I see the following, from Dr. Seuss, cited as an "inspirational quote" now and then. I find it odd:
"You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, You can steer yourself any direction you choose."
I have to say, I don't feel inspired by it. And I'm not sure who is supposed to derive what from this.
I applaud, as always, TG's facility with the anapestic meter. Da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM. He makes it look so easy. It can actually be a tricky meter to handle for any length, which is why efforts to sound Seussian so often fail, as parodists slip into iambic.
Still ...
If I were an amputee, with no feet (and, accordingly no shoes) would it be inapplicable?
More important: anyone's decision about "where to go" in any context is constrained in a thousand ways. As refugee crises in the world ought to remind us: the powerful direct the traffic flows in the way that it suits them, not in the way that it suits the rest of us.
Christopher, if one reads Dr. Seuss's statement literally, then you are right regarding both the amputee and the existence of external limitations on the directions in which one can steer oneself. But inspirational statements are not meant to be read literally, but as inspiring. If people feel ("feel," not "think") that there are no external limitations on the directions in which they can steer themselves (even if they are amputees), then they are more likely to steer themselves in directions that they otherwise would have considered impossible and therefore would not have tried.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say that this particular inspirational statement is likely to inspire many people. I, for one, would give it the label you did: pseudo-profound.
Seuss's statement seems close to Sartre's "Existence precedes essence," which also strikes me as pseudo-profound. But maybe I should withhold judgment on that until I read "Being and Nothingness."
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