All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Book TitleOne of the most delightful and inspirational writers about life is Robert Fulghum. Google him and read some of his work. He writes with wit and wisdom about small lives with big meanings. As one person said, “within simplicity lies the sublime.” I guarantee his words will swim around in your mind – and begin this year, 2016, in a positive, uplifting way.

Enjoy this excerpt, then, from one of his most popular books, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, published in 1989.

“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 preschool.

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 some and paint some 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 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 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 sane living.

Think 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 all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and clean up their 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.”

We can so relate to all of this, can’t we?

And then, there are his beliefs – which are easily mine as well.

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

Good stuff to reflect upon. Think about. Believe in.

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2 Responses to All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

  1. Jennie Fitzkee says:

    This is the real lesson in life, the really important stuff. Thank you for posting this on your blog. I did this recently as well. The world can’t get enough of Robert Fulghum!

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