All We Need to Know we Learned in Kindergarten . . . Right?

Some days are reminders of that book “All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten”…except that clearly we DIDN’T all have the same Kindergarten teacher.

Here are some things that I thought we learned in Kindergarten:

1.  Cutting in line is NOT cool!

Didn’t you learn this?  Well, I reflected on this while at the Atlanta airport on Sunday making my way through 2.5 hours of customs security.  I stood there patiently waiting (mostly true) and watched a lady and a man (and many others) who CLEARLY cut in line.  I wondered, “What are they thinking right now?”  Do you think they felt invisible and that the hundreds of people behind them (yes, hundreds) didn’t notice that they feel they are more important than the rest of us?

2.  Be nice to people who are “different”!

I remember new kids coming into class and the teacher asking us to welcome this “strange” kid into OUR world.  We learned that skin color, the way they talked, and how they looked didn’t matter.  But, while in Paris I certainly didn’t feel that the waiter who refused to serve me because I didn’t speak French…was being nice to me!  I couldn’t speak his cliche’s language and so I was ostracized to the corner of the restaurant and forced to patiently wait 45 minutes for a…wait for it…salad!

3.  Don’t spend your lunch money on candy.

Did your mom send you to school with lunch or milk money?  Ever get that lecture about not using it for candy, ice cream, etc?  I know I tell my daughter to use her book fair money for BOOKS and not the little trinkets (AKA junk) they want to sell her.  So, why as adults do we choose to do things like buy vacation rentals, football tickets, and entertainment over paying our bills?

4.  Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

This may be a repeat of not cutting in line, not hogging both armrests on the plane, allowing the car at the impossible intersection to actually get out, speaking the truth, etc.  I think you can tell a lot about someone who takes both armrests on a plane or who passes by all the cars patiently waiting just to cut in front of a car at the front of the line.  This person says, “I don’t care about you.  I am more important and should be treated this way…even though I don’t treat you like you matter”.

5.  Just because Johnny jumps off a cliff doesn’t mean you should too!

Just because your coworker lies and cuts corners to “make the sale” doesn’t mean that you should.  If your friend buys a big screen TV instead of paying his rent…doesn’t mean you should too.  But EVERYONE else does XXXXX sin, so I should too.

I am reflecting on these things because I wonder when we reach adulthood and decide that cheating others, cutting corners, and being selfish and mean is OK.  It is frustrating…but I will try to remember another thing I probably heard in Kindergarten:

NO ONE SAID THAT LIFE IS FAIR!

God bless!