This is the oft-repeated proclamations of Horton the Elephant,
the hero of the classic Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who. Theodore Seuss Geisel- a.k.a. Dr. Seuss- wrote
this book in 1953 after a visit to American-occupied Japan. Although Geisel, like many Americans, held strong
anti-Japanese opinions during the war, his visit to Japan changed him, and he
hoped his book would convey a message of valuing everyone equally, regardless
of race or status.
The story itself is simple and delightful: Horton the
elephant, because of his large ears, can hear things others cannot. Because of this ability, he discovers an
entire world of microscopically tiny people called the Whos, living on a speck
of dust, and he vows to protect them, because “a person’s a person no matter
how small.”
The problem is that nobody else in the jungle can hear the
Whos, and they decide that Horton is crazy.
“Why that spec is as small as the head of a pin! A person on that? Why there never has been!”
Horton, however, has the evidence his ears give him. He knows that size is not the deciding factor
in “personhood.” He remains firm in his
convictions in the face of rising opposition from the other jungle animals, even
when they try to put him into a cage and annihilate the dust-spec “in a hot
steaming kettle of beezlenut oil.”
A person’s a person no matter how small. Or seemingly insignificant. Or young.
Or old. Or ill. Or disabled.
From conception to the end of life, every human being has intrinsic value. Everyone is precious in God’s eyes, created
in His image.
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made:
marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I
was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them” (Psalm 139: 14-16).
Roy Jacobsen
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