In this ever-changing world, those who wish to preserve their authenticity face numerous challenges.

Life is constantly evolving, and with it come new trends, ideas, and pressures that can easily sway one's sense of self.

However, it is essential for individuals to stay true to themselves and not be influenced by the opinions and expectations of others.

This requires a great deal of self-awareness and confidence.

By understanding our values, beliefs, and strengths, we can make decisions that are in line with our true nature.

It is also important to surround ourselves with positive and supportive people who will encourage us to be ourselves.

In conclusion, preserving one's authenticity is not an easy task, but it is well worth the effort.

By staying true to ourselves, we can lead a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

I was directed to this book by Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny. (That was my review, but here's a better one: On Tyranny).

The question that looms large is: how do we respond when the good rules and laws that govern the world seem to be collapsing around us? And when others - even those who are good and rational thinkers - quickly convert?

How did your local dentist end up as a Nazi? And supporting Hitler? And the grocer? And... what the hell, in Germany in 1939... my whole neighborhood is Fascist! How did this happen, and how did it happen so fast?

It's a brilliant, brilliant work.

*Edit* One last thought: I think the critique goes both ways. I see Ionesco pointing out the breakdowns on both the Left and the Right - the Right more obviously in this political climate. The Rhino uses bullying tactics, and runs everybody over. Roughing them up a little bit, paying their legal fees, if you will... But there are also some shots at the Left as well: \\"I think your excessive tolerance, and your generous indulgence... believe me, they're really only weakness... just blindspots...\\"

I understand that we're specifically talking here about tolerating the Rhinos - being generous and tolerant and understanding toward them - which maybe translates today into people giving a free pass to a leader who, for example, makes fun of a POW for getting captured, or mocks a disabled reporter, or says he can walk down the street and shoot somebody...

But I think the point can also be made about the Left - especially in their tolerance of extremism that isn't from the Right.

The work of Ionesco was written in 1959 and belongs to the theater of the absurd. It negotiates the gradual transformation of the inhabitants of a small French town into rhinoceroses, who are left to their bestial instincts for various reasons. It is a work that, through comedy, conveys social messages such as massification and the comfort that someone feels when being part of the crowd, while at the same time the one who remained physiological wonders whether he is actually physiological or not. It also contains unique attacks such as: "There is something in the mind of even the most mindless", "A cat has four paws, the same as a dog. Therefore, based on logic, the cat will be a dog, but it could also be the opposite", "You saw a rhinoceros with two horns and a rhinoceros with one horn. You could have seen two different rhinoceroses or you could have seen the same rhinoceros if it was the one with two horns that you saw first, because it could have lost one horn along the way. However, you could not have seen the one with one horn first, because it is not possible for it to have grown another horn so quickly".

Absolutely delightful!!!!!!!