Conference quark::human_relations-v1

305.0. "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" by TONTO::EARLY (Bob Early CSS/NSG) Fri May 08 1987 17:58

This came to me by a lovely secretary, and I tought you might like it,too.
Bob


                   ALL I EVER REALLY NEEDED TO KNOW
                       I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN

                           BY Robert Flughum
                          Seattle, Washington


    Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to
do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom was not at the
top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at
nursery school.

    These are the things I learned:  Share everything. Play fair.
Don't hit people.  Put things back where you found them.  Clean up
your own mess.  Don't take things that aren't yours.  Say you're sorry
when you hurt somebody.  Wash your hands before you eat.  Flush.  Warm
cookies and cold milk are good for you.  Live a balanced life.  Learn
some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and
work every day some.

    Take a nap every afternoon.  When you go out into the world, watch
for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.  Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the plastic cup.  The roots go down and
the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all
like that.

    Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in
the plastic cup - they all die.  So do we.

    And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word
you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK.  Everything you need to
know is in there somewhere.  The Golden Rule and love and basic
sanitation.  Ecology and politics and sane living.

    Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole
world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then
lay down with our blankets for a nap.  Or if we had a basic policy in
our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found
them and cleaned up our own messes.  And it is still true, no matter
how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold
hands and stick together.


(Note:  The KANSAS CITY TIMES printed ths kindergarten piece in an
issue last September.  Since that time the author has received and
granted every one of the over 1,000 request to reprint it.  We 
understand why.)

Thanks for sharing the article - it was great !