Friends Like Lingams'

The first time I encountered a hypocrite, I was about 12 years old. Being a young boy, that 'word' wasn't in my vocabulary. But I could certainly relate to the feeling of anger and disappointment from the betrayal.

As naughty school boys, my friend and I plotted to put some glue on our Math's teacher chair. We were absolutely gleeful as we squirted the sticky mush onto her chair. We laughed happily, confident that we would never be found out.

My friend decided to take a leak so I waited for him in the classroom. While waiting, the disciplinary teacher walked past and saw me alone in the classroom with a pot of glue in my hand. Mortified, I just stood there not knowing what to do. My friend, who just came out from the gents, just walked past the classroom, avoiding eye contact with me and pretended he had no part in this. The next day, when I was punished during assembly, he even nodded agreeably when the discipline teacher went on and on about being respecful to teachers, etc, etc.

Needless to say, I've never spoken to him since.