Oscars only ostrich oiled an orange owl today..
If I make a list of the people who most influenced me as a
child, it would have to include Dr Seuss. A quick look at wikipedia tells me he
was Theodor Geisel, produced 44 children’s books and won a pulitzer prize.
What, only 44? I had expected to find hundreds. I must have read the whole lot
then. I went to places like Pompelmoose Pass, the island of Gwark and the
country of Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell, chasiing Poozers, visiting Sneeches, marvelling
at the Tufted Mazurka, and Fiffer Feffer Feff. C’mon, what an imagination!
My life is still a little like a Dr Seuss book. A
combination of sense and nonsense, a river of words many of which are not found
in any dictionary, and a love of funky individualism. If you can learn to
recite ‘I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew’ you will not only have done a
great deal of excellent exercise with your tongue and lips, but will have
learned some fabulously bodacious new words and a sensible life lesson to boot.
Childhood is a long way off now. Can you think of what
influenced you way back then? Mum, Dad..sisters, brothers, those are a given. What
else? Teachers? A coach? A film star? Friends? Taking a look at the small
stitches that knit us up can be a surprising revelation of how just a few hours
or few words made a lasting deposit. Who knows what makes certain people or
events stick in our minds? Sometimes just a short unexpected connection with
someone leaves us impacted right into adulthood. Good or bad. And it never
stops. We take new things on board every day.
And that means...yes me, yes you. We’re not Oprah, Orwell or
Obama, but we still influence other people, probably without even knowing it.
Authors like Dr Seuss are well aware that they make an impact, no doubt they
write with that well in mind, but I don’t think most of us are aware that unless
you’re a hermit, just about everything we do affects others. Perhaps it seems
like a big responsibility to bear. It’s certainly something to think about
considering that modern motto: “Do whatever
you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else.” ... I’d be happy to
change that motto to “Do whatever you
want, as long as it doesn’t affect anybody else.”
Live obstinately or obediently.. or ostentatiously, outrageously, originally,
orderly, openly, or outstandingly, or omnivorously... do it your way... but...
Know that it does matter. Ok? ;)
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| Taken from Dr Seuss's ABC |
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