FROM THE EDITOR ’ S DESK
With only a few more weeks remaining of the summer break , thoughts are beginning to turn to everything involved with getting children ready to go back to school .
It has dawned on me this will be the first time in 16 years that we will not be part of back-to-school activities . No buying new backpacks and school supplies . No excitement of getting a schedule and comparing it to their friends ’ schedules . No mandatory “ first day of school ” photos .
If I ask nicely , I might get a couple of “ first day of college ” photos from my two daughters , but I ’ m pretty sure neither of them will be holding one of those cute little “ first day ” signs .
It ’ s a little sad this chapter in our lives has closed . I know my girls always pretended they hated going back to school after summer break , but they usually were up early that first day .
In reflecting on my girls ’ school years all the way back to the beginning , I am reminded of a book I read 35 years ago called , “ All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten .” First published in 1986 , it was a book of short essays written by American author Robert Fulghum . A friend had suggested the book , which became a best seller , and Fulghum ’ s insights were often quoted by the late 1980s .
I can ’ t recall any of the other essays , just the first one with the 16 tips of wisdom Fulghum had narrowed down to his credo in life . He wrote he had found these tips necessary for a meaningful life and had learned them not in graduate school but way back in kindergarten .
His credo : 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 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 .
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 .
Fulghum ’ s insights might sound juvenile , but the core advice is still relevant today and can be carried into adult life . With the ugliness of social media and some face-to-face encounters these days , we could all stand being reminded of the lessons he learned , we all learned , in kindergarten :
Be civil and kind to others even if your beliefs are different , your politics are different or your favorite college mascot is a bulldog instead of a tiger . Common courtesy and civility are always winners .
Always play fair . Your grandparents and parents taught you this . So did your first coach .
Clean up your own mess and put things back where you found them . Maybe our government leaders need to be reminded of this .
Hold hands and stick together . Isn ’ t that how we get through all of our natural disasters ?
Wouldn ’ t the world be a lot different if we all adhered to the basic rules all children learn in kindergarten ?
Good luck on the new school year . We hope you have a good one .
Glenda Sanders
6 • MERIDIAN LIFE