一切都是從幼稚園開始的
羅伯特·福倫
這些年來，每到春暖花開的時節，我都是以一個座右銘來提醒自己。我的座右銘是：絕大部份我所需要的知識，也就是告訢我如何生活、該做些什麼事、如何做事，都在幼稚園裡學到了。研究所或許是求學過程的頂峰，但人生的智慧並不是在那裡，然而幼稚園內嬉戲的沙堡，卻包含著許多人生大道理。以下這些事情是我在幼稚園裡學到的：
- 分享所有的事物。
- 遊戲時講求公平。
- 不要任意打人。
- 物歸原位。
- 清理自己製造的垃圾。
- 不要拿不屬於自己的東西。
- 當你傷到別人時必須道歉。
- 吃東西前記得要洗手。
- 用畢廁所後要沖水。
- 熱烘烘的餅乾和一杯冰牛奶有益成長。
- 均衡的生活是 – 學習、思考、畫畫、跳舞、遊戲和工作，輕鬆安排在每天的生活中。
- 每天下午小睡片刻。
- 出門時，注意路上的車子，大家手牽手互相照應。
- 生活中充滿驚奇！記得在保麗龍杯子裡的小種籽嗎？根往下長，葉子往上冒，沒有人知道為什麼，但我們都喜歡它。
- 金魚、大頰鼠和天竺鼠，甚至是那粒在保麗龍杯子裡小種籽，最後它們都會死去 – 而我們也是一樣！
- 我還記得打開課本的第一頁時印入眼簾的大字，那是我第一個學會的單字 – 『看！』
任何我們需要的知識都可以在哪兒找到，從黃金定律– 己所不欲、勿施於人，到真愛、衛生、生態、政治、平權和理智的生活，無一不備。
你可以挑出任何一項，然後用複雜成人語彙擴充解釋、用在你的家庭生活、你的工作、你的政府或全世界，它們依然是清楚不變的道理。舉例而言，想像一個美麗新世界 – 如果全世界在下午三點都停下來吃些餅乾和喝牛奶，然後靜心躺下來小睡片刻；或是全世界所有政府都能建立一個簡單政策 – 物歸原位和清理自己製造的垃圾。
還有一件事永遠是對的，不論你多老了，當你進入這個世界，最好的方法就是手牽手互相照應。
註：本文摘自羅伯特·福倫在1985年的著作，起初他是在教堂裡朗誦給教友聽，結果廣受歡迎，許多人要求福倫將該文轉寄給他們的親友，現在則成為全美最暢銷的書籍之一，並已翻譯成24種語言。(參考原文)
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Each spring, for many years, I have set myself the task of considering a personal statement of belief: a Credo. My Credo sounds like this: 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 sandpile at Sunday School. And these are the things I learned there:
- 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 the toilet after you use it.
- I learned that warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- I learned to live a balanced life – to learn some and think some and draw some and paint and dance and play and work some every day.
- And then to take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
- I learned to be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down, 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. And so do we.
- And then I remember the book Dick and Jane and the first word I 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 quality and sane living.
You could take any one of those items and extrapolate into sophisticated adult terms and apply them to your family life or your work or your government or your world and they hold true and clear and firm. For example, 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 has 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.
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福倫認為生活沒有大家想像的那麼複雜，如果大家都依循幼稚園所學到的規則，這個世界將有不同的風貌。原著為：All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten : Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things，可在amazon.com訂購(全球遞送)。
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