Today is my kids’ last day of school before summer vacation. My daughter is in 4th grade and my son is in 2nd grade. How I yearn for the days of 9 months of work followed by 3 months of vacation! That was the life!

We live in the age of the “Me First” culture. We also live in a world in which higher education and MBAs are admired and looked up to. But, if getting your MBA makes you such a better person, why are all the “educated” people making such a mess of the world?

I’m always reminded this time of year of Robert Fulghum’s book “All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten.” Here is an excerpt from the book. I think if we all adhered to this advice, the world would be a much better place to live.

Share everything

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

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 live … 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 into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: the roots go down and 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. So do we.

And then remember the “Dick and Jane” books and the first word you 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 equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it for your family life or your work or your government or your world — and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all — the whole world — had cookies and milk about 3:00 every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all the governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it’s true, no matter how old you are — when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Amen, Brother Fulghum!

Rob Trecek

Johnson Direct

800-710-2750

The comments expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of Johnson Direct, LLC.