It was just before Christmas--with temper short and to-do list long when a Unitarian Minister received a pounding at the door.
Heavy sigh. What Now?
Outside stood a very small person
wearing a cheap Santa Claus mask yelling “TRICK OR TREAT’ at the top of his
lungs.
What?
This is Robert Fulghum’s story. Remember
him?
In 1986 Fulghum wrote a brief Credo that
took on a life of its own. Today we would say it went viral.
Every spring Fulghum had made it a habit
to write a personal statement. Sometimes it was as long as a Supreme Court
brief, however, that year he gave himself the task to reduce it to one page.
He read his Credo to his congregation,
and later at a primary school celebration. As luck would have it, Senator Dan
Evans was in the audience. Evans requested a copy of the Credo and took it back
to Washington where it was eventually read into the Congressional Record.
From Washington, it went to The Kansas
Times. Larry King read it to millions, and a literary agent called Fulghum
asking, “Have you written anything else?
As a matter of fact…
Over the years Fulghum had made a habit
of writing uncommon thoughts on common things.
Fulghum knew that wisdom was not at the
top of a graduate-school mountain, but in the sandpile at Sunday School.
That disgruntled day before Christmas
when Fulghum opened the door and stared at the Santa Claus mask, the little
person below it was shaking a bag. “Trick or Treat.”
Fulghum reached into his wallet, found a
dollar bill and dropped it into the bag.
The mask dropped and an Asian kid with a
ten-dollar smile Fulghum recognized as Hong Duc, as a recent immigrant from
Vietnam. The kid had been there at Halloween looking like a Wise man with a
towel tied around his head.
“Want-a-hear some Caroling?” asked the
semi-masked person.
“Sure,” says Fulghum expecting to see a
choir jump from the bushes.
“Where’s the choir?” he asked.
“I’m it.” says the boy and begins to
sing Jingle Bells, then reverently with head back and eyes closed he sang
“Silent Night, and as I read this to my husband I laughed until I cried as the
little fellow belted out, “ “Hark the Harry Angels Sing.”
Wet-eyed, Fulghum dropped a five-dollar
bill into the bag and received a half-eaten candy cane in return.
Flashing that ten-dollar grin, the kid
turned and ran from the porch,
“God Bless You—Trick or Treat” he yelled as he continued to deliver Christmas door to door.
“God Bless You—Trick or Treat” he yelled as he continued to deliver Christmas door to door.
“I’m it.” He had said.
While Fulghum pondered whether he
ascribed to any of the Christmas hype, the wise men, the babe in a manger, and
the town of Bethlehem is the pit, he said, according to people who have been
there.
And yet, right down the chimney came
Saint Hong Doc, confused about the details, as most of us are, but knowing that
he was IT.
Well, here was Christmas in July, and me
at a recycle warehouse with a book falling into my hands.
It’s semi-sweet there in the recycle
place, feels like a graveyard with old books sitting on old shelves, a dollar a
book, two dollars. People’s life stories.
Good people. We hear now comments like
“People are no damn good,” and with a polarized society, we wonder, and yet in
Fulghum’s day 70% of the people felt they could trust people.
Trick or Treat—God Bless.
This Credo has been copied over and over
so I feel I can put it here:
All I
Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
By Robert Fulghum
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 aren’t yours.
Say
you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash
your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm
cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a
balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance
and play and work every day some.
Take a
nap every afternoon.
When
you go out into the world watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be
aware of wonder.