getting along

In the midst of saying goodbyes here, as we leave Hawaii soon. Tonight, I had such a nice farewell from some of the AWESOME spouses on this base. They work so well together...are so kind and smart and enthusiastic, that it gives me great great hope for the future of our Air Force. A couple of us were talking about previous problems with other clubs and places, and even a few of the issues we've had here. It mystifies us why some people seem to take some sort of sick joy in being offended, and go through life with a 'cup half empty' mentality. It reminded me of this writing by Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know,  I Learned in Kindergarten.

Good words, these...

All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.

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

sandpile at Sunday 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 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.

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 of those items and extrapolate it into

sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your

family life or your work or your government or

your world and it holds true and clear and firm.

Think what a better world it would be if

all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about

three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with

our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments

had a basic policy to always put thing 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 into the world, it is best

to hold hands and stick together.