Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [2]
Green Eggs and Ham (Eggs)
Happy Birthday to You (Birthday)
Horton Hatches the Egg (Hatches)
Horton Hears a Who! (Horton)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Grinch)
I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew (Trouble)
If I Ran the Circus (Circus)
The Lorax (Lorax)
McElligot’s Pool (Pool)
Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (Places)
On Beyond Zebra! (Zebra)
Scrambled Eggs Super! (Scrambled)
“The Sneetches” in The Sneetches and Other Stories (Sneetches)
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose (Thidwick)
“What Was I Scared Of?” in The Sneetches and Other Stories (Scared)
“Yertle the Turtle” in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories (Yertle)
You’re Only Old Once! (Old)
“The Zax” in The Sneetches and Other Stories (Zax)
Unsettled Meddling:
An Introduction in Verse
It started way back, when I was quite small
I would simply ask “why?”
one question, that’s all.
I would wait for an answer, sometimes it would come
“Because,” “I Don’t Know,” “Ask your father or mum.”
But it never stopped there
The questions kept coming.
And answers were lacking, adults kept “ho-humming.”
It would start out quite simply and then get all muddled
I’d ask just one question and end up befuddled.
Why is the sky blue? or Why are plants green?
Why are they poor? and Why is he mean?
Why should I be good?
Who put you in charge?
My mind would start racing as questions loomed large.
Why are we here?
What ought I do?
Is there a rhyme, or a reason, or two?
Can it be learned, can I learn it, from who?
Will the answers be certain, or guesses, who knew?
My mind was unsettled, my brain never rested
But everyone moaned when their answers were tested.
I meant them no harm, I truly did not,
But I wanted some reasons for “why,” “which,” and “what?”
Their moaning made sense when I learned that adults
Although bigger and stronger, respectable folks
Were confused just like me, but had stopped asking “why?”
They just didn’t care, so they just didn’t try.
Or maybe they cared and that’s why they had ceased
When you care about answers, doubt leads to unease.
The questions I asked were very unsettling
And unsettled folks don’t appreciate meddling.
But questions are things that are meant to be asked,
Meddling’s our nature, unsettling’s our task.
When I got older I went off to school
To college to learn from professors who knew.
I learned about dinosaurs, classics, geology
African poetry, gods, and psychology.
But philosophy, that was the first course to show me
That questions, not answers, are how we keep growing.
We ask them because we’re inquisitive beings
We’re naturally wonder-full, curious things.
I decided that asking is what I should do
And I’d help others get good at it too!
A philosopher, that’s what I wanted to be
I’d never leave college, I’d stay here and teach.
My parents were less than excited, you see
College for them was about a degree
And degrees are just things for getting good jobs
And good jobs pay lots, oh yes money in gobs.
But philosophy isn’t that kind of position
It won’t earn you fame and there is no commission.
And some don’t think teaching’s a worthwhile job
“Those who can’t do . . .” say the ignorant mob.
For people like this life is just about stuff,
Having more than your neighbor and never enough.
For these types of folks it’s all fortune and fame
What pays off is good, what does not is lame.
So they don’t, and they won’t, and they can’t understand
It’s wisdom, not money that makes a life grand.
So I kept on pondering year after year
Up to this point with me sitting right here
A professor, philosopher, questioning guy
Seeker of answers, asker of “Why?”
For questions are things that are meant to be asked,
And answers are things that are meant to be passed . . .
Passed on to the next generation