Thinking SPACE

“I came across this article whilst I was searching for some inspiration for my reflections at the start of my duty as chairman of our Elders’ meeting in June. In view of the mess which the country finds itself in at the moment, perhaps it is time to go back to basics, and try to recapture the simplicity and empathy of childhood; to see the world through a child’s eye, and appreciate the simple things in life. Maybe then the world in which we live could return to some semblance of humility and humanity.

With God’s Blessings to you all

Susan Tootell       Heckmondwike U.R.C.

Dear Friend in Crosswise

All I Really Need to Know I learned in Nursery

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in nursery. Wisdom was not at the top of the High school agenda, but there in the sand pit at infant school. These are the things I learned:

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

Warm biscuits and cold milk are good for you

Live a balanced life- learn a bit and think a bit, and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work a bit every day

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 plastic 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 plastic cup-they all die

So do we

Everything you need to know is there somewhere.

The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.

Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to 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 all-the whole world- had biscuits and milk about 3 o’clock every afternoon and then lay down for a nap. Or if all governments had a policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are-when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.