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| -little hands, and little eyes, and they walk around telling great big lies... |
Think I am kidding? That it would be inappropriate for enlightened people to make fun of someone like that?
Just Google "trump" and "hands" and you will find a ton of articles, about him having to use two hands to hold a water bottle, to insults about their size. And these just aren't from TMZ or Huffington Post, but Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, and other non-fake news outlets.
And yes, it is clear what people mean when they mention the small hands . . . not cool, people. Amy Schumer, Meghan Trainor, Rhianna, Kirstie Alley, Val Kilmer, and other celebs have been body shamed. Heck, remember Joan Rivers going off on Elizabeth Taylor's weight? And this is not to mention the day to day stuff we talk about over lunch. How this doesn't equate to body shaming is beyond me. Not what I would call good manners, and certainly does not respect the office.
The older I get, the more I take note of such glaring hypocrisies. Some of it is benign, like how we make allowances for dumb things our friends do but condemn others for the same actions. As a parent, I am always on the lookout for the "do what I say, not what I do" stuff, but admittedly fall short. Hypocrisy is something too easy to be guilty of, but it magnifies in organizations.
It is seen in government way too much, "You can trust us with the decryption keys, Apple, we are the government." The government which corralled Americans of Japanese heritage during WW2, which put the Indians on reservations, which blackballed many during the McCarthy era, which ran the 40-year Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which is guilty of abuses of power under the All-American-named Patriot Act, which gives benefits to Congress that are not extended to other Americans or Federal employees . . . the list goes on.
One place where it sticks in my craw is at church, and unless you regularly attend a church, this won't make much sense. Those who are Christian try to live by the teachings of Christ, but it doesn't take much to think about non-Christian behavior by professed followers, right? We can open up the history books to learn about the Crusades, Inquisition, and Salem Witch Trials.
Let's take my church, for example (LDS). Well, not so much the church, but like any group, does have cultural things that are unique to every organization. I preface this by saying that I am devout in my religion, and love attending and serving, it is just some things in our members that need refining. Also, I might have been a bit guilty of one or two of these:
- Callings- we've heard it preached that one isn't above another, and might even believe it on some level, but do we value a counselor in the stake presidency differently than an assistant nursery leader?
- What about a 25-yr old high priest versus a 45-yr old elder?
- A divorced man versus one with marriage intact?
- Return missionary versus one who never served?
- Democrat versus Republican?
- Those with or without a Rameumptom?
A Catholic buddy tells me he sees the same thing in his church, where some members will feel a level of prominence due to their position or board service or committee membership. I imagine every church will struggle with this. (Anyone who has ever seen preacher John Lithgow in "Footloose" can attest to that!) In the early days of the reformation, wealthy members would buy pews up towards the front of the chapel for their families, which came with a nice little gate on them; everyone else stood in the back. Good, Christian, folks.
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| I know which pew I would buy! |
There is actually positive thing with hypocrisy. It assumes that there are standards that the hypocrites are breaking. And standards are good.
The older I get, (a phrase I am using more and more), the more I am not only clarifying standards, but prioritizing them: 1) be nice, and 2) be good.
My daughter Courtney had the same math teacher as me at Camarillo High School, Lee Talley. I ran into him while Court was taking his class, and he remarked what a great kid she was. I responded with something about wishing she was more attentive as a student, and Lee said, "She is a good kid, and that is much better than being a good student." (Full disclosure- Court is a straight-A student with one year of college left.)
So, be nice, and be good, and all other things will take care of themselves. (And no more comments on Trump's hands, hypocrites!)
