THE PRESUMPTUOUSNESS OF DISAPPOINTMENT

“Why people always gots to be judgin’ folk?” the wino said as he downed his final gulp of Wild Irish Rose. “Like they ain’t never did nothin’.”

I looked at my new friend and nodded gravely. He was right. Somebody is always there to judge and criticize as if they are somehow immune to the same things.

“If it’s one thing I done learned,” he began, “It’s that people ain’t never gonna…”

It took a few moments for me to realize he wasn’t finishing his sentence. With a gentle kick to his foot, I prompted him to go on.

He shrugged. “It don’t matter. Ain’t nothin’ gonna change no how.”

I bought him another bottle. Damned if he wasn’t right. People will always feel the need to attack what they perceive as negative behavior in lieu of their own.

The funny thing is, and I’m sure my fictional wino friend would back me up on this if he weren’t sleeping off the day’s philosophical ponderings, these are people that rarely have clean laundry lists. So why are they the first ones to act this way?

This is a question that has apparently plagued humanity for centuries. Jesus, happening upon the stoning of Mary Magdalene for either being a prostitue or a crazy occultist depending upon which version of the story you choose to accept, uttered the famous, “Let he who is without sin cast he first stone.” In the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian,” the person who uttered that phrase got pelted repeatedly with rocks. Sadly, that’s probably a more realistic depiction.

Other religions have dealt with this same concept. None of them has arrived at a satisfactory answer. The latest major religion, Psychology, has grappled with many states of mind in an attempt to fit them all into neat, tidy little packages. But I haven’t seen much research done on the nature of hypocrisy. Why not?

Perhaps they started and reached my wino friend’s ephiphanous conclusion: What’s the point? Hypocrisy seems to be hardwired into the human psyche right alongside survival and factionalism. It is, after all, the perfect method for achieving both of these. A hypocrite can happily tiptoe through the tulips believing themselves free of “sin” as a way of ensuring their continued survival. This also leads to distinctions being drawn in the mind between their moral superiority and the inherent inferiority of those they judge so readily.

I have spent a lonely lifetime taking on people like this while at the same time endeavoring to avoid being one of them. All of us fall from time to time. But the worst offenders tend to be those individuals who think they have somehow passed beyond the veil of normal human experience and can now impart lessons unto the slobbering masses.

This reminds me of my favorite TV show “Babylon Five.” For those unfamiliar with the show, allow me to provide a brief recap. For those unconcerned, you are now my sworn enemy. The show focused on a space station in the 23rgd century that was built as a sort of United Nations to avoid future interplanetary conflicts. As the opening narration of the third season informs us, “It failed.” What it became instead was a symbol of greatness in an ongoing ancient war that had been waged several times over the millennia. This was manipulated and instigated by two races, one called the Vorlons who were beings of light and the other called the Shadows, who were what their name implies. When the younger races involved in the war realized they were fighting a war based on a philosophical difference created by two races that thought they were superior despite having their own issues…just watch the damn show!!!

These hypocrites may be human but they are similar to the aliens mentioned above. But at least the aliens had the virtue of having led lives the other races knew nothing about. I’ve dealt with people whose checkered pasts were known to me and they still wanted to judge me as well as others. That takes a special breed of judgmental lunatic, I think.

I sometimes get the impression that some people place me on a pedestal. I have no idea why. In my opinion, I am the last person who deserves a platform on which to stand above others. As you are no doubt aware, anyone on a pedestal eventually falls off and lands on his or her ass. This is when those who placed them there go nuts. Suddenly that person is a “disappointment” or they can’t “believe” what they are seeing/hearing.

This is why Charles Barclay said, “I am not a role model.” He was just a guy bouncing a rubber ball around for large sums of money. Likewise, I am just a guy who does what he does and tries to muddle through this existence until the day his body gives out and he lives no more. It’s the American dream, after all.

I try not to judge other people for their actions and deeds. In fact, I judge so rarely that I have actually had to endure judgment for not being judgmental! Seriously. It actually pisses people off that I won’t judge others, no matter what they do. I sincerely do not believe we have that right.

I may not believe in God, especially as described in the various religious literatures available at Barnes & Noble, but I do believe in a higher level of being. And I don’t believe we reach it by being petty and standing in judgment of others. I also don’t think we reach it by trying to reach it, but that’s another post.

I know nothing can be done about these people. They won’t some day awaken to their own hypocrisy and start working to make the world a better place. I’ve got news for ya: The world can’t be a better place. This really is as good as it gets. We’re not capable of anything more on our own. So, unless the Mayan prediction of sky people arriving to help us in 2012 proves correct, we will have to do what we can sans celestial assistance.

People will continue to judge and be “disappointed” in those they placed into some artificial realm of higher esteem as long as we exist as a species. They will create standards and laws and rules and tribes based on these judgments long after this current generation has faded away and returned to the stardust and proto-matter that gave birth to the universe. Some things are constant and unalterable.

I can’t find any comfort in that.

What about you?