So I got my first “Hey Mister” yesterday. For any who are not familiar with the term it is when a minor you don’t know walks up to you and asks you to buy them beer. This is something I did many times when I was younger as well as beer runs when they did not work.
So this group of about 4 kids come up to me and ask me to buy them beer. After the novelty of it wore off, I talked with the kids for a while. It turned out they were only fifteen, and were partying until school began again. I thought that if I refused it would be hypocritical so… I was hypocritical.
So am I growing up? Am I a hypocrite? Does being a grown up mean being hypocritical?
I think I’ve either gained perspective or lost some.
I’m sure they just did a beer run, I know I would have.
Why is it hypocritical to change your mind about what’s appropriate and innapropriate, right and wrong? You’re allowed to mature, and make decisions in a different way than you would in the past. 15 is awfully young, especially to be drinking. Just because you wanted someone of age to buy you beer when you were 15 doesn’t mean you are now obligated to buy 15yos beer now that you can. Your understanding of the world, what’s dangerous, what’s age-appropriate, etc. has expanded. That’s a good thing.
Or better put, it means being responsible in ways you didn’t realize or respect when you were 15. It also means showing more common sense than those who bought you beer at those 6+ years ago.
When I was a kid, purchasers of alcohol for minors weren’t fined, unless there was the rare step of charging them with “contributing to the deliquency”. My State has a new, lesser punishment that includes a fine. I’m not a hypocrite, I’m just paranoid. If that law wasn’t in place, I still wouldn’t do it. But that’s just because I’m a hypocrite. But see? I’m not, the law allows me to be not. Hell. Now I’m confused.
Definitely not hypocritical behavior. It is not hypocritical to change your mind, gain maturity, become responsible, or change your tastes. I suspect that if we all kept the same opinions that we had at 15 (for example, that it’s neat to drink before school, that the Backstreet Boys are the epitome of musical artistry, and that high grades should be given out independent of actual effort), then the world would not be improved by it.
Hypocracy is when you claim to posess a virtue while concealing the fact that you are flawed. An alcoholic chugging vodka is not being a hypocrite when he tells hisx friends and family not to start drinking-he’s passing on a lesson he has learned tha hard awy. He would be a hypocrite if he claims moral superiority to those who drink while hiding a fifth in the toliet tank.
One of the traits of youth is the idea that change and development are 'selling out"–only an adolecent is conceited enough to believe that they have reached true and perfect knowledge of themselves, and that any change in perspective is hypocritical. What we are talking about is hte process of learning to say: “I used to think that. I was wrong.”