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THE SIX PREREQUISITES OF HYPOCRISY
A prerequisite is a thing that is required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist. Hypocrisy refers to a situation in which someone pretends to believe something that they do not really believe, or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time. Having made a keen observation of how hypocrisy has entangled the society, I decided to come up with its six prerequisites, the behaviours practiced by the society which give a vast room for hypocrisy to exist and thrive from generation to generation.
The first prerequisite of hypocrisy is greetings. One day, as I was walking on the earth road linking my motherland Kimu village and other adjacent village on the upper part of Kyuso ward, I met a woman crying. Her face had bruises and her eyes were as red as a cherry. She seemed to have had a horrific night or probably a horrible beginning of the day. It was in the morning, just a few minutes after the sunrise, whose rays aimed at her bruised face with an incandescent light as if to make her situation known to everyone in the village. To my astonishment, when I greeted that woman, How are you?' in my mother tongue, she replied 'Am fine!' and brushed past me with tears still flowing from her eyes. You will agree with me that the woman was not fine at all. If she was to be sincere enough, she would have said 'I am not fine'. However, I cannot pin the full blame on her. The woman was practicing what she had been taught from childhood, on how to respond to greetings. She had witnessed it herself from the time she was clever enough to understand the cannons of language; greetings should not have a negative response. That is where the line of hypocrisy crosses. It might seem to be a thin line in its existence, but what matters is that it is there. The woman saying that she was fine was a lie in obedience to the dictation of how people should respond to greetings. The scenario exists everywhere round this multicultural globe. In every society, there are greetings aligned with their static positive responses, which people have assumed that they are not changeable at all. My concern is this, and I will leave this question for you to meditate on; Shouldn't we give sincere responses to greetings?
Another egregious prerequisite of hypocrisy is burial ceremonies. I don't care whether you will agree with me or not, but there are no other occasions in the world which give a room for hypocrisy to thrive like burial ceremonies. I really wonder, that when someone dies, people make an utmost commitment by digging deep into their pockets in order to give the deceased person a 'descent' send-off. Friends, descency does not exist in corpses. It exists among the living, not the dead. I am really saddened by how people form Whatsapp groups and contribute millions of money for a burial ceremony of one of their own, something they never did for his/her welfare when he/she was alive. The line of hypocrisy again crosses there. The only way you can relay a reliable help to a person is when they are alive. A dead person is a corpse. Why do you pretend to show more love when someone is dead, something you never did when he/ she was alive? If there is a nice suit you can dress a corpse, why don't you dress the body when the soul is still on it? If there is an amount of money you can give for a burial ceremony, why didn't you give it out when the deceased was still alive? Shame on you! You attend burial ceremonies, pretending to be more saddened than the bereaved, reading false eulogies and preaching a heaven you have never seen. Shame on you! If a person was a thief or a murderer when he/she was alive, include it in their eulogies. Call a spade a spade!
The third prerequisite of hypocrisy is what I usually call the conspiracy of wealth. Who is an opportunist? An opportunist is a person who takes advantage of opportunities as and when they arise, regardless of planning or principle. I have always presented this reality without fear. You as a reader, just discern for yourself whether it is true or false. In your area of residence, there are people who never step a feet on your compound when you are still struggling to make ends meet in life. They are never concerned about your well-being when you are still looking for a way to change your lifestyle. However, when your life is finally filled with opulence, with a cloud of prosperity hanging over it, the similar people who never even knew the direction towards your homestead start flooding to your compound, reminding you that they are probably your relatives, others riding on sweet-talk embroidered on false friendship. Here is where the line of hypocrisy crosses. Take care friends. Your sincere friend is the one who stays by your side, come sunshine, come raindrops. If you think I don't know what am talking about, just let your opulence drain today (God forbid). The friends you made upon your success will disappear from your life like a passing gleam or a cloud driven by wind.
The fourth prerequisite of hypocrisy is presence of social class and status in the church. You will agree with me that most churches today, from the mother church, that is the Catholic Church, to the apostate Protestants and the Adventists, are filled by men and women who pretend to be greater than others when worshipping God. It has always been there, even during the biblical times, when the rich people were attending religious ceremonies for a showoff. In my home Catholic parish, there exists some men and women I mentioned in my article 'The Power and the Glory', who seem to think that the church has an hierarchy for the lowly and the great. They are unaware that what God wants in His congregation is spiritual greatness, not materialistic greatness. I was conversing with one of the priests who has made the greatest record of service to God and humanity in this parish, and he told me that the people who were closest to him during his tenure were the lowly, the people I would call in a lay man's language the poor. He told me that they might be poor, but they have a big heart. They are an important asset to the church. They sincerely give what they have, not for a showoff, but for the power and the glory of God. No wonder that priest's transfer was steered by those hypocrites am talking about, the men and women who pretend to be greater than others when worshipping God. Let the truth be told, the church has a long way to go if it still entertains social status.
The fifth prerequisite of hypocrisy is sinning behind the curtains. The society is dominated by people who are always quick to place a ferocious judgement on other people. They pretend to be more morally upright, but the fact is that they are not. They hold public offices, but the reality rates their integrity at 0%. These hypocrites pretend to be the identifiers of other people's mistakes, just because they have managed to hide their own. I tell you, we who expose our own mistakes are better than you who hides yours. The hefty shame that awaits to bestow itself on your life might make you to commit suicide if the dark side of your life was to be exposed.
The sixth and last prerequisite of hypocrisy is the difference between respect and submission. Not all my readers will agree with what I have presented in the previous five prerequisites. I am awaiting the usual responses from some people, especially the ones who feel like I was directly attacking them. They will say I have no respect for my elders. My friend, I will respect your dignity, but I will never be submissive to it, till the day I will die. I will write and write whatever fits my conscience. If you are wrong you are wrong, no matter who you are! This is Literature, mirror of the society, that reflects what happens within the society. No biblical prophet was applauded for telling the truth. They were all reprimanded, so who are my not to face hostility? The world has embraced falsehood, and it is our duty to change it. Let literature be the firsthand tool in doing this.
The first prerequisite of hypocrisy is greetings. One day, as I was walking on the earth road linking my motherland Kimu village and other adjacent village on the upper part of Kyuso ward, I met a woman crying. Her face had bruises and her eyes were as red as a cherry. She seemed to have had a horrific night or probably a horrible beginning of the day. It was in the morning, just a few minutes after the sunrise, whose rays aimed at her bruised face with an incandescent light as if to make her situation known to everyone in the village. To my astonishment, when I greeted that woman, How are you?' in my mother tongue, she replied 'Am fine!' and brushed past me with tears still flowing from her eyes. You will agree with me that the woman was not fine at all. If she was to be sincere enough, she would have said 'I am not fine'. However, I cannot pin the full blame on her. The woman was practicing what she had been taught from childhood, on how to respond to greetings. She had witnessed it herself from the time she was clever enough to understand the cannons of language; greetings should not have a negative response. That is where the line of hypocrisy crosses. It might seem to be a thin line in its existence, but what matters is that it is there. The woman saying that she was fine was a lie in obedience to the dictation of how people should respond to greetings. The scenario exists everywhere round this multicultural globe. In every society, there are greetings aligned with their static positive responses, which people have assumed that they are not changeable at all. My concern is this, and I will leave this question for you to meditate on; Shouldn't we give sincere responses to greetings?
Another egregious prerequisite of hypocrisy is burial ceremonies. I don't care whether you will agree with me or not, but there are no other occasions in the world which give a room for hypocrisy to thrive like burial ceremonies. I really wonder, that when someone dies, people make an utmost commitment by digging deep into their pockets in order to give the deceased person a 'descent' send-off. Friends, descency does not exist in corpses. It exists among the living, not the dead. I am really saddened by how people form Whatsapp groups and contribute millions of money for a burial ceremony of one of their own, something they never did for his/her welfare when he/she was alive. The line of hypocrisy again crosses there. The only way you can relay a reliable help to a person is when they are alive. A dead person is a corpse. Why do you pretend to show more love when someone is dead, something you never did when he/ she was alive? If there is a nice suit you can dress a corpse, why don't you dress the body when the soul is still on it? If there is an amount of money you can give for a burial ceremony, why didn't you give it out when the deceased was still alive? Shame on you! You attend burial ceremonies, pretending to be more saddened than the bereaved, reading false eulogies and preaching a heaven you have never seen. Shame on you! If a person was a thief or a murderer when he/she was alive, include it in their eulogies. Call a spade a spade!
The third prerequisite of hypocrisy is what I usually call the conspiracy of wealth. Who is an opportunist? An opportunist is a person who takes advantage of opportunities as and when they arise, regardless of planning or principle. I have always presented this reality without fear. You as a reader, just discern for yourself whether it is true or false. In your area of residence, there are people who never step a feet on your compound when you are still struggling to make ends meet in life. They are never concerned about your well-being when you are still looking for a way to change your lifestyle. However, when your life is finally filled with opulence, with a cloud of prosperity hanging over it, the similar people who never even knew the direction towards your homestead start flooding to your compound, reminding you that they are probably your relatives, others riding on sweet-talk embroidered on false friendship. Here is where the line of hypocrisy crosses. Take care friends. Your sincere friend is the one who stays by your side, come sunshine, come raindrops. If you think I don't know what am talking about, just let your opulence drain today (God forbid). The friends you made upon your success will disappear from your life like a passing gleam or a cloud driven by wind.
The fourth prerequisite of hypocrisy is presence of social class and status in the church. You will agree with me that most churches today, from the mother church, that is the Catholic Church, to the apostate Protestants and the Adventists, are filled by men and women who pretend to be greater than others when worshipping God. It has always been there, even during the biblical times, when the rich people were attending religious ceremonies for a showoff. In my home Catholic parish, there exists some men and women I mentioned in my article 'The Power and the Glory', who seem to think that the church has an hierarchy for the lowly and the great. They are unaware that what God wants in His congregation is spiritual greatness, not materialistic greatness. I was conversing with one of the priests who has made the greatest record of service to God and humanity in this parish, and he told me that the people who were closest to him during his tenure were the lowly, the people I would call in a lay man's language the poor. He told me that they might be poor, but they have a big heart. They are an important asset to the church. They sincerely give what they have, not for a showoff, but for the power and the glory of God. No wonder that priest's transfer was steered by those hypocrites am talking about, the men and women who pretend to be greater than others when worshipping God. Let the truth be told, the church has a long way to go if it still entertains social status.
The fifth prerequisite of hypocrisy is sinning behind the curtains. The society is dominated by people who are always quick to place a ferocious judgement on other people. They pretend to be more morally upright, but the fact is that they are not. They hold public offices, but the reality rates their integrity at 0%. These hypocrites pretend to be the identifiers of other people's mistakes, just because they have managed to hide their own. I tell you, we who expose our own mistakes are better than you who hides yours. The hefty shame that awaits to bestow itself on your life might make you to commit suicide if the dark side of your life was to be exposed.
The sixth and last prerequisite of hypocrisy is the difference between respect and submission. Not all my readers will agree with what I have presented in the previous five prerequisites. I am awaiting the usual responses from some people, especially the ones who feel like I was directly attacking them. They will say I have no respect for my elders. My friend, I will respect your dignity, but I will never be submissive to it, till the day I will die. I will write and write whatever fits my conscience. If you are wrong you are wrong, no matter who you are! This is Literature, mirror of the society, that reflects what happens within the society. No biblical prophet was applauded for telling the truth. They were all reprimanded, so who are my not to face hostility? The world has embraced falsehood, and it is our duty to change it. Let literature be the firsthand tool in doing this.
