Don't stay in 'the waiting place'

One of the most dangerous places in the world.

Recently, I’ve found myself reading Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss over and over with my almost two-year-old daughter.

It is a children's picture book, written and illustrated by children's author Dr. Seuss. It was first published in 1990, and it was his last book to be published during his lifetime, before his death in 1991, at the age of 87.

On the surface, it’s just a children’s picture book. But the reality is that some children’s authors are really philosophers in disguise.

Each time we read it, my daughter gets lost in the colorful illustrations. I get stuck on the words. And, honestly, I’m pretty sure the book is having a much bigger impact on me than on her (for now).

Amazon link

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The plot

The story begins with the narrator describing the unnamed protagonist’s decision to leave town. The protagonist (i.e. the reader) travels through a series of geometric, multicolored landscapes and places, eventually arriving at a location known as The Waiting Place, which is portrayed as a space where everyone is constantly waiting for something to happen.

The protagonist continues to explore, driven by the thoughts of the places he will visit and the things he will discover, and the book cheerfully concludes with an open ending.

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The Waiting Place

But it’s on The Waiting Place part that we spend most of our reading time.

The Waiting Place, for people just waiting.

Every time I read it to my daughter, I’m actually reading it to myself.

The protagonist is told that some people end up falling into the Waiting Place, which is a place for people just waiting.

Waiting for things to happen while doing nothing to make them happen.

They are just waiting.

Waiting for a mail to come, or the rain to go, or the phone to ring.
Waiting for a Yes or No.
Waiting around for Friday night.
Waiting for a better break, or another chance.
Just waiting.

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Every time I open that page and start reading these words, I get a little choked up. Because I know the place, I’ve been there - Like all of us.

And I read it hoping my daughter will soon understand something I learned the long way: that it is okay to visit the Waiting Place, but it’s not ok to live there.

Because the longer we stay, the more the waiting starts to feel like thinking, or planning, or worse, like trying.

And after a while, it gets comfortable, comfortable enough that leaving feels risky.

So I read it to her and to myself as a reminder that nothing ever changes in the Waiting Place, and that almost no one is coming to get us out, except us.

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See you on Sundays 🗓️
Thanks,
Giacomo