To Solve Big Problems, We Need To Go Back To Preschool
We all need to go back to preschool. We're missing simple moral points a four-year-old would understand. Points like:
- Share
- Two wrongs don't make a right
- Do unto others (as you would have done unto you)
Children are taught these three lessons by adults who don't follow them. We should really practice what we preach. From inequality to incarceration to migration, these preschool lessons have vast implications for the world.
1. Share
Take vaccine equity. I've been arguing myself hoarse about why we should share vaccines, but then I realize that I've been telling my children the same thing. It's actually not that complex a lesson. Just take markers. Or, more to the point, don't take them all.
This morning my son was sitting around with a dozen markers and not sharing. He's just defending them from his sister and not even drawing. It was just hoarding and waste. So I tell him clearly, like it's some obvious fact, just share. Take the markers you need, and share with your sister. It'll be better for all.
In my head I'm like "uhhh, he'll grow up someday", but do adults actually behave like this? We won't even share vaccines during a pandemic. Our entire economy revolves around billionaires hoarding more wealth than billions of people. And I'm telling my children to share markers? We're dumber than toddlers, and we require needlessly complex arguments for simple things. Just share.
2. Two wrongs don't make a right
My son is three-years-old—the imperialism stage of child development—and he does not give a fuck. He picks up a marker and bonks his sister on the head. She's more woke but even she has limits. She pushes him back. Now I have to teach another lesson to her. Two wrongs don't make a right.