{"id":1593,"date":"2012-05-20T21:09:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T04:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=1593"},"modified":"2012-05-20T21:09:19","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T04:09:19","slug":"may-20-2012-the-gospel-according-to-dr-seuss-oh-the-places-you-will-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2012\/05\/20\/may-20-2012-the-gospel-according-to-dr-seuss-oh-the-places-you-will-go\/","title":{"rendered":"May 20, 2012, "The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss?? Oh, The Places You'll Go!""},"content":{"rendered":"

Message 95, \u201cThe Gospel According to Dr. Seuss: \u00a0Oh, The Places You’ll Go!\u201d, 5-20-12\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

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Click here to listen to the message or see below to read it:<\/p>\n\n

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As most of you hopefully know, I try my best to avoid politics in my messages.\u00a0 As Jesus pointedly told his followers, we are to render unto Caesar what is his and unto the Divine what is hers.\u00a0 In other words, the civic realm must be kept separate from the spiritual.\u00a0 And vice versa.\u00a0 This is an ideal enshrined in our constitution and one that I take very seriously.<\/p>\n

I say all of that as a preface to my words today which might, to some, seem political.\u00a0 They are not so intended.\u00a0 I hope to pose spiritual<\/span><\/em> questions.<\/p>\n

Last October 11th, on the conservative website RedState.com, a man posted the following statement: \u201cI am making $5 an hour less in my current job than in my previous one.\u00a0 My wife and I live in a house that we are upside down on.\u00a0\u00a0 We have 2 used cars and couldn\u2019t afford a new one if we wanted to.\u00a0 I don\u2019t blame anyone who is successful for my situation.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t want the government to fix things for me.\u00a0 Pick yourself up by your own bootstraps.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what I am doing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the exact same day, a woman posted the following on the website \u201cWe Are the 99 percent.com\u201d:\u00a0 \u201cMy husband lost his job 2 years ago and can\u2019t find full-time work\u2014he takes temp jobs at low pay to help make ends meet.\u00a0\u00a0 He still owes money on student loans.\u00a0\u00a0 I work 40 plus hours a week for barely over minimum wage.\u00a0 We need a government that helps those who are trying to help themselves.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

What fascinates me are the similar situations of these two people but their very different attitudes about assistance to folks like themselves.\u00a0 The man speaks to an American ideal of self-help, hard-work, initiative and persistence.\u00a0 He echoes what Theodore Geisel wrote in his book Oh!\u00a0 The Places You Will Go<\/span>.\u00a0 The woman, on the other hand, speaks to a belief that governments are instituted among people to assist in the well-being and protection of society.\u00a0\u00a0 Such is the ethos that we are stronger together than we are alone.<\/p>\n

Most characters in Dr.Seuss books have no identifiable ethnicity.\u00a0 They are animals or funny, unknown creatures of his own imagination.\u00a0 This makes them universal in appeal because they embody aspects in us all.\u00a0 In Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span>, however, the main character is a young, Caucasian boy.\u00a0 Some critics contend this diminishes the impact of his book – how can it speak to females or those of different races?<\/p>\n

In truth, Dr. Seuss or Theodore Geisel expressed in Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span> an autobiographical understanding of his own life – one marked by both extreme highs and great lows.\u00a0 Success as an author came to him in his sixties.\u00a0 Such success came after long years of hard work and persistence – a theme of this book.<\/p>\n

Just as meaningful for Geisel in terms of understanding his success, was coming to terms with his failures.\u00a0 He divorced his first wife of over thirty years and married his lover – the woman who became his second wife and trustee of his legacy.\u00a0 He was also not universally loved or admired.\u00a0 He was widely attacked for influencing young minds in ways that many did not approve.\u00a0 Seuss\u2019 determination despite such failures and criticisms is also a theme of Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Writing this book only two years before his death, Geisel describes his theory on success in life – mostly from his own life experiences.\u00a0 Success comes to those who work, to those who create their own opportunity, to those who refuse to sit and wait for good luck.\u00a0 We are masters of our own fate, he implies.\u00a0 We choose the paths to follow and, if we do so with discernment and a willingness to be adventurous, we will succeed.<\/p>\n

Despite fear, setbacks and enemies, those who continue the hike up their mountain will reach its summit.\u00a0 Success is virtually guaranteed to anyone who is diligent, hard working and who never gives up.<\/p>\n

As ironic as it might seem for a man who worked in the Franklin Roosevelt New Deal administration and who wrote for several progressive magazines, Geisel\u2019s advice in Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span> is remarkably traditional.\u00a0 Our lives are guided by decisions we alone make, by common sense, by persistence and by sheer hard work.\u00a0 To those who practice such ideals, success is assured.\u00a0 And, the implied corollary to this notion is that those who do not succeed are people who give up in the face of hardship, who are lazy, make poor decisions, are timid or sit and wait for good fortune.<\/p>\n

Much like the man whom I quoted at the beginning of this message, Geisel expresses an American ethic: success comes to the rugged individualist who achieves it by determination, brains, and hard work.\u00a0 Geisel\u2019s book is the Horatio Alger story set to rhyme – no matter who you are or where you were born, you can succeed no matter what.\u00a0 To accept help, to ask for the compassion of others, or of society in general, is to admit failure.\u00a0 In America, one is solely responsible for their success or failure.\u00a0 According to Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span>, we either pull ourselves up by our bootstraps or we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Is this gospel according to Dr. Seuss – this gospel of American life – reality?\u00a0 As inspiring as his words might be for youth embarking on the journey of life, is success guaranteed to anyone who just works hard?\u00a0 Can any person, after suffering a setback, reverse their ill fortune by sheer determination?\u00a0 If our answer to such questions is \u201cyes\u201d, what should our response be to those who are in need – those whom it appears have failed at the game of life?\u00a0 Is Geisel\u2019s formula for reaching mountain top of achievement – something that applies to everyone?\u00a0\u00a0 What do we say to individuals like those whom I quoted at the beginning who have worked hard and tried to make good decisions but who are still far below the mountain-top?<\/p>\n

The Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs that, \u201cLazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.\u00a0 The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>In the New Testament, Paul writes that those who do not work should not eat.\u00a0 For them to expect a hand-out is the same as theft.<\/p>\n

In his parable of talents, Jesus tells a story about a rich man who gives to each of his servants several talents of gold – a talent being a unit of money.\u00a0 This rich man then goes away and does not return for several months.\u00a0 When he returns, he asks his servants what they did with money he gave them.\u00a0 One man says he bought land and used it to grow abundant crops.\u00a0 Another invested in flocks of sheep which also prospered.\u00a0 But the final servant tells the rich man that he simply buried the gold entrusted to him – the better to save it.\u00a0 He is immediately and soundly rebuked for his laziness and lack of initiative.\u00a0 The implied moral of the parable is that we are to work and invest and not, as Dr. Seuss says, simply sit in the waiting room of life.<\/p>\n

But just as the Bible seems to echo the words of Dr. Seuss in praise of industrious people, it also teaches us to have compassion and understanding for those who live on the margins of life – those who seemingly have not succeeded.\u00a0 God tells the Jewish people in the Old Testament that, \u201cThere will always be some people who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus offers a guiding principle for us: \u201cCome into my kingdom…I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome in your home, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you took care of me, I was imprisoned and you visited me.\u00a0 I tell you, if you did this for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are over 300 Bible verses that encourage care for the poor.\u00a0 Alms giving to the poor is one of the five pillars of Islam \u2013 a pivotal requirement for Muslims.\u00a0 In Hinduism and Buddhism, concern for the poor is part of becoming enlightened .\u00a0 Does one focus on the self or on others?\u00a0 Clearly, this is a spiritual matter of grave importance to people of all faiths.\u00a0 If one is thankful, if one is empathetic, if one feels a part of the whole human family, one cannot help but love, serve and give to the so-called unsuccessful in life.<\/p>\n

As much as I admire Theodore Geisel for his creative and insightful books, where are charitable ideals in Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span>?\u00a0 Where does success in life also require serving the least of god\u2019s children?\u00a0 Do we implicitly assume such people are lazy, unwise, and lack determination?\u00a0 Is that what Jesus would assume?<\/p>\n

Indeed not.\u00a0 Jesus tells a story about a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man.\u00a0 Lazarus is in heaven and resting comfortably while the rich man suffers in a type of hell.\u00a0 The rich man asks to be shown mercy and released from hell but he is told that in life he ignored the suffering of Lazarus who was poor and sick.\u00a0 Even dogs showed compassion to Lazarus while the rich man did not.\u00a0 Both men, according to Jesus, are reaping the consequences of their lives.<\/p>\n

The implied message of Jesus\u2019 parable is NOT that wealth or success is bad. Greed and indifference to others are wrong.\u00a0 The Bible is not inconsistent in its values.\u00a0 Hard work IS a virtue.\u00a0 Those who choose not to work when they can, should NOT expect hand-outs.\u00a0 But the higher ethic, the one that beckons us to follow our better angels, is far more nuanced.<\/p>\n

Once again, I repeat myself in stating that truth lies somewhere between two extremes – between a liberality of giving to anyone who is poor and the Horatio Alger idea that anyone can succeed if they work hard.\u00a0\u00a0 Which is better and more loving for someone in need – a handout or a hand up?<\/p>\n

BUT<\/span><\/strong>, should we also echo the platitude in Seuss\u2019 book that diligence, hard work and brains automatically insures success?\u00a0 Do we implicitly assume those who are successful were hard working and those who are not were lazy?<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Warren, a current Massachusetts Senate candidate, said a few months ago, \u201cThere is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there – good for you. But I want to be clear.\u00a0 You moved your products to market on roads everybody paid for. You hired workers everybody paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that everybody paid for.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

That is not just a political statement.\u00a0 It is also a spiritual one if we think about it.\u00a0 Each of us who have achieved some success owe debts of gratitude to the many sources that helped us.\u00a0 To echo a contemporary proverb, it takes a village to succeed in life.\u00a0 Dr. Seuss\u2019 story contains many insights that can lead to success in life – hard work, initiative, determination.\u00a0 But we are NOT islands unto ourselves.\u00a0 Other forces, factors and people also shape our lives and cause us to either succeed or not.<\/p>\n

I am a white male raised most of my early life in a well off Cincinnati suburb.\u00a0 I attended safe and well funded schools.\u00a0 My parents were successful and attentive to the importance of my education.\u00a0 I went off to, and graduated from, a top rated private college.\u00a0 I embarked on my own at twenty-two with many, many advantages.<\/p>\n

Just down the hill from where I was raised, in a community called Madisonville, lives a woman my age named Mary who was raised by a single mother.\u00a0 As an African-American, she came of age in the 1960\u2019s and 1970\u2019s when opportunities for black women were very few.\u00a0 Mary graduated from high school and has since worked as an aide at day care centers.\u00a0 She had one daughter whose father abandoned them.\u00a0 That daughter fell in with the wrong crowd and is now a drug addict.\u00a0 The daughter had a son whom Mary now raises by herself.\u00a0 She deeply loves her grandson.\u00a0 She reads to him, raises him with a stern hand, and works a full-time job to support him.\u00a0 And yet, Mary has travelled no farther than Indiana during her entire life.\u00a0 Pleasures in her life are few.\u00a0 Having enough money – on a minimum wage salary – to pay her rent and buy groceries is extremely difficult.<\/p>\n

I have worked to earn my way as an adult.\u00a0 I studied, I applied myself, I continue to try and earn what I eat.\u00a0 Even more important, though, I have also been wonderfully blessed and very, very lucky in life.\u00a0 But Mary, who grew up just a few miles from me and is my same age, has worked far harder.\u00a0 She has persevered despite many barriers in her life \u2013 those she did not cause.\u00a0 I cannot begin to imagine the struggles she has faced almost from her birth.\u00a0 Yet, by purely outward appearances, I have succeeded and she has not.\u00a0 Were Mary to read Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span>, she might find it funny – a book of fiction instead of insight.\u00a0 Where is her 98 and \u00be percent guarantee of success in life because of her hard work and perseverance?\u00a0\u00a0 With all due respect to Dr. Seuss, this well-loved book is a joke to people like Mary.<\/p>\n

An anonymous commentator once said that for us to expect life to be fair because we are a good<\/span><\/em><\/strong> person – is like expecting a bull not to charge at someone because he or she is a vegetarian!\u00a0 But, while LIFE is indeed NOT fair, humanity must fill that gap and help create greater fairness for one another.\u00a0 Our better angels call each of us who have been blessed in life to assist the Mary\u2019s of our nation and world.<\/p>\n

A spiritual addendum to Dr. Seuss\u2019 book Oh! The Places You Will Go<\/span> should insist that to those whom much is given, much is expected.\u00a0 For those of us who have been richly blessed, our hearts ought to respond with an outpouring of grace to those in need.\u00a0 This is the spiritual outworking of gratitude.\u00a0 It is the spirituality of loving as we have been loved, of giving as we have been given to, of seeking justice for all as we have enjoyed the same.<\/p>\n

As much as the American dream and Dr. Seuss\u2019 words may have come true for me and for many of you, they have been a nightmare for many others.\u00a0 Let us not smugly satisfy ourselves that we were not the recipients of help from others – including our nation and our government.\u00a0 That is a lie no matter who we are.\u00a0 Let us not indulge in stereotype and assume all those who struggle also lack ambition or don\u2019t work.\u00a0 There are indeed sluggards in life.\u00a0 Such people are not the norm.\u00a0 The majority of struggling people in our world work hard.\u00a0 They persist in spite of great obstacles and yet suffer due to bad luck, abuse, disability or injustice.<\/p>\n

If this nation is a faith based nation as many assert, then our national spirituality must show evidence of that faith.\u00a0 As the Biblical book of James says, faith without works – without effort to assist the poor – is no faith at all.\u00a0 It is dead.\u00a0 Let it be said of us \u2013 as a church, city and as a nation, that our faith is alive!\u00a0 Our faith in the worth of all humanity is one that offers compassion and fairness<\/span><\/em><\/strong> to all people.<\/p>\n

I wish each of you much peace and much joy.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message 95, \u201cThe Gospel According to Dr. Seuss: \u00a0Oh, The Places You’ll Go!\u201d, 5-20-12 \u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved   Click here to listen to the message or see below to read it:   As most of you hopefully know, I try my best to avoid politics in my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}