can you hammer in a heart?

In class, we just finished reading three children’s book; The Lorax, a story about greed and its affects, Freedom Summer, a story about segregation and Fox, a book about giving in to temptation. I think that while each story had many underlying themes, the main one in all three is that once you do or say something, you can’t ever take back or undo your actions.

In The Lorax, the Once-ler starts off with a small business cutting down truffla trees to make thneeds. Soon, his business expands and he ends up poisoning the land around him, with no regard to the animals, until there is nothing left but a barren wasteland. It was quite easy for the Once-ler to destroy the land, but it will take much longer for it to recover. Though the boy receives the last truffla seed, he cannot reverse the damage done to the land. He cannot grow back hundreds of trees overnight and he cannot erase the harm done to the creatures that lived there. Though the Once-ler can try to make up for his mistakes, he will live with his actions for the rest of his life. You cannot ruin the lives of so many and merely make it up overnight

The Once-ler, I think, represents the large corporations and business owners, so swallowed in the prospects of wealth and self-gain, that they hardly pay any attention to the people and places they are leaving destroyed in their wake. You never see his face, just like you never actually see who is behind the powerful businesses that are eroding our economy. With the Once-ler, he does feel horrible for what he has done, but only after there is nothing left and now he can fully see what he has done, but by then of course, it is too late.  I think Dr. Seuss is trying to send a message here. By the time we have used up all of our oil and coal, our environment will be in deep trouble. Only then, will the owners of the gas and oil refineries see what they have done.

This does not go just for companies. While people can try to mend the broken pieces of their life, caused by greed, temptation, they will never be able to turn back the clock and erase their actions. Unlike mechanics, the environment is very fragile. You can’t fix it with a hammer and some screws. And just like the environment, your emotions can also be easily broken. You can’t take back words and actions; they will always leave scars, no matter how you to try fix it.