Editorial

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The emperor's new coins My mother was a very clever woman. She knew that people were more likely to remember stories than lectures, especially when it came to lessons about morality and ethics. My childhood was filled with Aesop's fables, Grimm's fairy tales and the captivating stories of Hans Christian Andersen, including my personal favorite, The Emperor's New Clothes. For those not familiar with that particular tale, it is the story of a vain emperor, who is duped by two fraudsters into thinking they had designed for him a suit of clothes that were not only "uncommonly fine," but "had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid." The emperor could not resist the temptation, both to don such a remarkable outfit, and to discern the "wise men from the fools" in his kingdom. Feigning the work of weavers, the men proceeded to mime the process of dressing the king, while he, and his courtiers, not wishing to appear as fools themselves, affirmed the beauty and the majesty of the imaginary outfit. As he pridefully strode down the street in his exceptional "new clothes," one small boy blurted out the obvious, "he hasn't got anything on," and the spell was broken. Soon the entire crowd was murmuring that the emperor was in fact, naked: The emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, 'this procession has got to go on.' So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all [1].