For many years, school children have celebrated the birthday of Dr. Seuss by promoting a love of reading. But now he is being shunned due to supposedly racist cartoons that were drawn & captioned during his early years. Is anyone else tired of the judgmental rock throwing? Where is the grace for the individuals who learned from their mistakes and went on to become a better person and role model? There is much that could be learned from a person’s life who has moved past their prejudices and misconceptions to become a better person. Why not teach our students to use their critical thinking skills and discuss what was wrong then, how are things now and how can we improve? If we continue to tear down and dismiss things (history) that people presume to be offensive, then we are doomed to commit the same mistakes again. I fear what the next generation will become if we don’t allow them the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. Isn’t that how we learn best? By our mistakes, and then trying again to do better?
