Ever see any of that? Yeah, me too… Nobody likes hypocrites, of course, and that does not just go for members of our culture, either. Nope, the fork-tongued devils are universally despised, and it is something we all try very hard to avoid being caught at ourselves.

On the other hand, no one, I don’t think, can legitimately claim to be totally innocent on this score, but nobody wants to be thought of as a hypocrite either… Very real consequences do arise for those caught daring to trespass upon this social taboo, and the sting of earning such a reputation can be… well… un-good!

Another aspect, at least for folks with a well-calibrated moral compass, is the struggle with our own conscience, should we discover that we have somehow strayed from the straight and narrow path of acceptable upright behavior. In my humble opinion, that struggle is significant and perhaps the most difficult aspect of all the negativity surrounding this universally practiced, yet equally universally reviled, area of deportment.

Naturally, we see this most notably in the arena of political ‘combat’. Yes, we have all observed way more than we’d hoped to see in our most recent ‘silly season’, and we’ve all heard candidates of all stripes being roundly criticized, condemned, and otherwise taken to task by those on the opposing side, who enthusiastically point out any egregious faux pas… real, imagined, or alleged. “Vote for our candidate,” we were earnestly beseeched, “because their candidate is even worse than ours!”

It has become an accepted norm for office seekers to promise outrageous ‘benefits’ to everybody for ‘the common good of all mankind’, of course, and to offer a sure-fire solution to all that ails society with not the slightest intention of actually tackling most of those issues.

These unashamed practitioners of balderdash proliferation seem un-phased by any restraints that might be imposed by a functioning set of even modest moral principles, as they gleefully proclaim they truly do indeed plan to deliver on ‘some’ of their promises, though…

The rules are markedly different for those folks… The rest of us must muddle on, however, and do the best we can, burdened as we are with our ever-watchful, non-ruling-elite consciences, and the very real presence of enormous peer pressure looming large…

No doubt about it, we hate to observe hypocrisy… Partly, I think, because we realize someone is trying to deceive us… to lie, to probably cheat us, but certainly to mislead us… to present themselves as someone who is virtuous, when they clearly are not. We feel threatened by this for obvious reasons, but also because it reminds us that there are those among us who will do naughty things to us, and it forces us to acknowledge to ourselves our own vulnerability to persuasive, pervasive heifer dust. Spooky stuff for sure… but that’s not all…

It galls us to see someone prostitute him/herself and to pretend to be someone they are not. To present themselves to be stalwart goody-two-shoes, all the while doing underhanded things and taking the ‘shortcuts’ in life unacceptable, or at least unavailable, to us mere ordinary folk…

It’s an onerous eye-sore, for sure, and we feel contempt for those we observe in such a light. Like so many things, though, we really hate to see that sort of thing, because it also reminds us of our own weakness, and of the times we may have strayed off the high-road ourselves…

I bring all this up, because I feel a need to cleanse my soul… to lay bare my recent conduct to those I do trust, and to seek counsel. To present a mia culpa, and to beg the forbearance of people I know to be of upright character and sterling values…

I have sinned and come up short of the standards by which we all should live… I feel so dirty, or at least seriously unclean, and my conscience is nagging me like a bitter spouse to make amends… I must do this if I am ever to regain peace of mind…

It all started because I’d rescheduled my doctors’ appointments this past summer, when I’d decided to sell my house and relocate to Florida. All the emotional ups and downs and stress coupled with the considerable physical exertion automatically included in such a venture, left me in serious need of a therapeutic road trip…; but, those pesky appointments were getting in the way. Well, I’m not one to let proper medical priorities get in the way of a good, curative session with ‘Dr.’ ALI, so I rescheduled… like any normal Valk addict would…

There inevitably comes a time, however, when we must return to lucid thought, and we must right our ship of affairs. As I approached the dates for those rescheduled appointments, I was faced with another choice point… Should I keep those revised visits or reschedule again?

Oh, the temptation was great, to be sure! By then I was already wanting to head out on another adventure; and, I did feel a twinge of guilt for not having ridden our girl in over a week… I sucked it up, though, and I made the difficult but prudent choice… I’d put off my ride for another week and get my health status confirmed.

Well, I’d had some pretty doggone satisfactory medicos in Bama, and I hadn’t seen a physician in Florida in more than twelve years… Rather than jump through all the hoops of finding new testicle squeezers, peek-a-booty finger wavers, and skin burners, I decided to postpone that activity for another time… I already had appointments with the old guys/gals anyway, and they had my records and history on-hand… This had the additional advantage of not delaying my next ride nearly as much as a full-fledged switcheroo would. Not a tough call…

I’d have to find a place to stay while I was up there, though, since new occupants now live in my old house… No sweat! My best friend offered to take me in, and Napper invited me to stay with her, too. I was prepared to just get a room in a motel, but the opportunity of staying with Napper was more than I could pass up, so here I am… So far, so good…

Being an unapologetic procrastinator, I naturally waited until the last minute to throw a few items into a bag and let that pass for packing… The devil truly is in the details, though, and haste does indeed make waste…

To make matters worse, a cold front was marching through the southeast like Sherman had done a century and a half before. Along with the rain that had forced me to make the painful decision to drive my car instead of ride ALI, plummeting temperatures were also in the forecast. Oppps, and I’d forgotten to bring a jacket…

So, there I was… safely at Napper’s place and all set… except that whenever I went outside… well… my teeth chattered so hard, I was going to have to schedule a visit to the dentist, too, if I didn’t do something.

Ever wise, sweet, thoughtful Napper graciously offered me the use of a ‘throw’ blanket I could drape across my shoulders, and this did help a bunch. Thing is, that ‘throw’ is black and orange, and it has ‘Harley-Davidson’ boldly emblazoned on it for all the world to see! I had little choice but to use it until I could get to a store the following day to buy something else…. But, I did actually use that ‘throw’ during the interim. So… Now you know…

I am a solid Honda guy for sure, and every bike I’ve ever owned has been of the metric persuasion; plus, I don’t expect to ever be the owner of a Hog either, so… I not only feel like I’ve been callously unfaithful… I also fear I may have inadvertently become a genuine poser!

Have I crossed the line this time? Have I become a hypocrite… yet again? Is it possible for a transgressor such as I to ever find redemption? I now throw myself upon the tender mercy of the benevolent members of this forum for a verdict…