Everything I need to know I learned in Kinder Garden

This is the name of the book that I found in the pocket of the seat in front of me as I was flying somewhere on a plane. Unfortunately I lost it too like the person who lost it before me. If you had not read it, it is a beautiful book that  delivers a powerful message in an innocent simplicity. Now that I think of it, I realize that the book has a life of its own, maybe I lost it so someone else can find it, to be lost on a plane means this book might be traveling the world by now from hand to hand. From forgetful good people to others it might be changing the world. 

I will never forget what the book said, although I lost it, the message will stay with me and here I am trying to keep the flow of it. Like paying it forward, from person to another the simple message will spread. The author had an interesting approach to life saying that if only we did not forget the things we learned in Kindergarden life would have been so much better.

For instance, learning to share, if everybody shared there would be no poverty. Not taking something that does not belong to you, that concept if applied would really end wars. Tell that to the greedy governments who decide to steal their neighbors land. Saying please and thank you, who ever says that all the time spares the world of all the source of trouble.

In kindergarden they teach us to hold hands and stick together as we face the big world, if we all did that wouldn't there be more love in the world. Imagine the sight of grown ups holding hands as a group and supporting each other.

The author brings up an interesting idea, in kindergarden every one takes a nap together and lights are dimmed as peace fills the place. What if the whole world would nap at the same time, wouldn't it bring more peace to the world? I remember clearly how the author described napping time as an amazing thing for grown ups to keep doing.

The above is all I remember from the book but I go on to add to it some of my perspective, after all it's my blog not just a book review:

 In Kinder garden art is an essential part and children are free to be creative and that keeps them pure. If you watch children they are all creative artists painting and using color with the freedom that only the masters have at the end of their journey. Picasso said every child is an artist the problem is how to stay one when they grow up. Society takes away a child's freedom molds them into some kind of robot and takes away their imagination. But we are born free artists, free little people. Some keep that, some loose it. 

One of the pleasures and greatest joys of my life is watching my niece and nephew who are both younger than four, as they live their life, away from their nanny, who makes it difficult to reach them. I realized my nephew walks like he is drunk, moves like he is drunk and he is hilarious, all children are funny, but we socialize them to lose their sense of humor. My nephew inspires me, so does my niece but she has been socialized already. Although she is irresistibly cute she already acts like a big girl and that saddens me. But he, he is free the way he was made to be. I picture him if he was a grown up who acts the way he does now, people will call him crazy, but many others like me would love to be his friend. He acts like a drunk rock star, like a free artist and he does not want to conform to any rules. He experiments with his mom's heels, he is still too innocent to realize society will question his curiosity towards the female clothes. he plays with the praying scarf and raps it around him self like a monk. He stands towards the Qibla and brings his forhead to the ground, with an instinct towards worship. He knows more about God than many grown ups do. His hair is long and golden and he is not afraid of judgement since in cairo parents are phobic to boys with long hair, he is innocent to all that. 

He does not care what we think and he dances to the music in his soul, he is created cool and every move he makes is naturally cool. His face has no chub like babies do his body is of a tiny athelete, he is a small free little person may his parents keep him that way and may they fail to socialize him to conform and may he never be another brick in the wall. Because he is different and hopefully they will not take the artist away.

She however is a star loves attention and attention loves her back. Uses the right words at the right time and can make you melt when she makes you feel special for a second. Watching them I always have tears in my eyes , because I love them so much and they are so tiny. They have confidence that is divine and inner strength more than mine. They have innocence like all the children.

My other niece lives abroad and that hurts more than anything else, every time she has to leave I cry a sea of tears. She is so cute that it is indescribable, she has the japanese baby vibe and she likes to touch the ones she loves. When she talks it is slow and she stares at you making you forget the world around you, with her big eyes she captures you and sinks you in with magnitude and she is so tiny yet she is so powerful. When you are caught up in a conversation with her she takes you from the hypnotized state to a sudden smile and giggles that seal the spell and make you for ever an obsessed lover. She is so innocent yet sometimes she is cruel. Like her mom she loves to play with people's feelings, a natural heart breaker. From the softest cutest voice comes an aggressive scream that makes you laugh. She is hot tempered so do not get on her nerves. Her brother is still too tiny to describe but he lives in a state of sleep and between his long naps he eats, but he does ooze a certain wisdom that I never saw before. What I find magnificent is their power, I think it is purely divine that these little people have confidence and inner strength and they stand up for them selves and scream and cry at anything they do not like. They do not take anyones shit, they have their own group and everyone has a role and watching them play and talk is my favorite drug. I could forget about my worries this dry reality and all the mundane as I get lost in their details and the sizes of their feet. 

The way their day is set is so pure and fun, the things they watch are all so comforting, happy endings and colorful clothes. Lunch and nap and a walk in the park, I find happiness in doing the things they do. Being a nanny is the most pleasurable job if you think of it, you are payed to take care of an angel and you are protected from the grown up world. Mothers are expected to do other things too so their brains do not melt but I would rather have a melted brain than leave an angel behind with a stranger who enjoys all the things that I should be enjoying. I realize it is not easy taking care of your own child without help but suffering from the green eyed monster like I always do, I would be too jealous to have someone else enjoy all that I adore and get payed too.

First I thought why do we bring children into this sad world? and then I realized it would be a sadder world without them they light it up and make it spark. Until you have your own, keep your child inside you alive, the free artist, the peace maker, the spiritual, the sexually curious, the one with the imagination that can create worlds and end wars. 

Their honesty is admirable and how they say exactly how they feel in front of who ever and want what they do at the times they feel it. They are true to them selves and they do not care if  a word is not supposed to be said. They are a breath of fresh air and we make them seem crazy for acting the way they do when actually we are crazy not to act like them or to cover the crazy being inside us, so people would not judge us. 

If only we did not kill the child inside us and turn into boring grown ups, If only we still remembered what we learned in kindergarden, we would have been happier people.

Only dull grown ups need so much to be happy; some need alcohol, some need a cigarette, some need coffee, some need tea, some need cocaine, some need weed, some need pipes, some need cigars, all things we managed fine without as kids. Actually we were happier jumping on the bed or running around in a garden, than we are now with our pretentious posture and our hands filled with poison. We did that to ourselves put on so many masks and made life so difficult that we need toxins to go back to our natural state. While bliss is naturally a state all children reach every day as they play as they lay in the arms of the one they love. We want to be grown ups and grown ups can not be happy easily, because they have to complicate things. Maybe if we keep things simple along the way we would not need so much to be happy. A gaze at a child would be enough, a breeze on a hot day can be satisfying. If only we stopped pretending we were grown ups that have to walk and talk in a certain way and smoke and drink so people do not think it is easy for us to enjoy our existence in a natural way. As if it is wrong to be simply free with an empty hand and a smile, like it is never enough, if we let our self be free we would be naturally drunk and high like the child.

Stop thinking so much, play a little, paint a little, dance a little, wear what you want, say what you feel, let the crazy fun sleeping person inside you shine and do not be so scared to talk about what you think, about what bothers you, about your sexuality,  and your undeniable need and love towards God.

children do that, watch them, learn from them.