Hypocrisy and High Standards

Today, I stumbled upon a fascinating discussion on hypocrisy in the comment section of a youtube video, and in this discussion, I found a wise saying of a youtuber called LagMasterSam: "If you're never a hypocrite, you're either a saint or your standards aren't high enough."

I love this quote, not only because it illustrates that great wisdom can come from the mouth of practically anyone, but also because it reminds me that our standards should always be on a higher level than we are. We aren't perfect, but we should aspire to be perfect. We should uphold ideals higher than we ourselves can currently reach. Of course, we shouldn't hold others to higher standards than we hold ourselves; quite the opposite, in fact. We should hold ourselves to higher standards than we hold others, even as we acknowledge that we don't yet reach those standards.

The goal is to continually make progress, and we can't do that unless we strive to become better than we currently are. We need to set lofty goals and ideals for ourselves so we always have something to strive for. We aim high so we can always improve. If our personal standards are no higher than our current habits, then we need to raise our standards. We can do better and be better, but only if we aspire to do and be better.