My Early Moral Teachings

In Sunday School only five of the Ten Commandments stuck: Don’t kill, don’t steel, don’t lie, don’t call God bad names, be nice to your mother and Father.  

Then came kindergarten: Robert Fulghum summarizes it best in his 1986 book: All I Really Need to know I Learned in kindergarten: 

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 are not yours. 

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. 

Wash your hands before you eat. 

Flush… 

From kindergarten I graduated to higher education in grade-school softball:  

Keep your eye on the ball. 

Don’t strike at every pitch. 

Get to first base, let others help you make it home. 

Sacrifice yourself at times so others can advance. 

When you strike out, you’ll get another chance. 

Touch every base. 

Don’t get caught off base. 

Stay inside the foul lines. 

Be a good sport not a sore loser. 

The Boy Scouts piled it on: I raised three fingers like swearing on the Bible and repeated for memory: On my honor will do my best to do my duty to God and my country. To help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave clean, and reverent.  

Armed with this subliminal load of dos and don’ts I have so far managed to stay out of jail.