The biggest lessons I’ve learned from Dr. Seuss came mainly from reading his books to my kids. Somehow his most subversive books escaped me as a youngster, possibly because I grew up in a conservative household, but more likely because his most prescient one – The Lorax, was published in 1971, when I was six years old, and already on my way to reading Nancy Drew and Bobbsey Twins voraciously. I was kinda precocious that way.
A short list:
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” Horton Hears a Who
“And the turtles, of course… All the turtles are free- As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.” Yertl the Turtle
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – The Lorax.
Possibly the most quoted Dr Seuss bon mot was mis-attributed to him, according to Wikiquote anyway. Nevertheless, it’s the biggest lesson I learned from my four-day social media hiatus:
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
The second biggest lesson I learned is that I have a real – as in REAL LIFE – community that has sprung from my social media “addiction.” I have been able to find people who share my temperament, my interests, and who tolerate my quirks. Social media allows me to make bonds beyond proximity – essential for those of us who sometimes find ourselves hanging out in the other room, as it were.
Those who know me will probably attest (and feel free to comment otherwise) that who I am online is pretty much who I am in person: enthusiastic, outgoing, a little bit cheeky, a little bit opinionated at times, with eclectic tastes and interests.
So – if you like that I say – join the conversation. If not, then unfollow, or use Brizzly and hit the “MUTE” button. I won’t mind, ’cause in the end it just doesn’t matter.
