Sunday, July 31, 2005

israel - land of the Lorax

It may be because I have Barbaloots running around in my back yard, maybe it's the fresh air with the ponds that the Humming Fish swim in or the song of the swomi swams (some people say they are jackals) that we hear on a nightly basis. I have thinking about the Lorax recently and how life parallels it in a number of ways.
On one level I see the arabs as the oncelor, the settlers as the barbaloots and sharon as the Lorax and as he says:
They loved living here. But I can't let them stay.
They'll have to find food. And I hope that they may.
Good luck, boys," he cried. And he sent them away

In other aspects, sharon is the oncelor and the settlers are the lorax.
I laughed at the Lorax, "You poor stupid guy!
You never can tell what some people will buy."

"I repeat," cried the Lorax,
"I speak for the trees!"

"I'm busy," I told him.
"Shut up, if you please."


We can really see the Lorax in everyday life. Was the oncelor a good guy or a bad guy? He came trying to make things better and trampled on things that didn't concern him.

Sometimes we are the lorax, sometimes we are the barbaloots and sometimes we are the oncelor.

When I was standing at the kotel last night and I looked at the wall, at the stones at the remnant of destruction that we consider our holiest site, and I thought Unless. I thought about the mosque standing behind that wall and how it is the true obstacle to peace and I thought Unless.

"But now," says the Once-ler,
"Now that _you're_ here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not.


The problem with the oncelor is that he had a vision and didn't concern himself with the periphery.
"What's more," snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.)
"Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp.
Your machinery chugs on, day and night without stop
making Gluppity-Glupp. Also Schloppity-Schlopp.
And what do you do with this leftover goo?
I'll show you, you dirty old Once-ler man, you!

You're Glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!
No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed.
So, I'm sending them off. Oh, thier future is dreary.
They'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary
in search of some water that isn't so smeary."


I'm still stuck on the word "UNLESS" watching my barbaloots, listening to the humming fish and the swomi swans and hoping they don't try to take this away.

One major problem is Israel is that nobody wants to keep their position. The settlers won't accept the position of barbaloot, to Sharon's Lorax - they are insisting on being the Lorax against sharon the oncelor. In a game where the definitions are not set in stone. Just about anything can happen.

9 comments:

BarbaraFromCalifornia said...

This is poetic tragedy.

Every day I talk to my husband about the situation in Israel. He says, I am making his blood pressure high. Meanwhile, mine is 96/64. I am hoping, Sim, that yours is low as well.

2R said...

Students were asked to write about what they would say to the Once-ler if they were the Lorax.

Wouldn't you like to live here if you were a Lorax? I bet you would. Because it is a beautiful place but you must take care of it.

By: Yalissa http://www.marshall-es.marshall.k12.tn.us/jobe/Read-Write/environment/lorax.html

docyaak said...

i teach the lorax in school..... never like you explained it
but hey a new year is starting soon and i can always use a fresh approach
thanx im sure it will go over really well here

rockofgalilee said...

deb,
i've heard that a lot of people generally don't explain things the way that I do.

go and figure.

Anonymous said...

im finding it hard to understand and then apply to the blog

are you saying there is something naturalist about types of people and by extension, politicians, groups, nationalities

ultimately, israel is not a natural place and even if it was, natural laws would not apply

nevertheless dr. seuss might ...

i need to look at it some more

rockofgalilee said...

You're being too literal, you have to step out of the box for a
moment. Here are the characters:
Onceler - Person with a cause/desire to do something. Ignores the
consequences of his actions.

Lorax - Focused individual who takes the consequences of the onceler
personally and tries to fight against it. He is pragmatic about his
charges, the barbaloots, humming fish and swomi swams, and sends them
away when he feels they can't live there anymore.

Barbaloot,Humming Fish, Swomi Swams - These are the innocent side
characters who are affected by the actions of the onceler. They are
relegated to a side role, with no opinions of their own.

What I'm saying is that Sharon sees himself as the Lorax and he is sending his poor barbaloots away from their homes because they can't live there if they keep getting shot at. The arabs would be the onceler in that case.
However, the settlers won't take on the role of poor barbaloots, listening to whatever their protector tells them, because they are ignoring the arabs, seeing Sharon as the onceler and they are the lorax. The onceler is ignoring the reality on the ground and bulldozing his way through. the lorax is fighting him every step of the way, saying they won't leave.

The sad thing is at the end of the story, both the onceler and the lorax lose.

traintalk said...

seems to me at the end of the story sharon is supposed to get religion and plant the next future

rockofgalilee said...

not exactly. sharon has a history of publicly regretting what he has done.
So that fits in nicely.

I don't imagine he'll have another chance because the right wing voters will be voting for more right wing parties in the next election, especially if Sharon is the party head. I imagine that the Likud will have fewer seats in the upcoming election then Labor has in the current knesset.

Veev said...

I'm gonna start calling her "Deb" also.