Dear Editors of the Mount Vernon News:
Twenty-five years ago when we moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, I noticed with pleasure that the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County was located at 201 N. Mulberry St., Mt Vernon, OH 43050 — Mulberry Street! And do you know why I was pleased about that? Because "And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" was one of my favorite books by Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel ... Dr. Seuss. And do you know why? Because Marco, the dreamy narrator of the book, was me.
The father who speaks to son about keeping his eyes up and not dreaming about sounded a lot like my dad talking to me. I was constantly daydreaming. I once failed an exam because a question got me thinking about my Grandpa Rearick's farm, and the next thing I knew the time for the test was over. Parental exasperation followed. Similarly, in Dr. Seuss' story a boy is in the habit of being cross-examined by his father on what he had seen:
"Marco, keep your eyelids up
And see what you can see."
But when I tell him where I've been
And what I think I've seen,
He looks at me and sternly says,
"Your eyesight's much too keen."
So as he walks home, Marco notes with disappointment that the only thing to see "was a horse and a wagon on Mulberry Street." And since that would never do for a story, the boy begins to weave all sorts of exotic and amazing things, with each page changing something — such as the horse becoming a zebra. Here is the unfettered imagination of a child set out on a page filled with Seuss' illustrations.
The whole experience — the utter misunderstanding of the adult mind of a child's imagination familiar to so many of us — is a central part of Seuss narratives. "If I Ran the Circus" and "If I Ran the Zoo" feature a dreamy narrator who looking at an empty lot or a normal circus begins to IMAGINE what he might do if he were in charge. And now these classics that encouraged and inspired young imaginations are lost.
Six classics have vanished from the major online booksellers because the powers that be, from the White House to the Seuss Foundation itself, have declared these works "racist." What racism? In my favorite book, the racist element is nothing more than a Chinese gentleman running beside the parade holding a bowl of rice and eating with chopsticks. Something quite amazing for a Western child.
As one Twitter comment said, "Don't Chinese people still eat with sticks?"
"It's a private business," I hear some say. "They can do what they want."
And one wonders about national treasure being in the hands of those who plan to lock them away. Copyright was intended to not allow the loss of private property, not be a tool for censorship. Is "The Hobbit" doomed as well if Tolkien's children decide it is inappropriate?
But they have robbed my grandchildren of a glorious journey into the imagination. Will the Oz books follow, or what about Mary Poppins? And when I think of what contemporary culture has offered up instead, my disgust with them and the wokeness that inspired them is immense, and I wish I had Dr. Seuss' imagination to describe such utter flibbergastic numperkals for who they all are!
Anderson M. Rearick III, Ph.D.
Mount Vernon
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