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10-11-10

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Prob­a­bly the most unique high school grad­u­a­tion gift I got was a book writ­ten by  Dr. Seuss called “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”. I’m mov­ing next week, and I’m going through a lot of my stuff and found this book. As I started read­ing it, I fell in love with it. Look­ing from the other side now almost a year after grad­u­at­ing col­lege, I’m con­vinced it was the best present I got. Here’s what it says if anyone’s inter­ested in read­ing the whole thing.

Con­grat­u­la­tions!

Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer your­self any direc­tion you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’ choose to go there.”

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-​​so-​​good street.

And you may not find any
you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you’ll head straight out of town.

It’s opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can hap­pen
and fre­quently do
to peo­ple as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to hap­pen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start hap­pen­ing too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be see­ing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wher­ever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wher­ever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, some­times you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
that Bang-​​ups
and Hang-​​ups
can hap­pen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-​​ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleas­ant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-​​slumping your­self
is not eas­ily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some win­dows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right…
or right-​​and-​​three-​​quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Sim­ple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for a mind-​​maker-​​upper to make up his mind.

You can get so con­fused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wig­gled roads at a break-​​necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most use­less place.
The Wait­ing Place…

…for peo­ple just wait­ing.
Wait­ing for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or wait­ing around for a Yes or No
or wait­ing for their hair to grow.
Every­one is just waiting.

Wait­ing for the fish to bite
or wait­ing for wind to fly a kite
or wait­ing around for Fri­day night
or wait­ing, per­haps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Bet­ter Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Every­one is just waiting.

NO!
That’s not for you!

Some­how you’ll escape
all that wait­ing and stay­ing.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With ban­ner flip-​​flapping,
once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for any­thing under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There if fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.
And the mag­i­cal things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-​​est win­ner of all.
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watch­ing you win on TV.

Except when they don’t.
Because, some­times, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times
you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win
’cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be some­thing
you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your ene­mies prowl.
On you will go
though the Hakken-​​Kraks howl.
Onward up many
a fright­en­ing creek,
though you arms may get sore
and your sneak­ers may leak.

On and on you will hike.
And I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your prob­lems
what­ever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remem­ber that Life’s
a Great Bal­anc­ing Act.
Just never for­get to be dex­ter­ous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you suc­ceed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ³⁄₄ per­cent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Morde­cai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your moun­tain is wait­ing.
So…get on your way!

Oh, The Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss
Ran­dom House, New York

Andrew is a 20-​​something Chris­t­ian who adopted a sim­plis­tic lifestyle after grad­u­at­ing from col­lege and real­iz­ing the van­ity of rush­ing around and all the mate­ri­al­ism of our soci­ety. He wants to squeeze the most out of life and live each day extra­or­di­nar­ily through sim­ple means. Andrew is the author and edi­tor of Live [Sim­ply] Free, and con­tin­ues on the jour­ney of declut­ter­ing and sim­pli­fy­ing his life. Fol­low him on Twit­ter @Andrew_Randazzo.

Andrew Randazzo

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