A Bad Act and a Worse Excuse

As one of the ancient philosophers observed: “where we wish to judge of weights, we do not judge at haphazard; where we wish to judge what is straight and what is crooked, we do not judge at haphazard.” We use standards. And if we wish to judge honesty, including our own, we must not judge haphazardly.

There is a line of demarkation between what is and isn’t honest and the difference between the two isn’t merely a matter of prevailing practice; it isn’t merely a matter of what other men do or don’t do. And yet it seems we sometimes seek to justify ourselves in doing what we know we shouldn’t do on the grounds that others are doing what they shouldn’t do. It seems we sometimes set about to blind our own eyes to our own weaknesses by watching the weaknesses of others. In the words of Thomas a Kempis: “We often do a bad act and make a worse excuse.”

Example is contagious, but if the bad example of others were to justify us in our own adverse actions, we could justify ourselves in almost anything simply by selecting the example we want to watch. We could justify ourselves in lying, cheating, swindling, betraying, deceiving, simply by saying to ourselves that others are doing as bad or worse, so why shouldn’t we? We can always find a bad example to follow if we will. But there are also honest and honorable examples, and how can we condone following the wrong ones when we could just as well be following the right ones.

The fact that wrong things are being done offers not actual excuse for any of us. The things we shouldn’t do, we somehow know we shouldn’t do⎯and there is ample evidence, from the present and the past, that it doesn’t matter who, or how many engage in popular or prevailing malpractice, following a bad example offers us no peace or protection⎯or justification. “Life is shore, and truth works far and lives long: let us speak the truth”⎯and live the truth and not seek to justify ourselves in doing things the wrong way by citing the example of others who have done things the wrong way.