Hats off to Dr. Seuss

Optimism: the key to success

In the summer and over breaks from school, I work at a daycare in my hometown. Working there, I spend a lot of time reading books to the kids. As I’m sure you can imagine, most of the books are not that exciting or interesting or even fun to read for a 20-year-old.  But, all the kids and I can always agree on Dr. Seuss books.

Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote more than 60 books in his lifetime. Some of his most famous works include “The Cat in the Hat,” “Horton Hears a Who,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Seuss books are humorous and entertaining, but they also teach life lessons. Seuss was once quoted saying, “All of my books are based on truth, an exaggerated truth.”

As a kid, my favorite Seuss book was “Are You My Mother?,” and the most popular book at the daycare is “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,” but when I was trying to find a book to write this review on, I came across a book I’ve never read: “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?”

This story is about a man who reminds a young boy, Duckie, to be thankful for all he has. This old guy is stuck in a “prickly” situation, but he was a happy guy who realizes that things could be much worse. The old man explains to Duckie multiple different situations that are “much-much, oh, ever so much-much, so muchly much-much more unlucky.”

The reason I can relate to this book, and I’m sure many other college students can relate to this story, is because sometimes we find ourselves in a “terribly prickly place.” We think we are stuck and there’s nothing worse that can happen to us. I’m guilty of it myself as I’m sure we all are at some time in our lives.

In the past 12 months, I’ve dealt with some of the biggest struggles of my life, but I am constantly reminded that things could be worse. I am a pretty lucky person and I have a lot of good in my life. It’s not always easy to remember that, but reading “Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?” reminded me that even though my situation isn’t perfect, I should still be thankful for what I do have.

It’s easy to think “poor pity me” but if you look at the world around you, you will quickly notice that there are many other people on this earth who have struggles much worse than you, who still manage to find good in every day.

Nobody ever said life was going to be easy, but just because life isn’t easy doesn’t mean life can’t be beautiful and good. That’s the message Seuss was trying to portray in his book.

So just remember, “When you think things are bad, when you feel sour or blue, when you start to get mad…you should do what I do! Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky! Some people are much more… oh, ever so much more… so muchly much-much more unlucky than you!”

Persevere with an open mind

The movie “Horton Hears a Who” is a movie about an elephant named Horton who just so happens to hear a Who. Now it isn’t just any Who that he hears, but a Who who he can’t see. The Who that he hears is floating by on a speck of dust.

Horton, believing that a whole family of Whos lives on the speck, places the speck of dust atop a pink, fuzzy clover. The mayor of Who-ville finds out that Who-ville will be destroyed if Horton does not find them a more stable place to live.

Horton then sets out to take the clover holding the speck of dust to the top Mount Nool, the safest place in the forest. The inhabitants of Nool and the especially strict ruler, Kangaroo, ridicule Horton, and Kangaroo sets out to make sure that Horton does not succeed in taking the clover to the mountaintop because Kangaroo does not want the children of Nool to get ridiculous ideas in their heads.

Each of the occurrences that happen to Horton on his trek to the top of Mt. Nool have catastrophic effects on Who-ville.

Towards the end of the movie, Kangaroo starts to get more frustrated with Horton, and organizes a mob to throw him in a cage. When Horton refuses to admit that Who-ville does not exist, Kangaroo threatens to throw and drop the speck into a pot of boiling beezlenut oil to “teach him not to make up stories of people on specks!”

The people of Who rally and all start to yell out the drainpipe. After a heroic attempt by JoJo, the son of the mayor, to make a noise on his invention, the Symphony-Phone, Kangaroo finally hears the Whos.

Kangaroo feels remorseful for his actions in the end, but Horton forgives her, and offers his friendship, which the Kangaroo accepts. At the end of the film, everyone helps Horton carry the speck up to the top of Mt. Nool.

Just as the people of Who-ville survive through all of the catastrophes that happen to them, we too can survive anything that is thrown our way. It is all about mindset. If you have a positive mindset then it is likely that you will be able to overcome the obstacles that are put in front of you.

Despite Kangaroo trying to stand in his way, Horton keeps persevering. In the same way, it is important for everybody to keep persevering when they have a goal that they are trying to reach.

As Horton says over and over again throughout the movie “A person’s a person, no matter

how small.”

In the same fashion, it is important that we remember not to put people down for being different than us. The people in Who-ville had no idea that a universe outside of theirs existed, and the animals in the Jungle of Nool had no idea either.

Had it not been for Horton’s open-mindedness, then the eyes of the animals and Whos would have never been opened.

Everybody can learn something from the impartiality of Horton. We can all keep an open mind as we go throughout life, and you might be surprised where you can go and what you can learn. In the infamous words of Dr. Seuss himself: “Oh, the places you’ll go!”