I watched an animated film called The Lorax, based on a children's book of the same name written by Dr Seuss in 1971. The story tells of an ambitious young man who destroys a natural paradise for profit. The storyline is quite relevant to what is happening in the world and the fact that it is a well know children's story leads to the hope that children will take the message to heart after they have seen it - that is if they can get rid of all the other junk floating around in their heads from movies and TV shows...There is one song in particular from the story that accurately depicts how many people justify their actions and the state of the world:
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just doing what comes naturally,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just following my destiny,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just doing what comes naturally,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
How bad can I possibly be?
Well there's a principle of nature (principle of nature),
That almost every creature knows,
Called survival of the fittest (survival of the fittest),
And check it; this is how it goes,
The animal that wins gotta scratch and fight and claw and bite and punch,
And the animal that doesn't well the animal that doesn't winds up someone else's la-la-la-la-lunch (munch, munch, munch, munch, munch),
I'm just saying,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just doing what comes naturally,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just following my destiny,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just doing what comes naturally,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
How bad can I possibly be?
There's a principle of business (principle of business),
That everybody knows is sound,
It says the people with the money (people with the money),
Make this ever loving world go 'round,
So I'm biggering my Company,
I'm biggering my Factory,
I'm biggering my corporate sign,
Everybody out there take care of yours, and me?
I'll take care of mine mine mine mine mine (shake that bottom line),
Let me hear you say 'smogulous smoke' (smogulous smoke),
'Schloppity-Schlopp' (schloppity slopp),
Complain all you want it's never ever ever ever gonna stop, (STOP!!!)
Come on, how bad can I possibly be?
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
I'm just building the economy,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
Just look at me petting this puppy,
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
(a portion of proceeds goes to charity),
How ba-a-a-ad can I be?
How bad can I possibly be? Let's see,
All the customers are buying,
And the money is multiplying,
And the PR people are lying,
And the lawyers are denying,
Who cares if a few trees are dying?
This is all so gratifying,
How bad,
How bad can this possibly be?!
How many people give these reasons as their excuse for doing something that they know is not actually very good?
On the other side of the coin, the ambitious young man (The Once-ler) only came to be where he got because he was trying to prove to his family that he had value and was worth loving, which leads to the consideration that the only reason someone chooses that kind of life is because of some issue within themselves that they don't know how to overcome, so they end up building an empire in some other way to validate themselves in their own (and/or someone else's) eyes. essentially none of what happened in The Lorax would have happened if Once-ler did not feel like he needed to prove himself to his family in order to win his mother's love, affection and attention. Obviously things are not always that simple, but sometimes they are.
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