My First Monster

My first monster might have been the velociraptors of Jurassic Park when I was in pre-school. My parents got upset at my caretaker as I recall. But around that same time I saw what stands out even more in my head. I was read the book The Lorax by Doctor Seus, and I saw my first monster in The Onceler.  From the very beginning The Onceler was introduced as this terrible green monster who was too hideous to even fully show. Then the story began, and I learned monsters are actually just people like you and me. The movie that came out recently brought to light my old memories about the man the Lorax had faced off against. The Lorax was a strange orange rodent with a mustache, but he was David to Goliath the lone man. I remember how excited I was by the Thneed and the man who was taking on the forest. But as the pages turned I quickly realized just how fast the forest really loses to even one person. I came to my first realization at four years old that evil can just happen, even to myself. It doesn’t take unique circumstances or terrible experiences. The society we live in thrives on the dollar, and you are hailed as successful if you can make money regardless of the consequences. After seeing the last pages with all the trees chopped down, I distinctly remember making my way outside. At the time our house was one of just a few, but right across the street a property was littered with the same stumps as they prepared to build a house on it. As I ponder it now I realize that I’ve had a slight disdain for society as a whole. I find our motivations to be just plain monstrous, and I find myself looking at monsters on the news just about every day. Different races and cultures are often portrayed as the monsters to our society, but the true monsters know no race or borders and hide in plain sight. They are the misers and the investors who so clearly don’t have a heart anymore. But the saddest part is they used to. I recently read ‘Private Empire ExxonMobil and American Power’ and saw a glimpse into how the new CEO was chosen when Lee ‘Iron-Ass’ Raymond stepped down. Two men were told they were fighting over the position, and Raymond closely watched them for months before deciding who he chose. In the end he chose the guy most like him. And as I watched it play out I realized the entire process from the ground up forces these people to act a certain monstrous way. And maybe they thought they would get to the top and fix it. But by the time they do they’ve already become a monster.