And a quick question (or 10!)?: Why does it seem that as we grow making friends becomes difficult? I watch my students meet new people and make new friends with such ease, and I have to wonder, what happened? When did we suddenly decide that it shouldn't be that easy? And here's another one, as children we want to learn more, want to explore and discover....until what, we reach a certain age and then that all stops? And we become plugged in, hooked up, know it alls who have no reason to open our minds and learn more than we already do??
Robert Fullghum wrote the book: "All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"....and how true it all is:
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 one 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 we 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 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 into the
world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
--Robert Fulghum
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 one 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 we 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 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 into the
world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
--Robert Fulghum
OMG I feel the same way!! it IS hard to meet people now, especially when you move to a new place. we say this all the time! everything will work out!! love you! :)
ReplyDeleteI love Robert Fulghum. We are having his poem "Union" read during our wedding.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about making friends as you get older. It's so tough. I've been in NYC for 3 years now, and I am just now getting to the point where I feel like I have actual friends.
I hope things get better; I know how tough it is to uproot and start over. Give me a call if you need to vent! Love ya!