Today’s Ollieism:

The world would be a happier place if everyone wore their underwear outside their pants.

This way you could tell who wears Underoos.

If I understand the metaphor that comes from the mind of a six year old, I believe he’s trying to say we’d all be a lot happier if we presented our true selves and saw the true selves of those around us instead of the characters we think we need to play.  Maybe we think we must impress others.  Maybe we think everyone else plays a character and we need to keep up.  Either way, it’s really not you we all get to see.

Be you.

Do you.  Whatever the current term is, the take away here is that pretending to be someone else for some unseen benefit is sacrificing quality for appearance.  In Latin it is expressed as, “Esse quam videri“, to be rather than to seem.  What was once a gem of ancient Roman wisdom has become the slogan of many a college organization and even a state.  Perhaps because it speaks to the virtue of being the best version of you.  Look around you, your feeds, your colleagues.  Look at how many would rather seem than be.  Does that look appetizing?  Not so much.

In a world where it seems everyone is trying to be someone else, being you, the real you is quite refreshing.

Tom Serafini is a writer, illustrator and sometime stand-up comedian residing in Brooklyn, New York  (until California let’s him stay).  His first illustrated picture book, Ollie Bug and the Icky Sticky Thing From Space, will be funded through a Kicktarter crowdfunding campaign coming this summer.

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