We can do no great things; only small things
with great love.
- Mother Teresa
“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is a compilation of short essays, strung in no particular order, going this way and that, partly fact, partly imagination; but with the end in view of putting an end to the whining, “it’s a crummy world”. To this Fulghum makes the retort, “what kind of talk is that?”
The book is written in an easy style, it’s almost like listening to an elderly neighbor’s story-telling of rodeo drives, comet-watching, balloon flying, zoo trips, mushroom experiences, bicycle rides for no reason at all, car mishaps, the Russians - and from where you come home feeling a lot cheerier.
Sure, we’ve got that acronym appendage to prove the Bachelor’s degree, heck we even got a string of other acronyms for those post-graduate degrees, but Fulghum posits that this world will be a much better one if we only keep in mind the things we learned way back in kindergarten:
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 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 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!
And whoever said that, “despite the sham drudgery, and broken dreams, it still is a beautiful world” is a genius.
with great love.
- Mother Teresa
“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is a compilation of short essays, strung in no particular order, going this way and that, partly fact, partly imagination; but with the end in view of putting an end to the whining, “it’s a crummy world”. To this Fulghum makes the retort, “what kind of talk is that?”
The book is written in an easy style, it’s almost like listening to an elderly neighbor’s story-telling of rodeo drives, comet-watching, balloon flying, zoo trips, mushroom experiences, bicycle rides for no reason at all, car mishaps, the Russians - and from where you come home feeling a lot cheerier.
Sure, we’ve got that acronym appendage to prove the Bachelor’s degree, heck we even got a string of other acronyms for those post-graduate degrees, but Fulghum posits that this world will be a much better one if we only keep in mind the things we learned way back in kindergarten:
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 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 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!
And whoever said that, “despite the sham drudgery, and broken dreams, it still is a beautiful world” is a genius.
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