OPINION | DANA KELLEY: The places you’ll go


You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

in any direction you choose.

--Dr. Seuss

May is a month of many uplifting things.

Its blooming flowers are the product of March winds and April showers. Its final weekend typically marks the official beginning of summer. It's the month we celebrate motherhood, and honor those who gave all for our treasured freedoms.

May also overflows with commencement exercises. From pre-K diplomas to postgraduate ceremonies, students walk toward new beginnings under a universal banner of good will and godspeed.

Nobody captures that life-launching sentiment with more catchy cadence and rhyme than author, illustrator, poet and filmmaker Theodor Geisel, better known as the beloved Dr. Seuss.

He was nearly 86 years old when he published "Oh, The Places You'll Go" in 1990. It was the last book of his lifetime, completing a canon of more than 60 volumes and over 600 million books sold. A year and a half later he would be gone himself.

It's one of several iconic literary selections I like to re-read annually, in its season (along with "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for the fall and the "Declaration of Independence" every July). It's become a classic gift for graduates, for good reason.

Dr. Seuss commences with an immortal opening line that doubles as an inspirational graduation greeting card verse: "Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!"

For a large percentage of college grads, the first Great Place after commencement will be good old home sweet home. A Harris Poll from 2019 indicated that half of millennials planned to move back home after college, and that finding is bolstered by Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Statistically, about 25 percent of college undergraduates say they'll choose to relocate after they get their degree. According to a BestColleges.com survey late last year, most of those will migrate to a mid-sized town, a third will choose a big city, and one in five will opt for small-town living.

Dr. Seuss warns against going down "any not-so-good street" (which can be found in every locality), and in that case recommends heading elsewhere: "It's opener there, in the wide open air."

His pen has proven prophetic in that regard. United Van Lines' 45th annual National Movers Study, based on its company data plus a national survey, indicates Americans in 2021 were "on the move to lower-density areas and to be closer to their families."

Six of the top inbound states (those with more people moving in than out) are among the 20 least densely populated states, the study said. Conversely, the top five outbound states include four of the top 10 most densely populated.

Among the places you'll go, Dr. Seuss lists great sights to see and great heights to soar to, but also apologizes for the truism that "Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you."

Even people who are brainy and footsy can get left in a Lurch and fall into a Slump, neither of which are much fun. And "un-slumping yourself is not easily done."

In fact, it's easy at the onset of any life journey to become confused and uncertain: "Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind."

And if you're not careful, Dr. Seuss cautions, you can wind up in The Waiting Place, which he laments as a most useless place and one that must be escaped with great haste.

The places you'll go aren't purely geographic or restricted by place of residence, as Dr. Seuss poetically reminds.

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

Wherever you are, feeling alone can be scary, but the secret is simply to keep going on, he writes--even when you won't want to, even when challenges (foul weather, prowling enemies) intimidate and discourage you.

And when you inevitably get mixed up, "Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act."

That's something worth remembering by a lot more than just graduating seniors, of course. Coping with difficult paths in all walks of life is done better by not forgetting "to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left."

Dr. Seuss follows his predicted success rate--"98 and ¾ percent guaranteed"--with the only all-caps line in the book, "KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!"

For every class, and every generation, the mountains change as the world changes. America in 1990 looked a lot different than it does now, but the promise and potential among the places you'll go is as bright as ever.

Even the graduation landscape changes; college enrollments in Arkansas are down compared to a decade ago, even as population and inbound migration are up. But Dr. Seuss' concluding message means the same to high school graduates going straight into the workforce, perhaps to hone skills in valuable trades, as it does to collegiate degree-earners.

Indeed, it applies to us all, every day.

"Your mountain is waiting. So ... get on your way!"


Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.


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