Hypocrisy?

Perhaps I'm a bit too harsh on people, esp in expecting them to live what they preach.  Is that too much of me to expect?

Headlines on today's front page showcase Michael Moore, the highly-esteemed (at least in liberal quarters) film maker.  Frankly, I haven't seen any of his movies, but have read reviews of them by both liberals and conservatives.  And, I have heard interviews, not many, over the years.  I find him a typically bloviated, hypocritical liberal.  This newspaper article confirms that view.

This guy, who passes himself off as sort of a "common man," looking out for the interests of the little guy who is at the mercy of those evil capitalists, is hardly that.  A divorce proceeding has highlighted the hypocrisy.  I wonder how many "common men" are worth more than $50 million?  How many of them have a $2 million home on Torch Lake, not to mention a place in NYC?  Yet, as a permanent resident of the Up North community said, "He criticizes capitalism, but capitalism made him rich."  I might add filthy rich.

Again, I ask, why doesn't he live in a house like mine (which I find perfectly fine, considerably bigger and nicer than the one I grew up in back in the city) and give the rest of his money to the downtrodden, those whose dire lives he purports to improve?  (According to our latest assessment, my house is worth less than 10%, considerably less, than his.  And I'm perfectly comfortable and content.)  But, again, perhaps I ask too much??????

Of course, that's par for the course for some doo-gooders (and I do mean doo).  According to tax info supplied by both the President and VP, I give more (as a percentage of income) to charity than either--and in some years, more as a percentage of income than both combined.  I'm not at all patting myself on the back; I should give more, but don't.  What I am doing is pointing out the hypocrisy of the doo-gooders (and I do mean doo).

I know I've written this before, many times.  But how many of these people (regular folks, people I know) who criticize the greedy wealthy people, who lament the poor conditions of the downtrodden, etc., live what I consider to be extravagant lives?  Variously, some live on lakes and have a boat or two or three.  Many have one or two more cars than drivers in their households and we aren't talking about Ford Fiestas!  What about their swimming pools and hot tubs, with decks with more square footage than my house--or at least close to it?  How many have places Up North or Down South and take multiple vacations, often to escape the Michigan winters?  There's more, like fine wines, memorabilia, sporting events (season tickets), and more.

I don't bemoan these people what they have.  I don't begrudge them--not at all.  It's their money and they can spend it any ways they want.  What really grates me is their criticism of the greed of others.

Perhaps I just remember growing up, maybe differently from many of these people.  I am grateful for what i have.  Fifty years ago, had someone told me what my house and yard today would look like, I'd have laughed at him.  Hey, we mowed the lawn, not with a power mower, but my hand--and it didn't take 15 minutes.  (Oh, but we still groused; we were kids!)  I'm guessing we didn't have 1,000 square feet in the house.  Vacations?  Oh, we took three or four that I remember, but that's about it.  Our play pants/clothes were last year's school clothes.  Fortunately, I love spaghetti because we had that two times a week--not to mention the leftovers for lunches.  And I didn't and still don't complain.  We were never hungry, always had clothes, etc.  Many of my buddies describe the same scenarios, then and now.  We'd have never thunk......

It's funny, just this AM, I was talking with another former teacher from our local school district, who taught about the time I did for just about as many years.  We weren't at all complaining about our pensions, our retirement incomes.  But when we both said the maximum we ever made in teaching here (Remember, the big argument against ever giving us more money, when it was there--Yep, administrators lied!--was that we had a good retirement/pension.) we chuckled and at least I thought, "That's chump change."  And consider that, at least in this district, teachers have been forced to take 15-20% pay cuts over the past few years.