I thought of a man who had the following dream. He went into a shop because he needed a suit for a wedding. The tailor listened to him carefully, nodding and taking notes before vanishing into the back of the shop. After a while he returned with a suit and his customer looking totally startled said, “But this is not the suit I described at all.” The tailor said, ” This is what people are wearing today, and believe me everyone will love it.”
Desperately, the customer tried to explain “But it makes me feel very uncomfortable” to which the tailor replies, “This is the only suite on offer in the only shop which will supply you. Deal with it.” . As he left the premises, the man asked himself the following question.. “Should your appearance express your nature or control it. Is being yourself a luxury enjoyed only by the very rich or the socially isolated?”
countingducks 
Nothing like a bit of philosophy to kick off a Friday! Dreading the game tomorrow by the way given we’ve got a Division 2 back 4 presently.
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I find philosophy to be a great distraction from our results at the moment. I’m still clinging to optimism, because what else can we do.
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Both sides are that bad it should be a 0-0 draw but it won’t. Just a case of who makes the fewer errors I think.
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i think that if you are rich in self-awareness and confidence in who you really are, it does not matter how much is in your pocket, or if you even have pockets.
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That’s a good reply rich in common sense
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Good question, one which I won’t even attempt to answer. However, what stands outs for me is the fact that ‘the man’ is given only one choice: conformity, which somehow makes the final question obsolete, because his ‘self’ is what society/establishment say it is.
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Short and bitter-sweet – now you’ve got my brain working!
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Something for the weekend, then, Peter! Surely the clothes DO NOT make the man, but I suppose it all depends on how much one wants to be noticed by those around oneself, and, of course, how comfortable one is within their own skin.
Ponder on…
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In the immortal words of Billy Joel, “You can’t dress trashy til you spend a lot of money.”
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No. The man’s a woos. Get a life!
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There’s a new word for me. “A woos” Doesn’t sound like a compliment, but then, ignorance can be bliss, and it sounds like it would be on this occasion
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Ha! “Socially isolated” sounds like the polite form for “lonely girl”. Being oneself is a luxury for the self-assured and self-confident. I’ve been called “eccentric” by people who wanted me to try harder to fit in. It takes a lot of belief to do what one feels is right for oneself. I try to live my philosophy every day: “Don’t offer yourself up for approval.” In many cases it has been a matter of life or death.
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Suits or masks–we wear many for a multitude of reasons. Is there ever a time when we can be our “true self?” Do we even know who that is? Okay. I have to stop. My brain hurts! 😉
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Hard to feel sorry for the tailor, in whatever manifestation we choose to see him, but easy to explain his diminishing customer base. You can keep it working for a while, but there’s always another shop on a different street. Individuality is a state of mind – you can’t contain it by dressing it in a suit.
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I missed this one! He’s jest going to have to be a dedicated follower of fashion as the Kinks sang 😊
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Society sure does try to make it so. I say he should suck it up and go his own way.
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