“Richard: And thus I clothe my naked villany
With odd old ends
stol’n out of holy writ,
And seem a saint,
when most I play the devil”…Shakespeare
The Emperor’s New
Clothes
One of the most amazing books of all time for me is “The
Emperor’s New Clothes” written by Hans Christian Anderson as way back as in the
early nineteenth century. The obvious reason for this is because in addition to
the fact that the book is quite easy to read, it like light that shines bright
in the dark, unleashes the truth that still exists in this seemingly confused
and exploited world in the form of the honesty, plainness and innocence of a
little child, and his boldness to publicly acknowledge it.
I guess we all know the summary of the story; well
apparently there was a proud king whose insecurity shines as bright as day to
the bewilderment of his somewhat smarter followers, only they are afraid to
reveal it due to the fact that their king was rather cruel. A couple of con men
however summoned courage to play on the king’s intelligence which wasn't
obviously present. He was shown luxurious apparel which could be seen only by
the eyes of the "wise", the king constantly acclaimed himself wise, so he fell for
the trick. On a fateful day that he chose to parade the land to show off his "wise" apparel, the people kept mute about what they actually saw and
hypocritically cheered the pompous king, only for an innocent kid unaware of
the adults’ pretense cried out, “The king is naked!”
In Reality
In the real world of today, many kings are stark naked,
yet they stand proudly on the platform of public glare with absolutely no
shame, and guess what, the public have out of old and negatively stereotyped
and accepted culture failed to simply tell them as the innocent young lad did,
that they are so stark naked that the whole world is feeding their eyes with
the embarrassing dirt upon their bottoms, and yes it disgusts.
We live in a world where even villains tend to justify
their evil acts and where their bunch of accomplices swarm along with them with
blood of the innocent dripping off their mouths.
The New Age
Gone are the days when one had to travel several kilometers
just to pass a message, and it is absolutely no longer fashionable and in some
way somewhat unacceptable to remain in the doldrums of practically obscene
mediocrity in terms of cooking, washing, travelling, building etc.
Of course it’s a new age where you can send and receive
information with the speed of light, you can cook with heat burner, gas or
microwave oven, you can wash with the washing machine, you can travel on a fast
and convenient Jet liner and you can embark on a building project with a
flawless design that is designed with great software and which is devoid of
casualties with modern equipment, as opposed to as of old.
My point here basically is that, it is actually difficult
to tell lies concerning matters of public interest or feed the public with fake
“facts and figures”. All we have to do is check it up on the world’s number one
search engine “Google”, after all “Partnership” is gaining a new meaning.
Thinkers constantly highlight the imperatives of having the big picture in mind
coupled with having a positive mental attitude, opening and freeing our minds
to the subtlest possibilities, which encourages us to respect ourselves and in
the event of affairs have no reason to be dishonest.
On a lighter mood
“I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me”…Mat. 25:36, Holy Bible
When a king is naked, it is in some sort of way our
responsibility to help cover him up, although it was his folly that led to his
embarrassing nudity, I think we should encourage little kids like the innocent
young lad to shun timidity and speak up, perhaps then the king can swallow his
pride and retrace his steps.
Thank you.
Akin Abimbola
SOURCES: Google
The Holy Bible
The Emperor’s New Clothes
I Clothe my naked villainy (William
Shakespeare)
