The Birthday Party, parts 3943 - 3946

 3943. The minister from Yale was named Diogenes Freen. His parents named him after one of the Greek philosophers. You can be sure that when a parent gives their offspring a name like that, you will find in that child’s life countless examples of exaggerated expectations. If little Diogenes wrote a book report in his history class about the Persian Wars, his father would send the report out to a publisher, and think he was doing the publisher a great favor.

 3944. If little Diogenes made a perceptive comment about the Opera, his father would drive around to all the neighbors and retail the comment for everyone’s gratification. The indifference of his listeners to the intellectual exploits of his son had no discernible effect on him.

 3945. His little drawings were sent out to art galleries, and once his father published a small book his son wrote. He published it at his own expense, and ended up buying up all the copies because he knew they would someday be invaluable, and he didn’t want anyone else to profit from it.

3946. Diogenes grew up with a completely distorted idea of his own abilities. He was constantly reading Plutarch's “The Lives Of Illustrious Men,” but none of the men in those numerous biographies seemed adequate to be a role model for his future. For him nothing would do except  something like Christ or Buddha.