“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”—Matthew 7:5 (NIV)
I love all the political posts on social media (**sarcasm**). It isn’t always just politics. As a society—as a purported community—we tend to always be one-sided in our views (myself included). The result is that we are always quite quick to point out the plank in others, yet neglect our own failings and shortcomings.
Recently, I have seen a barrage of attacks on former President Clinton’s ABC Today interview (some of which **cough** Fox News **cough** actually misrepresent or deny certain parts of the interview) relating to his relationship with Monica Lewinski while he was President. On the other side, there are the attacks (as well as defensive comments) about our current President. Among these as well, are countless other examples from a wide variety of organizations, political parties, etc. I will not take a political position on these, but as a son, a brother, a husband, and a father—not to mention an educator and mentor of women, I will call a pig a pig.
I responded to comments on a friend’s social media the other day and said the following on by own:
“Let’s get this straight: if you cheat on your wife, abuse, or otherwise, sexually harass a woman (any women) and/or go the strip clubs and/or participate in the support of the sex trade, you are a pig. No matter what your political affiliation, there is no excuse or justification. Let’s stop calling out our opposition whilst defending our own. If anything, we should be calling out our own before attacking others. You can put lipstick on a pig. It is still a pig.”
I stand by these comments, and was well-supported in making them. I added, in response to a friend’s comments that “women must take ownership, but never is it the woman’s fault that the man is a pig.” In saying this, though, I hope it is clear that women who play a voluntary role cannot claim to be victims, but we cannot and must not blame the women. Strangely, though, on my friends’ post (and I see it in numerous others) there are some who would argue that one’s infidelity is different than another’s. This is sheer nonsense!
I would hope (and expect) that I would hold those from my particular affiliation to the higher standard. After all, they should be a reflection of me. Because I espouse Christian values, one should expect that I would not condemn the actions of a non-Christian as deplorable and turn around and excuse the behavior of a Christian leader or politician as a moment of weakness or blame the tempter. Flip Wilson’s “the Devil made me do it” made for great comedy, but is a piss-poor justification for a lack of character.
I am not writing this as a political statement or condemnation. I also believe in forgiveness—when there is real repentance. I am writing this because we can all stand to be reminded that Jesus offered he who is without sin to throw the first stone. Not one of us qualifies to throw rocks. We can never condone or justify the exploitation and/or abuse of anyone. Abusive behavior is never defensible. Let’s stop putting lipstick on our pigs. Let’s live honorably and expect other—all others—to do the same.
Carpe momento!
Image source: http://www.bakerstreetmarketing.com.au/marketing/lipstick-marketing-pig/