We’re all familiar with the flurry of excitement that ramps up this time of year as graduates of all ages prepare for their walk across the stage. But did you know that there is also a dramatic increase in activity amongst booksellers as the Dr. Seuss classic, Oh the Places You’ll Go, once again heads for the best sellers list?
Filled with nuggets of advice presented in typical Seuss fashion, Oh the Places You’ll Go, has become a very popular graduation gift. What’s really interesting, though, is that Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was actually the commencement speaker at Lakewood College in 1977. Not surprisingly, his speech was anything but the normal and all-too-often-boring address that we’ve come to expect.
This was his speech, in its entirety:
My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant’s bill of fare.
And, when they were served,
he regarded them
with a penetrating stare
Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
“To eat these things,”
said my uncle,
“you must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what’s solid
BUT
you must spit out the air!”
And
as you partake of the world’s bill of fare,
that’s darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow.
It’s easy to imagine how those students responded. And how much fun they’ve had over the years telling everyone that they were sent off into the world by Dr. Seuss! Hopefully, they also understood the message that he was trying to give them — to “do a lot of spitting out the hot air and be careful what you swallow.” Pretty good advice for graduates — or anyone!
Theodor Geisel did something else for that audience that day. He could have shared his story about how he’d received nearly 30 rejections for his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, before finding a publisher. Or that he sometimes took a year or more to write a book that was usually less than 2,000 words. He could have told them about hard work and perseverance but, instead, he chose to show them what he does best. What better way to inspire young minds?
That’s something we really identify with here at Time Timer. Everything we do is about creating timers that show the passage of time instead of just expressing it with a number or with words. That’s what we do best. We take a lot of pride in knowing that our timers have helped many of those graduating this spring to focus and be able to do their best.
Do you have someone special about to graduate? Have you purchased and wrapped a copy of Oh the Places You’ll Go? Why not add the Time Timer Plus or one of our new color timers? Wherever your graduate is headed, you can’t go wrong with a gift of time.
The Time Timer may not be able to actually add more minutes to their day, but it can certainly help “make every moment count” and isn’t that really the same thing?
