![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Dr. Seuss, Providing Lifelong Lessons and Inspiration
May and June are months of transition in the academic world, usually marking the end of spring sessions and the start of summer ones. These are also the most common months for graduation ceremonies, at least here in the United States. Bigger universities will also sometimes have December ceremonies, but many school have only one commencement and it is most frequently held in May or June. Commencement ceremonies are all about transition, and the focus of the speeches is usually on inspiration and lessons that graduates should take with them as they move on into the rest of their lives.
In 1990 Theodor Geisel published his last book, Oh! The Places You'll Go. By the time I graduated from high school in 1998 it had become a common gift to graduates, and a common theme for graduation speeches. Dr. Seuss did not avoid difficult topics simply because his target audience was children. Like another famous and inspirational childhood hero, he talked about these things because children needed to hear about them. He framed his ideas in whimsy and imagination, and I think that may have held his very best lesson. Whimsy and imagination are always important, no matter your age.
Oh! The Places You'll Go is perfect for graduations of all sorts. The pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony is a celebration of the work the graduates have put in, the lessons they've learned, and the ways that they've grown. It is most definitely "your day" and is marks the end of a particular journey. The future post-graduation is wide open, wondrous and a bit scary. Oh! The Places You'll Go reminds us that life is a grand and wonderful adventure, but more importantly it also reminds us that there will be bumps and slumps along the way as well. Many graduation speeches focus solely on telling students how great life will be now that they are done with this part of their life, which can be a bit misleading. Dr. Seuss reminds us that there will be bad times as well as good, and that we will sometimes play "alone games" too. He also notes that "un-slumping yourself is not easily done." Most of all, this particular poem has reminded me throughout the years that it is okay to feel as if I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going, that such feelings are normal. It reminds me, and I imagine so many others, that no matter how bad I seem to be doing things will more than likely come out better in the end ("98 and ¾ guaranteed").
I would not be surprised if this book was part of the inspiration for one of the most memorable commencement addresses I have ever heard (though sadly it was not at any of my own graduations). Neil Gaiman in his speech to the class of 2012 at the University of The Arts describes envisioning his goal ("to be a writer, primarily of fiction") as a distant mountain. He took jobs based on whether they could get him closer to that mountain. His speech, which has many wonderful ideas, reminded me that we choose our own mountains, and, as Dr. Seuss tells us, we move them. Gaiman's speech also reminded me of the other key life lesson I've always taken from the works of Dr. Seuss (especially my personal favorite, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think), which is that whimsy and imagination should always be an important part of your life.
While Oh! The Places You'll Go is probably his most quoted book at graduations, it is not his only one. Dr. Seuss has provided us with so many inspirations and life lessons that there are many more to choose from. In fact it was The Lorax that inspired the class speaker at my third and most recent graduation. She gifted the graduating class with small glass pebbles that she had decorated herself. Every last one of them read simply "unless." She reminded us that "unless someone like [us] care[d] a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better."
How has the work of Dr. Seuss inspired you throughout your life?
In 1990 Theodor Geisel published his last book, Oh! The Places You'll Go. By the time I graduated from high school in 1998 it had become a common gift to graduates, and a common theme for graduation speeches. Dr. Seuss did not avoid difficult topics simply because his target audience was children. Like another famous and inspirational childhood hero, he talked about these things because children needed to hear about them. He framed his ideas in whimsy and imagination, and I think that may have held his very best lesson. Whimsy and imagination are always important, no matter your age.
Oh! The Places You'll Go is perfect for graduations of all sorts. The pomp and circumstance of a graduation ceremony is a celebration of the work the graduates have put in, the lessons they've learned, and the ways that they've grown. It is most definitely "your day" and is marks the end of a particular journey. The future post-graduation is wide open, wondrous and a bit scary. Oh! The Places You'll Go reminds us that life is a grand and wonderful adventure, but more importantly it also reminds us that there will be bumps and slumps along the way as well. Many graduation speeches focus solely on telling students how great life will be now that they are done with this part of their life, which can be a bit misleading. Dr. Seuss reminds us that there will be bad times as well as good, and that we will sometimes play "alone games" too. He also notes that "un-slumping yourself is not easily done." Most of all, this particular poem has reminded me throughout the years that it is okay to feel as if I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going, that such feelings are normal. It reminds me, and I imagine so many others, that no matter how bad I seem to be doing things will more than likely come out better in the end ("98 and ¾ guaranteed").
I would not be surprised if this book was part of the inspiration for one of the most memorable commencement addresses I have ever heard (though sadly it was not at any of my own graduations). Neil Gaiman in his speech to the class of 2012 at the University of The Arts describes envisioning his goal ("to be a writer, primarily of fiction") as a distant mountain. He took jobs based on whether they could get him closer to that mountain. His speech, which has many wonderful ideas, reminded me that we choose our own mountains, and, as Dr. Seuss tells us, we move them. Gaiman's speech also reminded me of the other key life lesson I've always taken from the works of Dr. Seuss (especially my personal favorite, Oh, the Thinks You Can Think), which is that whimsy and imagination should always be an important part of your life.
While Oh! The Places You'll Go is probably his most quoted book at graduations, it is not his only one. Dr. Seuss has provided us with so many inspirations and life lessons that there are many more to choose from. In fact it was The Lorax that inspired the class speaker at my third and most recent graduation. She gifted the graduating class with small glass pebbles that she had decorated herself. Every last one of them read simply "unless." She reminded us that "unless someone like [us] care[d] a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better."
How has the work of Dr. Seuss inspired you throughout your life?
no subject
no subject
I also think How the Grinch Stole Christmas did a better job of helping me lose some of the cultural hangups commercialism tries so incredibly hard to ingrain in kids in the US around celebrations of family & community than just about anything else.
no subject
sort-of relatedly
pretty pretty please/don't you ever ever feel/that you're less than/fucking perfect/to me
... sez P!nk, and I love her for it. ♥
Re: sort-of relatedly
Re: sort-of relatedly
no subject
no subject
no subject
Congratulations on your coming commencement. That is an awesome and wonderful thing. Sorry to hear that things have been a bit rough. I can fully commiserate since my last final before graduation was awful. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking more time to finish. Other than high school I've not finished a single bit of advanced schooling on time. My undergrad took me 4 and a half and graduate school 3 and a half. The important thing is finishing, with both health and sanity at least somewhat intact. ;) I am very glad that this post was timely and helpful.
no subject
(Also I resent it for specifically gendering the reader as male--as you say, 1990, there's no excuse.)
no subject
no subject
So far she hasn't noticed my oral revision of the lines, which result in them not rhyming, but once she starts reading on her own I may have to explain (which is fine! Once she can ask the questions she can have the answers.).
no subject
no subject
no subject