Who Are You? – Love and Hate #9

by | Jul 25, 2016 | Andre Gide, Love and Hate - 2016 | 6 comments

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Why the 60s happened:

After WWII the GIs came home and started families.  The US exploded in production and manufacturing, construction, innovation, and standard of living.  The depression was over, the war was over.  Deprivation was behind them. Now they could have nice things, go nice places on nice roads. All of which was great. But that lead to a desire to not stand out, unless it was to stand out as the best and the brightest. But certainly not to stand out as odd or eccentric.

But the truth was many of those people were faking it.  They didn’t really live these great lives full of fashion and money and grace and charm. They looked like they did, but not inside. Their outsides said one thing and their insides said another. Maybe the outside said dutiful housewife, but the inside said thwarted creative. Maybe the outside said successful businessman but the inside said thwarted outdoorsman.  The point isn’t about the specifics though, it’s about leading an disingenuous life.  It’s about not having who you present yourself to be matching who you really are.

Thank a Hippie

And so the people who saw this first hand, saw the hypocrisy and the pain it caused, who saw the thwarted lives, who saw the waste of trying to fit in, rebelled against it.  Those people were the children of those adults trying to fit in.  they became the beatniks, the hippies, the yippies (look it up) the flower children, the radicals. They became the ones promoting love, peace, creativity, freedom. They were the ones that said you could be who you want to be, not who you think others want you to be.

Even though we are 40-50 years removed from that era, if you feel that you are genuinely who you want to be, you have a hippie to thank for it.  Maybe not directly, but in our modern world, it started with them. And if you don’t feel you are who you want to be, if you feel you are putting on a facade that isn’t really you, then take a lesson from the hippies and take a small step out into the unknown and see if you can’t do it too.  You can you know.

Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by André Gide, 1869-1951, French author

 

All You Are Unable – updated 2017

by | Aug 23, 2009 | Andre Gide | 2 comments

Why a dresser?
Because it dresses you.

Many are possessed by how they dress.

Many are possessed by what is on top of the dresser (my inclination).

Many are possessed by the mirror and what they see, or hope to see, or pretend to see.

For many it is the dresser itself. Old, handed down – memories you can’t know from the family you do.

Maybe it’s the status of having that exquisite designer piece of furniture.

Maybe the dresser possesses you.

What is your ‘dresser’?

Drawing © Marty Coleman

“All you are unable to give possesses you.” –  Andre Gide, French guy, 1869-1951

It is Better To Be Hated For What You Are Than Loved For What You Are Not

by | Apr 10, 2009 | Andre Gide | 0 comments

“it is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you are not.” – Andre Gide

The most intense struggle of growing up is rooted in this quote. Go to any middle school
(about 12-15 years old) and you will see the beginnings of children trying to figure out
who is ‘me’ versus who is not ‘me’. If by that time the child isn’t starting to be confident
in who that ‘me’ is then they will be at the mercy of the cliques, crowds, bullies,
glamourizers and over-confident ones.

The greatest gift anyone can give their child is the gift of helping them know the ‘me’
that is genuine inside them. You can’t tell them what it is, and you can’t force them
into your ‘me’. You have to watch and pick up on their signals, you have to subtly find
ways to guide and direct them towards that ‘me’ they might not even see yet.

Drawing © 2022 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com