Do not expect to enjoin right-doing upon men who are conscious of your own wrong-doing.
Words are cheap, but actions are priceless.
We all know the tendency to posture and to dictate, to wave people about and to offer extensive suggestions on how they might improve themselves. Most of that will do very little good at all, and it may well do quite a bit of harm, since it is the example of good living that remains the best teacher.
Do as I say, not as I do. Where did I last see the master work hardest when he asked the servants to work harder? How often does the charming and eloquent mentor actually follow his own advice? When will a man take the log out of his own eye before he criticizes the fleck in mine?
The hypocrisy is so insidious that I am constantly tempted to point fingers at others, and I end up calling them out while only revealing my own ironic bitterness. So, certainly not for the last time today, I turn to one of my old Stoic mantras: “Attend to yourself!”
If I myself am doing wrong, I will never help anyone else to do right. If I am totally honest with myself, can I justifiably say something, however kind the tone may be, if I am not already practicing what I preach? And if I am somehow already practicing, will the addition of fine preaching make any difference?
The odd result has been that, as age brings with it just a bit more compassion and concern, I find myself saying less and less. I fear that some confuse this with carelessness or early senility, but at the heart of it is a desire to first fix my own failings.
If I can’t handle it myself, my silence should be an admission that we are in the mess together. If I can manage to stand up and get something done, that should be my answer.
Words are cheap, but actions are priceless.
We all know the tendency to posture and to dictate, to wave people about and to offer extensive suggestions on how they might improve themselves. Most of that will do very little good at all, and it may well do quite a bit of harm, since it is the example of good living that remains the best teacher.
Do as I say, not as I do. Where did I last see the master work hardest when he asked the servants to work harder? How often does the charming and eloquent mentor actually follow his own advice? When will a man take the log out of his own eye before he criticizes the fleck in mine?
The hypocrisy is so insidious that I am constantly tempted to point fingers at others, and I end up calling them out while only revealing my own ironic bitterness. So, certainly not for the last time today, I turn to one of my old Stoic mantras: “Attend to yourself!”
If I myself am doing wrong, I will never help anyone else to do right. If I am totally honest with myself, can I justifiably say something, however kind the tone may be, if I am not already practicing what I preach? And if I am somehow already practicing, will the addition of fine preaching make any difference?
The odd result has been that, as age brings with it just a bit more compassion and concern, I find myself saying less and less. I fear that some confuse this with carelessness or early senility, but at the heart of it is a desire to first fix my own failings.
If I can’t handle it myself, my silence should be an admission that we are in the mess together. If I can manage to stand up and get something done, that should be my answer.
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