All I Really Need to Know in Life I learned in Kindergarten- Reflection Four

Sharing, a simple idea learned in preschool- and before in our very homes with our siblings, neighborhood friends, and closest kin. From crayons to time with mom, we learn that sharing is a necessary part of life. And if you can't share, you go to time out; and there you will sit left thinking about your own selfishness and how to be a better friend, sister, or neighbor. It's a lesson we are all familiar with and can witness in every setting that hosts multiple small children. Adults are always pressing the issue..."you need to learn to share".

Are we as adults setting a good example for the small children who receive our message of being kind and using resources wisely? At what point are you old enough to not have to share? Does making your own money mean you don't have to share? Why is it that when our resources are most plentiful, we seem less apt to share?

Sadly, I think our fears- fears of not having enough, fears of having our hard-earned resources taken away, fears of the empowering the unworthy with our resources, our food, our homes scare us. Sharing should and could be a powerful answer to unnecessary consumerism and the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

Slowly, a sharing movement is upon us. The ZipCar, tool lending libraries, and office hoteling are some examples of how we as greedy adults are beginning to learn to share our resources. There are more possibilities of sharing on the rise- even with strangers under ones own roof.

I'm refreshed to communities rallying around the aforementioned efforts. Our identities should not be tied to "stuff". In recent years, we have given into identities based on the brands of clothes we wear, kinds of cars we drive, and the neighborhoods we live in. Fears have been manifested into extreme consumption that has all but eclipsed our identities as individuals who think, act, and feel on our own, but work together and support our communities.

It's far time we simplify our lives, do away with the pressures to "keep up with the Jones"- or the Kardashians for that matter, and to take care of each other's basic needs. We owe it to ourselves to get back to sharing our crayons and being kind to our neighbors.