By Betsy Gonwa, 
In the news recently, the senate’s response to the opportunity to approve a president’s nominee for a supreme court justice made headlines. When asked to explain how he could support delaying a nomination for eight months under one president, citing the pending election as the reason, and four years later support pushing a nomination through under a different president with the election only two months away, one senator said, “It’s just the reality of the situation.”
When the reporter pointed out the discrepancy in the senator’s words, the senator attributed the change in his perspective to “the reality of the situation.” This leads me to think about times in my own life when, faced with “the reality of the situation,” I changed my story. How many times have I done this? And did I notice the discrepancy?
Noticing discrepancies in myself is not easy. Sometimes my behavior is inconsistent, and I do not see it. If an outsider should point it out to me, perhaps my husband, or one of my children or a friend, I might choose to blame reality in order to defend my own behavior just as the senator did when the reporter pointed out his discrepancy. It is always easier to notice inconsistency outside of myself than it is to see it in myself.
But, when a discrepancy like this catches my attention, it can be received as an invitation to look inside of myself. What I see so clearly in another’s behavior may be pointing out what is not clear in my own. When I am questioning another’s integrity, is it an invitation to question my own integrity? Have I said one thing one day and another thing another day because it was convenient for me to manipulate other people so I could get my way? When have I been untrue to my own authentic self in order to please others or to serve my ego?
The next time you notice a discrepancy in someone else’s behavior, or in your own, or if someone else brings a discrepancy to your attention, will you consider it an invitation to look inside of yourself?
