This was the book that started me on my way to becoming an avid reader (on my own time).
I had received the book from some event during my senior year of high school and it spent a good 2 years tucked away in my closet at home. My sophomore year of college, over winter break, Tyler and I wanted to challenge each other to do something neither of us had ever really done before - something that would help us improve (but low-key that neither of us initially wanted to do). We decided on reading a book together.
I was looking around my room for an idea of what to read and stumbled on this book. I figured, "why not?" so I texted Tyler a picture, he ordered the book and we got to reading. It is profound in a very real way. It's not academic in nature, it's not about even necessarily about becoming "better," but rather living more simply and intentionally.
Fulghum takes you through simple lessons that you learn at a young age and the importance of keeping a mindset of curiosity and wonder toward everything in life. We've read a lot of books since then, so I have to be honest it is not our ALL TIME favorite read, however, It sparked our desire to keep reading and to strive to improve ourselves and each other. I couldn't be more grateful for the impact this book has had on our lives.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.
Hide-and-seek, grown-up style. Wanting to hide. Needing to be sought. Confused about being found.
It doesn’t matter what you say you believe - it only matters what you do.
Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away. Most of this “something” cannot be seen or heard or numbered or scientifically detected or counted. It’s what we leave in the minds of other people and what they leave in ours. Memory. The census doesn’t count it. Nothing counts without it.
What I notice is that every adult or child I give a new set of Crayolas to goes a little funny. The kids smile, get a glazed look on their faces, pour the crayons out, and just look at them for a while....The adults always get the most wonderful kind of sheepish smile on their faces--a mixture of delight and nostalgia and silliness. And they immediately start telling you about all their experiences with Crayolas.
Speed and efficiency do not always increase the quality of life.
Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well.
Remember, most of us got something for nothing the first time just by showing up here at birth. Now we have to qualify.
I get tired of hearing it's a crummy world and that people are no damned good. What kind of talk is that? I know a place in Payette, Idaho, where a cook and a waitress and a manager put everything they've got into laying a chicken-fried steak on you.
Imagination is more important than information. Einstein said that, and he should know.
It’s the spirit here that counts. The time may be long, the vehicle may be strange or unexpected. But if the dream is held close to the heart, and imagination is applied to what there is close at hand, everything is still possible.
I hope this helps you to see life from a slightly different perspective as well. Let me know what you think!
Sending love always,
J.S.