'This above all: to thine own self be true' says Polonius, in the first Act of Hamlet. So: is Polonius right?Thus I tweeted moments ago.
The other night, a dear friend listened to some of my stored-up disappointments, frustrations and questions, and gently asked afterwards: are you happy with who you are?
It was the right question. Behind some of my fuming was the sense that I wasn’t quite sure.
We can put up with a lot, said my wise friend, if we know we’re being true to ourselves. If we don’t know that, it doesn’t take much to get us down.
It switched a light on for me, this did.
I know that Polonius’s famous dictum tweeted above can be a clichéd excuse for self-congratulation and pomposity (indeed, this was probably true of Polonius, and that was Shakespeare’s irony). But that doesn’t stop it being true.
I’m grateful to have such wise friends. And I’m even more grateful that this particular friend is my wife.
1 comment:
What a fine punch line or last word! Has it helped you find out who you are a bit more then? I'm afraid (?) the process goes on through life - which is why I said it takes us 70 years to get healed, and in fact grow up - if we ever do.
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