Lessons we have learned are
everywhere in our lives. Many we remember clearly; others we may have changed
our lives forever but we do not remember them at all. They have become part of
us. And we have become. Each of us. Unto our own being.
Dr. Seuss had five lessons to
impart. They were designed for the individual, not the group. Here they are:
“Five
Lessons in Life from Dr. Seuss
1. Today
you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than
You.
2. Why
fit in when you were born to stand out?
3. You
have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
4. Be
who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and
those who matter don’t mind.
5. Today
I shall behave as if this is the day I will be remembered.”
Good lessons all. To be yourself
and have the courage to stand out in all of your uniqueness. I know my parents
worked hard to make me belong, to be polite, to respect others. I know they
honed my corners and harsh edges so I pleased others rather than upset them.
But I learned decades later that being polite was like giving in to some
ill-defined standard of conformity. I eventually rejected that standard; not
the politeness, you understand, but the standard.
Many people are afraid to speak up
unless in anger. Others write little for fear their thoughts might be
remembered and criticized. So many of us fear judgment yet we judge others
freely. Perhaps that is the cause of our fear? We know we do it so others must?
I’ll have to work on that more.
Others will, too! Or else we are not free to be who we really are.
I may not be correct in my thoughts
and beliefs, but at least they are mine to work with and explore and to grow.
Building larger ideas comes bit by bit; conclusions need to be honestly arrived
at or they will not be understood. By me!
Martin Luther King, Jr. said this:
“Darkness
cannot drive out darkness;
Only
light can do that.
Hate
cannot drive out hate;
Only
love can do that.”
If I am honest with myself I will
make use of Dr. King’s statement. I will search for light and shine it on
darkness to learn more, not wallow blind and achieve nothing. I will need to
have courage to do this; and courage as well to stand alone while exploring the
unknown. Drs. Seuss and King meet!
A final thought that started me on
this process today:
“There
are two gifts we should give our children;
One
is roots, and the other wings.”
~
Anonymous
Both gifts are hard to impart on
our kids. Roots of course speak to the identity of who we are, who I am, who
you are. Roots tells us we are not alone and that we are in part a culmination
of generations of ‘input’. And we trust the kids get the message and trust it.
Wings on the other hand gives them
the power to fly to new portals of understanding. We need to trust them to use
this gift well without damaging themselves. And of course they need to trust
that this gift will work for them.
Gifts and trust go hand in hand,
don’t they? What we intend by them may not be viewed in the same manner. Only
trust allows the transfer of the gift so the recipient can use it, and we can
know that we have done our best.
However good that is. However well
it will be in the lives of others.
September 28, 2012
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