I found a really neat article in my notes today that I want to share......
I ask only this: that with every line, you stop and think how you can or should apply these SIMPLE rules to your life.... think hard and long---dig deep and relate--- we all already have been taught this stuff, sometimes we just forget to DO IT!
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
(a guide for Global Leadership)
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 sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
* Share everything.
*Don't lie.
* 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 in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
* Be aware of 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.
* Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
* And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books 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 equality and sane
living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work
or 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 at about 3 o'clock in the 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 in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Great post, Mary Jo. I have been reflecting on your last post, RULES, for a little while now and I must say this one seems to bring it all together. (Oh, what a wonderful world it would be.)
ReplyDeleteThe first three (share everything, don't lie, and play fair), I think they are the ones that take me back to your post on rules. Those are the ones that were heavy on my mind this morning.
I was thinking about 'white lies' and little 'deceptions'. We all do it. I know I am guilty. I mean, do you really tell your girlfriend the truth when she asks if you like her new boyfriend when you know she is smitten with him? Or what about, "Honey, does this dress make my butt look big?" I know that when I ask the question, I want the truth. But when ASKED the question, I hesitate to be completely honest.
This is all just harmless, right? These are just white lies and little deceptions not meant to harm anyone. If anything, it's just the opposite. We are hoping to not hurt someone's feelings.
So the question is “where do we draw the line?” Well, there is no line. There is truth and there are lies. There can be no in between. Because when we allow a little grey here and a little grey there, soon the line starts to blur and our moralities become skewed.
When God handed down the 10 Commandments to Charlton Heston, I mean, Moses, he didn’t say “Take these to the people and pick and choose which ones suit your needs”. And I’ve got to say, as I reflect on them, #9 hits me hard. “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.” GOSSIP – there’s one that I know I need to ask forgiveness for; whether it be speaking it or just listening to it.
I am glad that God is a God of forgiveness. Thank you, Mary Jo, for giving me a reason to search my soul today. I think I will have to print out your “Kindergarten Rules” and hope that I can live by them.