All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten

Robert Fulghum says, "Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school." Upholding the credibility of all preschool teachers like me is far from being the main point of this blog entry.

Since summer class starts at 9am, I find myself still sipping coffee at 7am while my niece watches the morning cartoons. I spread cream cheese on my bread to the beat of the theme from Thomas and Friends "They're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight..." Today's episode featured Spencer, a bullet train regularly used by the Duke and Duchess, who always boasts how fast, strong and shiny he is compared to the other tank engines. Thomas wanted so much to be like him. He wanted to see how fast he can be, but Emily warned him he's not built to be as fast as a bullet train. He wanted to see how strong he was, but he can barely bring loads of heavy stones up the mountain. He had himself polished very well, but ended up getting really dusty from his tasks. At the end of the day, he found himself to be side by side with Spencer, who was still getting warmed up (he had a diesel engine). The Duke suddenly arrived, hurrying because he had a plane to catch. Since Spencer wasn't ready, he chose Thomas to bring him back to the mainland (these engines lived on an island whose name I forgot). So the Duke's crest was placed on Thomas' and he proudly huffed and puffed all the way to the airport and the Duke arrived on time. Thomas was highly commended for a job well done.

Moral of the story: It doesn't matter how fast or how strong or how shiny you are, what matters is how reliable you can be.

We are living in a cynical, cynical world (quoting Jerry Maguire on this). No matter how hard we fight it, our thoughts and actions reflect the filth of the system that we are living in, and we oftentimes fail to uphold the values we think we are strongly attached to. If you feel you're being sucked into a blackhole, try tuning in to children's shows (or get yourself surrounded by children). You'll find that the more important truths are the simplest. And you don't need a master's degree to understand it.