Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?
Posted by hughrandle@gmail.com on January 11, 2012 at 11:35 AM
As a grown man, it is sometimes humorous to look at some of the things I like. I "get into" zoos and children's museums and Legos, and Schoolhouse Rock and a bunch of other things that I generally keep away from my buddies down at the brewpub. Today, however, when checking out one of my favorite websites The Art of Manliness, I ran across a great article entitled Being Your Own Man. Intriguing title and a great article. What initially hooked me was the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string", first because Emerson is my favorite writer and secondly, because just this week I had a great conversations about strings and the importance of the strings to the sound of the music they produce. Scanning down the article I ran into this quote: " Those that mind don't matter, and those that matter, don't mind" Wow....profound and thought provoking. As I spend a good deal of my life worrying about what people think and the other part of my life selling, trying to influence what people think, I wanted to learn more about that quote. Fortunately, only a sentence away was the author...Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss, the author of my sons favorite children's book The Cat in The Hat, and Green Eggs and Ham and so many more books that generations of children have learned words and rhymes. But Dr. Seuss, social commentator? I decided to dig deeper. My search had just begun when on the newsfeed of my Facebook page was the illustration you see above. The quote seems nonsensical, but then, again read it. ".....there is NO ONE alive youer than YOU!" Isn't that what the article in the Art of Manliness was saying? Why follow when you can lead, why worry when you can shine? Why try to be anyone else but who God created you to be? And what about that other quote, "Those that mind don't matter, and those that matter, don't mind" As a single person, I have this "image" of what the opposite sex wants and often times I don't think it is what I have to offer. But then Dr. Seuss says, "Those that mind don't matter....." Out there, there is someone who matters and following the quote, "...they don't mind." Brilliant!! When the right person comes along, you don't have to be anyone but yourself and that person is going to see the diamonds amongst the shale. Now enchanted, I had to find out what else Mr. Theodor Geisel, the good doctor had to say. First of all, a little about him. Theodor Geisel was born in 1904 in Springfield, Massachusetts. He credits his mother with giving him the ideas and creativity that he spread worldwide through her nightly "rhyming chants". Geisel started as a cartoonist and in 1937 published his first book To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street. And then I read it, my next reason for liking Theodor Geisel's Lessons of Life. His first book, now an international best seller with countless reprintings, was rejected 27 times before it was published. A person cannot be a people pleaser or a follower to handle 27 rejections...he had to be his own man. This blog really wasn't meant to be a biography on Dr. Seuss. Now that I have learned a little about him, I certainly will be studying his life more carefully. I will share, however, some statistics: 44 books, translated into 15 languages over 225 million sold. A Pulitzer Prize, two Academy Awards, an Emmy and a Peabody award. By the time Geisel died in 1991, he was world renown. His legacy is sealed. He is a child's delight. But for one man, at least, he speaks wise words. You would be wise to learn some. Here is a sample: " Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done, there are points to be scored, there are games to be won" Google Dr. Seuss
quotes today and see if you don't pick up one or two that will motivate, inspire, or just make you think. Be your own person, not an imitation. Those that matter will love you, those that don't love you, don't matter. "Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow will be another one" -Theodor Geisel ( 1904-1991)