Hyprocritical Beings

My first impression of section 26 of the Handbook of Epictetus was that he's pretty much describing and telling us why we as humans are hypocrites in so many different situations in our daily lives. In other words, he illustrates how we as humans react differently when our friend is in the situation agianst when we ourselves are put in that position. He goes about exemplifying it with this instance, "When someone else's little slave boy breaks his cup we are ready to say, 'It's one of those things that just happen.' Certaintly, then, when our own cup is broken you should be just the way you were when the other person's was broken" (26). This example shows us how we act differently when the jokes on us or when the jokes on our friend. And many of us dont even realize when were doing it because we've become so blind to it that we dont even catch ourselves doing it.

If you keep reading the same section another example comes that better illustrates the hypocrocy, "Someone else's child is dead, or his wife...'It's the lot of a human being.' But when one's own dies, immediatly it is, 'Alas! Poor me!" (26) This is a perfect example of someone who is being a hypocrite because when his friends childrena and wife die he says, "Oh it was their destiny to die, dont worry." But when your own family members die its, "Oh my Lord! Why me!"

I think that this is what Epictetus is trying to convey to us readers, that we sometimes judge way too quickly without thinking about what that person is goeing through, “Never criticize a man until you have walked a thousand miles in his moccasins."