Hypocrite

We’ve had a couple of bad examples of this tendency lately. Andrew Scheer, the outgoing Conservative leader here in Canada, has shown this ‘flaw’ before, but his recent ‘faux pas’ concerning the COVID-19 ‘rule’ of social distancing takes the cake. He brought his family with him when he returned to Ottawa from Calgary, but their extra bodies filled the jet that included the former Green leader Elizabeth May. They didn’t wear masks, and they weren’t at least 6 feet apart from others. But, he said his wife had handwipes and they didn’t speak ‘moistly’ (a term Justin Trudeau accidently coined the day before).

So, that’s alright then.

After self-isolating when his wife Sophie became positive for the virus, Justin Trudeau seemed to be a paragon of virtue. The daily press conferences outside his residence in Ottawa followed protocol perfectly. But last weekend, he visited his family at their cottage in Quebec, thus undermining the instructions that everyone was to follow about staying home. Oops.

Shaking Hands/No Masks?

White House officials, including the President and Vice-President, are not practicing social distancing. Trump has shaken hands with others on multiple occasions. Pence says he’ll only get tested for the virus if someone at the White House tested positive. Wouldn’t that be a bit too late?

When our political leaders don’t act like they’re taking the pandemic seriously, how do they expect their countrymen and women to do so?

As always, there’s a Biblical quote for that:

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 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 7:3-5)

Here ends the lesson.