The Lorax by Dr Seuss
The first time I read this book my daughter was just a year old, I was a young mother experiencing the change that parenthood brings, where everything around you is suddenly seen with different eyes! The world around you holds a very new meaning ! You suddenly realize that every generation before you created this place in which you exist, and that your generation and every other human person are currently creating the world your child will live in….. You have created something greater than yourself something eternal…. And as I looked around with a more suspecting eye I realized the pain and sorrow around us became a bigger burden than it once was! For now it was just not my burden but my daughter’s and her children’s. It was no longer a burden that would end with me, but would be carried on. As I read this beautiful but tragic story I cried! Maybe b/c I was a new mom and my hormones were still a little wacky,, maybe because I have always been a little sensitive! Maybe because I new deep inside that I couldn’t in good conscience ignore the world around me! ALL JOY AND PAIN would from that moment on, be experienced with a new thought process.
The second time I read this book I was with a group of friends, we were having an adult slumber party! We decided it would be fun to each pick a children’s book off my shelf and read to each other. We all climbed into my queen size bed, cozyed ourselves with pillows and blankies and settled in for story time! We took turns reading our books to each other. Some of us with quiet voices, some steady, some with jubilance and thespian style! Just like in school when we took turns reading aloud in class! Some of us choose funny books, some short, some long, some with many words and few pictures, some with many pictures and few words! And as each of us took a turn the others listened wide eyes and anxious ! As I began the story of the Lorax with the intensity and attention I read all children’s books a tear fell from my cheek in the second page….. As I neared the end I noticed that tears had fallen on everyone’s cheeks! Not a dry eye on the bed! All of us cried! Maybe it was because we knew, were reminded, that the responsibility of adulthood was here to stay, no matter how perpetually childlike we act, no matter how many small moments of innocence we aloud ourselves. It made no difference that we were relishing in the joy and comfort of this childhood pastime; we were still adults ……We knew that the responsibility for the world around us lay within each of us solely and all of us collectively. And it wasn’t about the environment, or wars, or politics, or jobs and responsibly. It was about the whole human heart…. And the human heart is hurting and crying out to be protected and nurtured just like a child! Its full of sadness and anger, fear and insecurity. Maybe we cried because we were scared we wouldn’t be secure enough to comfort each other, scared we wouldn’t be strong enough to comfort ourselves, or that we wouldn’t have enough innocence left to create joy! Or maybe I was the only one who got that! Maybe they were crying because I was. Either way I still cry every time I read it! I hope if you haven’t read this book that you do…..Read it slowly read it carefully! Take hope from it! And from that hope create faith. Faith that we can all make a difference! Faith that we can experiance joy and love! That we can leave a legacy of Peace!
Dr. Suess has a way of saying it best…
“but now,” says the Once-ler
“Now that you’re here; the words of the Lorax seems perfectly clear,
UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
Nothing is going to get better.
Its not”
No comments:
Post a Comment