The P ublisher Po stulates
OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO
I ‘m sure that
Theodor “Dr.
Seuss” Geisel
had me in mind
when he wrote:
You have brains in
your head, you have
feet in your shoes, you
can steer yourself any
direction you choose.
You’re on your own and
you know what you know, and you are the guy
who’ll decide where to go,” (Dr. Seuss’ Oh,
the Places You’ll Go!)
Although he may have overstated the
“brains in my head” part, the rest is very
accurate. Yet at times, I am not entirely sure
I can take full credit for where I went or
why. Often, I followed the route of least
resistance, my sort of “go with the flow”
philosophy at work. Then there were the
moments when fate seemed to push my
choices of where to go and what to do
more than my own judgment or decision
making process. But oh, the places I have
been. Some of them are surely beyond
anything I might have expected when I first
heard those prophetic words of Dr. Seuss.
My life has been a wondrous ride that has
taken me all over the world and allowed
me to meet and become friends with some
incredible individuals, while enjoying a
multitude of extraordinary experiences.
Did I deserve any of this? I doubt it, but
it happened anyway. Fortunately for me,
life is not based upon what I did or didn’t
deserve, or even upon what I did or didn’t
do. I had no magic formula, yet somehow
I wandered in the right direction at the
right time.
I have found that there is no perfect life,
as each of us has our own vision of what
we want or think we want. Ultimately, our
lives are simply what they are, nothing
more, nothing less. We pursue our own
dreams, seeking what we believe will make
us happy. Some people make good choices,
others not such good ones. Many times not
making a choice is the deciding factor in
where our lives lead us. I have found that
quite often we tend to agonize over what
to do and when to do it, even though it
will make no difference. However, none of
us has a crystal ball that can magically tell
us what is the right thing to do. At times I
wish I had been given a manual to follow
when I began my life. But then I realized
that even if I had been given directions,
34 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JULY/AUGUST 2018
I probably would
not have followed
them. That is why
I have chosen to
dance through life,
one foot in front
of the other, not
always in step and
at times off balance
and ungraceful, but
always listening for the
music in my head that will guide me in the
direction I need to go. So just as Dr. Seuss
suggests, if it is to be, it will be up to me.
Blaming others or fate is not realistic, even
if it may be true.
Therefore, I like to believe that somehow
we each find our own way as we stumble
through life, and we should be thankful
for any and all of it, no matter how it turns
out, since it could have turned out worse,
as easily as it could have been better. As
for me, if I could have written my own
life story ahead of time, it could not have
turned out better than what I have been
privileged to enjoy. 9
Publisher / Editor
By Aaron R. Fodiman
Do you read me, or do you not? You told me once, but I forgot.
MARC MENCHER