Authenticity and a Purple Tutu
Lessons on authenticity from Rumpole, Diogenes and Nextdoor
One of the most peculiar figures of ancient Greece was Diogenes of Sinope, the Cynic philosopher. He believed in living his values, rather than simply talking about them.
Diogenes made it his life’s mission to challenge established norms or customs. While his father minted coins for a living, Diogenes completely rejected that and made poverty a virtue.
He spent his days in the marketplace, living in a tub or barrel, wandering the streets with a lantern in the daytime, saying that he was looking for an honest man.
He didn’t care what others thought of him; he lived as a preached. Even when Alexander—as in Alexander the Great—met him and asked if he could do anything for him, Diogenes responded with, “Yeah, move. You’re blocking my sunlight.”
To him, it didn’t matter whether Alexander was a king or a pauper; Diogenes treated everyone the same. There’s something to that kind of free and easy and unconcerned attitude th…
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