"This above all: to thine own self be true."

[We'll be on holiday tomorrow, so save this for then, okay? (*grin*)]

"To thine own self be true."

The advice Polonius gives Laertes in Act I, Scene iii (see below) is nothing more than a laundry list of sparkling platitudes garbed in a threadbare cloak of (alleged) senior wisdom. It's no wonder that folks who return to Hamlet (again and again) are certain that Ophelia's father is among the lowest of Shakespeare's creations.

He is.

Hamlet's inadvertent murder of the skulking old man elicits gasps only on the maiden reading (or viewing). Subsequent readings engender murmurs of relief. "Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell!"

I am reminded of the platitudes of Polonius today because "to thine own self be true" has become the crutch of lazy self-discoverers, a cliche for those too weary or foolish to press past the average and mediocre. "I give up! This is who I am," they confess. "'To thine own self be true.' This is me, warts and all, and I embrace it."

This maladaption of the phrase is self-deceit. Yes, by all means, let us be true to ourselves, to our best selves: to the selves who rise early (or stay up late) to improve mind and body; to the selves who make mountains out of modest snow-covered hills in the local park, not out of chores and errands; to the selves who challenge the conventional wisdom; to the selves too smart to denigrate those who insist on a high standard, even if that standard is difficult to attain.

Let us not be true to the selves who urge us to settle for the status quo or, worse, make excuses for it. Let us not be true to the selves who enjoin us to make excuses or blame others for our lapses, difficulties, and failures. The lapses, difficulties, and failures are part of who we are. We must own them... and then move on.

To thine own best self be true.

No, of course, I would not presume to rewrite the secular scripture of Shakespeare, but like any other disciple, I have been prompted to spin it a little, to assign to it contemporary analogies.

Heh, heh, heh.

Hey! Happy President's Day! Here's a radical idea. Don't shop today. Read! Think! Write! Learn! Oh, wait. I don't need to tell you folks that.

Carry on.

__________________________

Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,—to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!