#24

March 3rd, 2008 by istib | Posted in Bookmarks In Time |

Yesterday evening, I was lying in my bed thinking blankly and looking eye to eye with my rooms’ ceiling when I happen to glance upon my dusty book shelf. Curious, I got out of my bed to have a closer look at the books therein and browsed which among them I have yet to read. Recently bought Brida which is an addition to my collection of Paulo Coelho books and made me remember that I have at my list, come this holy week, the line up of Like Flowing River, The Witch of Portebello, and Brida. *sigh*

As I further examined the thickness of dust blanketing the surface of the shelf as well as the covers of my books, one in particular caught my attention. The first time I’ve read that book, I was still in high school and it was only the third book I’ve ever read since Moby Dick and The Last of the Mohicans. The title of the book is All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum. I took the book and scanned through its pages knowing by heart that I would able to find the credo which made the book and the author famous. Here is a sample of the credo:

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

*** 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.

This very day placed me at the focal point of time. I am at the place called NOW and I have the opportunity to look back and forward and examine who I have become and who I want to be. These are but simple thoughts that many of us fail to recognize due to our constant efforts of perfection that we lost sight of the simplicity in the beauty of imperfection.

I woke up this morning with a smile in my face and eyes closed. No sound. Just feeling the air enter and exit my lungs for a couple of times. Yes. I am twenty-four. Happy new year to self.