THE SNEETCHES AND EMBRACE PART II

In Dr. Seuss’s allergory, The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss takes up issues of prejudice and discrimination, issues that surround Christian community. Dr. Suess shares that there are different kinds of Sneetches, some have stars on their bellies and others are plan bellied. There are different people present in our systems. Even though their differences may not be seen at first, it may be that the church and other individuals are very aware of what sets the stranger a part. And like the Sneetches, we segregate ourselves from those who are different.

When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts
Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,
They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches.
They left them out cold, in the dark of he beaches.
They kept them away. Never let them come near.
And that’s how they treated them year after year (185).

This is very much the reality of the church. There is the understanding that the church is for those present, while neglecting what is happening outside the church doors. We are often able to create a stereotype of those who are inside the building and those who are outside the building. The unique thing is we do not want to forget about those on the outside, but we only want to embrace them at certain times, maybe holidays or other special occasions. This embrace usually comes with some sort of solution. It could be making them like us or holding a separate event for ‘those people.’ It is almost like the church is Sylvester McMonkey McBean.

“My friends,” he announced in a voice clear and keen,
“My name is Sylvester McMonkey McBean.
And I’ve heard of your troubles. I’ve heard you’re unhappy.
But I can fix that. I’m the Fix-it-Up Chappie.
I’ve come here to help you. I have what you need.
And my prices are low. And I work at great speed.
And my work is one hundred per cent guaranteed!” (187)

The church thinks they have the answer. The ability to fix the issues that plague the city. And just like Sylvester McMonkey McBean the church thinks that answer is changing the others identity in order that they fit their definition of church and Christian. Other answers the church gives is reaching out to people by giving them things they may need, food, clothes, etc. Here the answer does not include a relationship nor does it allow making room for them in their lives.

“Just pay me your money and hop right aboard!”
So they cambered inside. Then the big machine roared
And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked
And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!
When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they had stars!
They actually did. They had stars upon thars!

Then they yelled at the ones who had stars at the start,
“We’re exactly like! You can’t tell us apart.
We’re all just the same, now, you snooty old smarties!
And now we can go to your frankfurter parties.” (189-190)

Is that what the church wants? There is this vision that we need to love our neighbor but the church does not understand what that means. Or a better explanation is they do not understand how to live that.

Everything turns into a mess once the different types of Sneetches begin to fight for who is best by paying more to add and remove stars to determine a superior. And so, Sylvester McMonkey McBean, realizing the mess he has created, packed up saying,

“They never will learn. No. You cannot teach a Sneetch.” (200)

Again, the church does the same thing. They realize embrace is hard or that they cannot fix the issue and they abandon the other, leading to more harm. All of this may be a stretch, but the issues are not.

This may be a very critical observation, but very true when we think about the church. They do not have the ability to learn. Will our story take on the ending of the Sneetches?

But McBean was quite wrong. I’m quite happy to say
That the Sneetches got really quite smart on that day,
The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches
And no kind of Sneetches is the best on the beaches.
That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars
And whether they had one, or not, upon thars.6

It is easy to draw to conclusions and think that looking at Dr. Seuss’s, The Sneetches is an illegitimate representation of the church. It is quite possible I have gone too far, yet the Sneetches carries an important message of identity and community that the church is not ready to accept, possibly the same message that Dr. Seuss hoped that society would take, a message of embrace of the stranger, a message that society is not ready to accept.

Embrace of the stranger is not easy and will not happen until, “The culture of social hope ‘will center around suggestions for drastic change in the way things are done — will be a culture of permanent revolution” (Volf 28)  This drastic change is the ability to embrace the neighbor. If we continuing studying the Sneetches and slow down their process of being able to embrace the ‘other’ or the stranger, we can enter in a process of embrace or deepening theology of embrace.

So as the church, how do we get to this point; this point of acceptance and conformity. How are we able to make community by living in the reality that we are all unique.

I talked about this earlier, but Miroslav Volf’s four step process can easily be applied to the Sneetches.

1. Repentance
2. Forgiveness
3. Forgetting (making room for the other)
4. Healing memory

It is a time for the Sneetches (and the church) to realize they have been hurt and are vulnerable. It is a time to look for forgivness, before forgetting what has happened in the past in order that they can make room for one another. And embrace may happen once individuals are healed by a new memory taking over the old.

Maybe a stretch, but we’ve also learned that “a person’s a person no matter how small” from Dr. Seuss.