man does well to deliberately put on a smile that the whole world may smile with him. His smile will come true; he will get ahead in the world and do the world some good to boot, so let us not be so hasty with the bitter, judeo-christian condemnation - "Thou hypocrite!"

It is said that he who lies long enough comes to believe his lies, and that he who believes moves the world. Well, then, why not tell good lies? If the miserable man gets up every morning, smiles into his mirror and says, "I am a happy man today! Good Morning, and the top of the world to you! " the days will go better for him, until one day his positive mental attitude will be a matter of habit and he will be on the top of the world. Let us not blame actors for acting, for not actually being the person they pretend to be. Every pretender is not a happy hooker or a confidence man who would win our heart to pick our pocket.

There is a underlying crisis in every man that makes him a natural-born hypocrite or actor, something that moves him to be other than he is, to make something of himself, to progress from evil to good, and to that end he plays his part. He knows that he differs from his role, that his role is a lie so to speak, yet he plays his part and does his best to be true to his character. 'Hypocrisy' can be a good thing. So he is divided and that division identifying him is determined by his decisions or crises which turn on a point, the decisive turning point where past and future continuously meet, where we are baptized in freedom if we seize the moment before we fall into oblivion.

Let's end our apology for hypocrisy here, for it is Monday morning, and what a wonderful morning it is! Let's put on our best faces today and see what transpires.

Learn more about this author, David Arthur Walters.
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