book 2011- 09: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

I'm so glad I have three of Fulghum's books- all hardbound and thrifted from Booksale =)

I remember I first encountered Mr. Fulghum’s works in the school library 15 years ago- a paperback version of this same book I’m writing about. I was intrigued by the title and thought to give it a try and I think that was then that I began to have a penchant for reading essays. What is interesting about Mr. Fulghum’s writings are his profound thoughts about ordinary things. I certainly wouldn’t come up with such meaningful ponderings about a mushroom nor would I contemplate about the further reasons of a catalog’s existence other than to inform a consumer of his options. I wish I were that brilliant.

The main feeling evoked from reading this book was nostalgia. I was inundated with memories from my childhood and how much time has passed since then and that I think I dislike the thought of growing up.

One of his anecdotes I liked very much was about the time when they would play hide-and-seek when they were kids which reminded me very much of my childhood- playing taguan with my playmates in the street during brownouts (power shortages). Anyway, he said he liked the game Sardine better. Sardine is played with the “it” hiding while everyone else will find him and when someone finds him, he’ll hide in there with him. This he related with God- that He is a Sardine player and when God finds us, He gets in there with us, accompanies us. See, how Mr. Fulghum could put meaning into seemingly meaningless children’s play…

Or how he makes us realize our worth via his relationship with his barber- that we all fill important places in another’s life even if we think otherwise and for this reason, we are not insignificant. Don’t sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. I should remind myself this, always. 

Aforementioned nostalgia is recurring theme in this book and right now, in this stage of my life, I want to be a kid again- free from responsibilities and worries. I look at my nephews and wish I were back to my childhood. I'm glad I read this at the most opportune time. Here's the snippet from the book that most describes what I want:

I want to be five years old again for an hour.

I want to laugh a lot and cry a lot. 

I want to be picked up and rocked to sleep in someone's arms, and carried up to bed just one more time. 

I know what I really want for Christmas. 

I want my childhood back.

Sakto. My thoughts exactly. I can vividly remember those times when coming from a pasyal, we would be home nighttime and me and V would be asleep on our sisters' laps so they wouldn't wake us up and just carry us to our beds. Sometimes I would wake up during the process but I would pretend to be still sleeping. The life...

But I guess we all have some growing up to do. It is a fact of life- we all grow old, take on grown-up responsibilities as much as we would stay kids and be carefree all our lives. Another fitting snippet from the book: There is a terrible and wondrous truth working here. Namely, that all things live only if something else is cleared out of the path to make way. No death; no life. No exceptions. Things must come and go. People. Years. Ideas. Everything. The wheel turns, and the old is cleared away as fodder for the new. So that pretty much explains why I can't be a kid forever. Bummer. Haha. Oh well, I think I'm doing a pretty bang up job growing up. Though it's not coming up roses all the time, I think I am getting by just fine.

That is why I feel sorry for kids nowadays who are in a hurry to grow up- donning lipstick and heels, getting knocked-up in their teens, robbed off their innocence at such an early age. I hope they realize how awesome it is to be a kid and understand that it will not last very long so they should enjoy it while it lasts. 

Love this book. Love that it made me feel not alone in my issues and angst against growing up. Love that successful, established people do feel the same. It feels good to know I am not alone.

Do we shine?

Are we part of some pattern in somebody

else's night sky- a projection of their imaginations

and wonderings?

-- Robert Fulghum