With the festive season and joy of Christmas coming to a close, we wish all our readers a wealthy and thriving 2008. May the blessings of Christ surround you!
"You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new." - Leviticus 26:10
I have just been reading the book by Robert Fulghum called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: uncommon thoughts on common things (1986). I had, as many of you I am sure, seen the article of the same title circulated on email. Remember this?
Things I learnt;
* 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 in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
First of all I was surprised to know that this book was first written over 20 years ago! But the stories there read like present, real life blogs! I think this book could be the precursor of present day blogs. He talks about the most ordinary mundane things that happen in his life (and in all our lives really) but he has a wonderful twist to it. His language and his observations are so captivating. Here is one profound statement that he makes at the end of one of the stories… “Why is it that love and life so often have to be carried forth with so much pain and strain and mess? …..Why isn’t love easy?” The greatest thing about this book is that it made me begin to look at my everyday life and living experiences in a different way. You would have to read it to know what I am talking about…
The other day, for example, I was driving down the parkway and the sun was casting a glare and a slight haze that is not normal for this time of the year. Somehow, as I consciously thought about that glare, it took me to another continent, another time – distant lands and wonderful memories that were somehow buried in the recess of my mind and enshrouded by the glaring sun on a hazy day. I reminiscenced about another normal day like this one…..really, one of a thousand similar days that I would be on a bus sitting next to the open window going down Kenyatta Avenue being almost lulled to sleep by the engine noise (the engine which by the way was above the floor of the bus next to the driver with a wire sticking out that would be used to rev up the bus). I think of this ride which unlike the bus or train rides here were anything but quiet. People would be talking – even strangers and if you really wanted, you could tune in to any one of the louder interesting stories. This made me think of the sights and smells that just seemed in place in the bus at times like these – the sack of potatoes being transported by the vegetable stall owner “Mama wa Mboga” – that sack or sacks would be sitting right in the middle of the aisle and you would have to find a way to step and jump. If it happens that a holiday was coming up then you might be sharing the bus with chicken too – on the same aisle in readiness for the celebrations……see how far my mind went? It is like all of a sudden one present mundane experience can bring up thoughts and memories that give a new meaning to living in the present.
So I have slowed down my reading of this book that I have thoroughly enjoyed so that I can have some delightful stories to read when I need it - maybe just to savour the book for longer. Now I see why this book was a best seller those many years ago – And no, I have not been paid, coerced or otherwise influenced by anyone to write about this book!
