How would you feel if you were caught naked in the middle of a street? And what if you were being watched by thousands of people and a little child started laughing at you? I suspect that you would run as far away and as quickly as your bare feet would allow you.
Image by M.T. EIGasssier – Unsplash
This is exactly what happens in the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen:
Once upon a time, there was an Emperor who was so fond of clothes that he couldn’t stop buying new ones. Two swindlers came to the city and let it be known they were weavers. However, they explained, the amazing fabric would be invisible to anyone who was either unfit for their office or who was stupid.
Excited by the prospect of yet more new clothes, the Emperor paid them handsomely to start work. After he had sent several ministers who reported back favourably – although they had been too scared to admit that they in fact had been able to see nothing – he eventually decided to see this magnificent cloth for himself. When the cloth proved invisible, he was shocked that he might be either unfit for his office or stupid so, desperate not to be caught out, he gave the fabric his highest approval.
When the day came for a grand procession, he allowed himself to be dressed in his new garments. As he proudly processed in the streets, no-one dared to tell him that he was naked. Until, that is, a little child whispered that the Emperor had nothing on. When a second child said the same and then a third, the whispers grew louder until they had travelled round whole city. The Emperor ignored the whispers and continued processing with his head held high, as naked as the day he was born.
While all the children began to laugh…
Image by Pezibear – Pixabay
Hans Christian Andersen might have published this in 1837 but it holds just as many terrors for us today. Stripped to its core, the story is both about greed and feelings of unworthiness. Before the lockdown, retail therapy in the Western World had become a major hobby with a greed for more and more and more clothes, whether we wore them or not. The result of this was that the fashion industry has become the second largest polluter in the world after the fossil fuel industry.
As the lockdown eases and shops open again, we are being given a stark choice. Are we going to dive back into our old habits or are we going to do what the emperor should have done in the first place and see vanity for the illusion it is?
Image by Greg Montani – Pixabay
It is time for us to change our ways. Sustainable fashion is at last becoming trendy.
KOCO – Knit One, Change One Life – in India is a brilliant example of how hand-made, quality garments that are beautiful and a joy to wear are becoming sought after. When Danielle Chiel travelled to Tamil Nadu in India from her native Australia, she was appalled by the poverty she found amongst women. To help them, she first taught ten of them how to knit beautiful garments which she then sold globally through big designer brands. She also started teaching the women how to read, write and do maths and gave them choice for the first time in their lives. Now hand knitting has become a new language of global connection for more than 200 women and with each garment containing a label with some information about the knitter, the buyer is able to form a kinship while knowing that they are helping someone rise out of poverty. KOCO’s details can be found at www.koco.global
Image by 272447 – Pixabay
Poverty inevitably leads to a sense of unworthiness, the second moral of The Emperor’s New Clothes and yet a lack of self-worth is hugely prevalent in all societies, privileged or not. Over the past twenty years as a therapist I have noticed that almost everyone has a belief that they are not good enough. As a result, we either tend to hide away and become as small as we can, or our egos go on the rampage in an effort to make us appear grand, or we suffer from imposter syndrome and, just like the Emperor in the story, dread the humiliating moment that we will be found out by our peers.
Shame – Image by Сергей Корчанов – Pixabay
It is time to create a new, post Covid-19 normal and give the planet a chance of survival. If we are to do this, we are going to have to change the monetary greed that has been at the top of the global agenda for too long and replace it with values such as collaboration, kindness and the wellbeing.
Interestingly this change is already beginning to happen and it is being led by women such as Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand. It is also notable that it is the female leaders of the world who are bringing about the most successful response to Covid-19.
The recently published book Women Leading, edited by Jo Baldwin-Trott, is a collection of chapters written by both male and female global thought leaders about how we can bring values into a leading position and start to create a more sustainable and ethical way of living.
As one of the contributing authors, I am absolutely thrilled to be part of such an exciting, relevant and much-needed book, whose forward and a chapter has been written by Danielle Chiel of KOCO. All proceeds will go to the KOCO charity.
If you would like to read about how collaborative, compassionate and empathetic female leadership is starting to redefine the way we live, Women Leading is available in both Kindle and Paperback and will soon be available in Audible. (Ignore the ‘Temporarily Out of Stock’ notice for the paperback on Amazon. It is in stock and can be bought straight away.)
We only need 21 days to change a habit and the lockdown has given us more than that so let’s replace polluting fashion with sustainable garments and quantity with quality. If we do this then no-one will be able to tell us that we are unworthy or stupid because, like KOCO, we will be changing lives for the better wherever we are across the world.
Image by truthseeker – Pixabay
