“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”
by Robert Fulghum
Most of what 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 sand pile 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.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, watch
out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
The above poem could very well be a model for Project Transformation. The halls are quiet, the program is over and the cleanup has begun, and another highly successful summer program comes to an end. I have experienced an amazing time with all these kids, including an evening with UMYF. I found the younger ones starved for affection and attention. I found the youth worldly beyond belief, and at times felt I had TMI (too much information). I saw a great need for a mentorship program. This is our future and if we do not nurture our kids, we have been a part of the problem, not the solution. Get to know them and you will find out how little you really know. Children today are tomorrow’s future doctors, lawyers, accountants, pilots, and teachers. Having put it that way, are they not worth your time?
Yes, it truly takes a village.
~ Nancy Hartman
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