The Grinch's Mistake

We know it was the Grinch's mistake and not Dr. Seuss' because in the story of the Sneeches the good doctor shows us that he is well aware of the issue. But, the Grinch's mistake is the crack in his despicable doing through which the light gets in and enables his own transformation. It's glaringly obvious, once you've seen it, and i think it to Seuss' credit that he directs attention so well that the obvious is easy to miss, for you see the Grinch's mistake was his single-mindedness. He had a single aim, and nothing could stand in his way. No reindeer? Why he made one. Cindy Loo Who's midnight thirst? A clever fib and a drink were more than sufficient. His vision was whole and complete. Every Who house was left so empty that even the crumbs they contained were too small for Who mouses. It was this very unity, the unity of the Ginch's vision, his plan to stop Christmas, and the unity of the Who's experience when they woke on Christmas morning, that was the Grinch's undoing, an undoing that left enough room for a heart to grow three sizes.

You see, the Grinch's mistake was that he did his deed to every Who, the tall and the small. For you see, they did suffer and were shocked and dismayed, but they were all dismayed together. If he'd had the foresight to see that this would unify the Who's, give them a common experience and open a space and an opportunity for all of them to have Christmas come in without all the packages, boxes and bags, then he might have recognized that division would have been the way to stop Christmas from coming. If he'd only played his dirty trick on half of the Who's, or even, left the Christmas googahs of half of the Who's with the other half, creating a haves-and-have-nots situation, then he'd have sown the seeds of division and discord and might have created the kind of doubt and fear that keeps people from feeling that Christmas is here.

But, the Grinch's idea, his wonderful, awful idea was whole and complete; and, he carried it out; he carried it through from beginning to end: he reached a real, tangible completion. This completion was the invitation for that moment when he stood, feet cold in the snow, puzzling and puzzling til his puzzler was sore to become something else, to become a real and genuine understanding that Christmas does mean just a little bit more. From the wholeness of conception to the completion of execution the unity and perfection buried, like a mustard seed, deep inside that dastardly and despicable act was what transformed it and the Who's and he, himself, the Grinch.

My wishes for you all is that what you begin in this year you may bring to completion.