Staying Inside the Lines

Years ago, a man named Robert Fulghum published a book entitled All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  I'm sorry to admit that I never actually read the book, but I think I should have.  It contains the basic, simple truths of living in the world.  Among other things, Author Fulghum lists the following as things he learned in Kindergarten:

1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. Clean up your own mess.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.

Later, he also mentions taking a nap every afternoon.  I'll drink to that!
I would respectfully suggest that he missed one thing that he learned in Kindergarten that maybe I didn't catch or he accidentally left out:  10.  Stay inside the lines.

What lines?? 
The coloring lines, of course!  In those very early years of learning and gaining control of your hands and fingers, you and I were all encouraged to color inside the lines of the figures we were bringing to life with crayons.  Oh, those wonderful crayons!  "Color inside the lines" was a common admonition.  In time, we learned.  I even learned to outline the lines, darkly, with the color I was going to use to color inside the lines.  To me, it made all the difference.   

Kindergarten also taught us that we were to walk the school halls in single-file lines behind the teachers, like little ducklings following the mother duck.  Act up in line or get out of line and you were scolded and/or punished.  If you were really good, you got to be the line leader--a position of considerable pride and envy.  (Truth be known, many unworthy kids end up toward the beginning of the line just to be close to the teacher for control purposes.  No teacher worth his/her salt EVER lets an unruly student bring up the rear!)

Walking in lines in school is all about discipline and control.  The teacher is one adult in charge of 25 (more or less) children.  If you've ever worked with a group of two or three young children at a time, you surely understand the need for lines.  I was behind a woman with two young boys in the check-out line at the grocery store today.  Oh my!  Try more and see what you think!

The ability to stay within the lines is a marker in society.  If you aren't patient enough to do it, you are "in line" for anxiety and disappointment.  We stay in lines at the grocery store, the drive-thru, the bank, the theater.  Even at restaurants.  It's all about taking turns and sharing...and being fair.  

It's also an applicable metaphor for a way of being in the world.  You can be a jerk to assert your demands on society, or you can decide to be kind.  I've read too many stories about people who decided to live their lives outside of the lines because it is their right to do so, but then complain when they lost their jobs or their loved ones gave up on them.  

Yes, dear Americans, you have rights.  You don't have to stay within society's lines; HOWEVER, if you represent a church, a school, a business, a club, or any other entity whose very existence is based on its good name, you have to stay inside the lines.  If you don't, they are going to cut ties.  Period.  Your "rights" don't mean crap in those cases.

Yes, the squeaky wheel does get the grease.  Not everyone who plays by the rules wins.  Still, the whole idea of a conscience has a place.

Why do I write all of this?  I am angry that the president of our country has thrown all rules to the wind.  He is outside of every line that I've always considered civil and respectful and honest.  The only lines to acknowledge are the ones HE has established.  The rest of us who believe otherwise can just go pound sand.  You will not witness me calling him names, however, because he is the president of our country, and I stay inside the lines--lines that even he can't stay within.  

Although I end this on a negative note, I'm really not feeling so badly about things.  I still have faith in the goodness of people.  I still have faith that MOST people stay inside the lines.  Wisely or foolishly, following the rules of civility, decency, and respect will go so much farther in the long run than running amok on the coloring sheet.  

I may be a dinosaur in modern society, but I do care about the rules of law, the rules of fairness, and the rules of staying inside the lines.  What does that make me?  A brontosaurus???