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 someone. 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 why, but we are all like that.
[...]
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.
-- Robert Flughum
