June 7, 2008

• Kindergarten

  All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  That's the book I'm reading and re-reading now.  I've also got the script to it.

  If you were to ask any of several people what my favorite theatrical production I did in high school was, they would tell  you it was Man of La Mancha.  And in a way, they'd be right.  I liked that role the best, and I did have a lot of fun.  But I had about as much fun during Kindergarten, even though the new-ness of theater was starting to wear off.  The reason I like Kindergarten more than La Mancha is because of the "moral" behind Kindergarten.  In fact, there are several, for the play is really just a collection of random scenes which can be strung together in any order, omitting or swapping as the director chooses.

  My favorite scene was one that I've spoken about several times before here.  Christmas/Valentine's Day.  It's about a man who isn't quite right in the head.  Not in a dangerous way, mind you.  He just gets confused from time to time, and decides to celebrate Christmas.  He'll sing carols, call his  (adult) daughters up.  They'll bring cookies, sit around in the living room, and have a grand old time.  And then, the next day, he won't remember a thing of it.
  Each time, he'll ask his wife to tell him about Christmas when he was a boy, because he can't remember.  Now, he had a terrible childhood.  Horrible Christmases and the like.  And his wife just can't bear to tell him about all that sadness when he's so happy.
  So she lies.  She tells him about the time he got a sled, and the time he was in the Christmas pageant, the year he got a new bike (without training wheels).  And it all makes him so happy, that she keeps on telling him lies.  Of course, the next day he remembers nothing of this, and life proceeds normally.  But for those days, to him, it's Christmas, and to his daughters, it's Father's Day, and to her, it's kinda like Valentine's Day.

  What I like so much about the story is the amount of love.  There's no sadness from the wife or daughters.  There's none of the traditional signs of romance (candles, courtships, and such).  What there is is a tremendous caring for someone else.

  And I wish there was more of that in this world.

  • 2:34 pm
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