Everything I Needed I Learned In Kindergarten (A Tribute and Sharing)

This post is something that is near and dear to me… I actually did this post as a theater monologue back in my acting days. Its value has withstood the test of time - even in the strange time and world we now find ourselves in. 

It is special. 

This is from Robert Fulghum’s book and what I want to do is give you his version below in bold… my thoughts, however brief they are after each point, will be in italics like this.

Here it is: 

ALL 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 sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

Share everything. (money, love, wisdom, patience, and opportunity stand out for me)

Play fair. (Another one that has stung as so many people don’t play fair… Which means it is more important that WE PLAY FAIR.)

Don’t hit people. (Wouldn’t it be nice to NEVER in the world have the need to hit another? Maybe someday we’ll get there. I will continue to pray for that. :-)

Put things back where you found them. (Remember the saying it is good to leave wherever you are a little better than how you found it?)

Clean up your own mess. (This includes TAKING RESPONSIBILITY for your mess, and if you do so, you might get a little help on the cleanup)

Don’t take things that aren’t yours. (See first item: Share… Remember, we’re just here temporarily. We’re borrowing things… clothes, cars, houses… Maybe it’s all God’s?)

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. (Instead of rationalizing and making a case of why they deserved it and you needed to do it.)

Wash your hands before you eat. (Who knows where your hands have been? ;-) And remember, cleanliness is next to Godliness - or so I’ve been told.)

Flush. (A no-brainer! Who likes to see ANYTHING floating when you’re wanting to go to the restroom?)

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. (Only the first 3 cookies!)

Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. (I’ve been preaching this for years… Now, if only I’d listen to myself!)

Take a nap every afternoon. (I’m trying… Have to make it a commitment! 20-30 minutes! That’s all I need. :-)

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. (Now more than ever is this necessary. And don’t bring your ‘flash anger.’ 

Wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. (Realize the miracles that we have no clue about… Just so you know, that’s EVERYTHING.)

Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup—they all die. So do we. (Make it a good life. Smile and share it along the way as you travel life’s path.)

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned—the biggest word of all—LOOK. (Listen, feel, love, cry, and appreciate the gift that is your next breath.)

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. (The challenge is you have to discern the truth from the programming that we’ve been fed about so many things. Question everything and keep an open mind to the wonders of what has yet to be exposed.)

FULGHUM goes on to say:

“Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all—the whole world—had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

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.

Such wisdom, beauty, and a remembrance of the purity and innocence we all had at one time. Maybe it didn’t last long for some of us, but there is a simplistic beauty in honesty, purity, and transparency that we so often see in kindergartners.

Thanks, Robert Fulghum for this timeless treasure! I will continue to work on these invaluable lessons!