Did you see the Lorax, the movie? The one where Danny DeVito played the voice character of the Lorax? I should be ashamed of myself, but my favorite part of that movie was when the bear and some of the fictional characters joyfully swam the backstroke through flowing rivers of marshmallows. I loved that! Marshmallows! I’ve loved marshmallows since forever.
Anyway, the story is about a fellow, the Once-Ler, who comes to live in the forest but instead of taking care of the trees he harvests them, until almost none are left, to use the material to make the latest commercial craze: Thneeds. The world can’t get enough Thneeds and the operation becomes ridiculously out of control. The Lorax speaks for the trees and the forest animals but is unsuccessful at preventing near total devastation. Sadly, consumerism is the real culprit and the Once-Ler is just feeding the machine. He should have listened to the Lorax and not the feeding frenzy and his own growing bank account. In the end (as well as in the beginning) its up to one person to be responsible enough to not over-harvest the Truffula trees. It proves to be too great of a temptation (as it would for most people) so I believe this story begs us to pay attention to our own habits (how old is your phone?) and how we may be driving the machine that puts indefensible living creature in danger.
It’s a story about greed, disrespect for the environment, and creatures who have no voice. They all have to leave eventually because they no longer have a place to live. The story comes to a close with The Once-ler giving the same warning from the Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” He then gives the boy the last Truffula seed.
Have you ever been entrusted with something important? Someone’s heart? Someone’s fate? An important document? A task that no one else can do? It’s too easy to throw things around that don’t seem obviously important, or seem to have an endless supply. Your personal currency was entrusted to you by the Universe. The part you play is in its designs to keep things moving forward. It’s your responsibility, not anyone else’s. You can overmine it and get yourself in trouble by doing too much too soon. You could ignore it but then you’re not playing your role in moving things forward. Things that grow need harvesting. Or, you can treat it with respect and nurture it and it will always be there for you. Swimming in marshmallows is one extreme, but being stripped down to nothing is another. The Once-Ler should have only taken what he needed, wasting as little as possible but gathering enough to create jobs, feed families, and support a reasonable operation.
Find your currency before it’s too late and treat it with respect. Over-harvesting is problematic (I will never read my dissertation again!) and under harvesting is a waste of a beautiful resource that can be put to good use.
