So, there was an emperor who was excessively fond of new clothes: of all the things in the world available to an emperor to be fond of. He was also proud. This he made obvious by seizing every opportunity to show off his new clothes.
While the emperor was being the self centered person he was, there came along two rouges, cunning liars who pretended to be weavers. They promised the king that they could make an outfit invisible to everyone unfit for the office he held ( this is where simple logic comes in or at least it should). Someone does not just tell you about "invisible clothes" and you go ahead and think it is a wonderful idea. And this is where as ask me an obvious question; who in the universe deemed this loon emperor?
In the end, the emperor decides to use large sums of money to pay for this outfit-the height of bonkerosity. There are billions of people in Asia and Africa who have no food clothing or money that they can see and some really rich person is paying for something he might not even be able to see?
So after a while, he sends a bunch of his officers, one after another to check out the “cloth”. They all went to the “tailors’ shop”. When they all got there, they thought things like: “I cannot discover the least bit of thread on the looms” and “what is I possible that I am a simpleton?” well, maybe you are, maybe you are not. If you think there is nothing, maybe there is indeed nothing. Albert Einstein said “look for what there is, not what there should be”.
Finally, without taking their time to think through the situation, they all went back with comments such as “excellent, these patterns and colors”. Spare me, suck ups.
Finally, the day of the parade comes along and the emperor goes to get fitted. He is presented with the garment and thought to himself “I cannot see a thing…I’m I a simpleton?” Sure you can’t, there is nothing to see. And yes you’ve been a simple since the moment you decided to make and invisible garment and maybe even before then.
The king puts on his “garment” and joins the possession. His subjects who had heard of his garment “saw” it and said things like “magnificent”, “charming”, “excellent” and they were all gay. Is it just me or is this kingdom filled with raving lunatics? I mean for real the dude is in his underwear, someone please say something!!!!
Out of nowhere, a little kid says “but the emperor has nothing on at all.” Oh look we have a genius here. “Listen to the voice of innocence “screamed his father. That sweet, sensible, and smart voice. “But he has nothing on at all” at last cried out the people. WOAH there might just be an up rise of geniuses here.
The emperor got vexed (hehehe) because he knew they were right but still made the lord of his bed chamber (what sort of job is that?) carry his “train” even though in reality there was none.
This goes to show how sad and unproductive it is to follow the crowd. Most of us constantly doubt ourselves. We feel that we are the only ones going through a certain predicament and we are all alone. We feel that if we speak up we would be mocked and ridiculed. We would be called weirdoes and laughed at but the truth remain that we are not special. There are seven billion people in the world, and if you look really hard, actually, not so hard, you would find someone who has the same thought as you.
The story also teaches that courage, intelligence, confidence and depth can be found in the most unexpected places. Of all the people in the kingdom, it was the kid who spoke out and told the world the king was naked.
Finally, it teaches that us not to be strung along by others but think our own thoughts.
The emperor proved how easy it is for one to fall prey to evil if you only think about yourself.
Today, even with increase in different styles, technology and fields of knowledge, it is even more difficult to be yourself and be less than mediocre, but I believe if one tries really hard, you can make a difference no matter how small.
Not that I expect you to expect Obama to give a speech naked or something.
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