What Happens When You Skip Kindergarten ... August 23, 2021

Hats off to Robert Fulghum for writing the New York Times Bestseller, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten over three decades ago. Recent events have increased my admiration for things I learned in my early formative years, which I re-learned with fancier terms in the life since then. This blog-post is an enumeration of a few nuggets of such fundamental learning.

• Unstable Equilibrium is not to be forecasted. A pencil standing on its point, a house of cards built in a windy environment, a spinning top. Unless there are efforts being made to counter the natural tendency to collapse, the pencil will fall, the house of cards will collapse, and the spinning top will fall on its side. (2021 mishap - Expecting the incumbent Afghan government to be fully functional until the US withdraws all its interests, after publicly predicting its collapse down the road)
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  A Chain Is Only As Strong As Its Weakest Link. When one looks for robustness of a system, one pays attention to strengthening the weakest link. If there is a single point of failure, one needs to find an alternate path that can take over if one path fails. (2021 mishap - (a) Surrendering one of two air bases, while knowing that there is an imminent airlift operation in adverse conditions. (b) Having only one open path to the only airport, and then looking to create other pathways when the bottlenecks are blatantly visible).
  
• Before You Lift A Heavy Bucket Of Water, Know Where You Will Be Placing It. If you don't, you are likely to get tired holding it or risk its coming down on your toes! (2021 mishap - It was known well in advance how many Americans, Allies, and Afghans who supported the US over the years needed to be evacuated. Doesn't one need to have prior agreements with receiving locations, so that the airlifted people can be temporarily or permanently landed?)
• There Is No I In TEAM. Jack and Jill helped each other carrying the pail of water down the hill. We know too well what happened when Jack fell down (and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after! They also spilled their pail of water!) This phrase is also emphasized to Little League Baseball and Soccer players. (2021 Mishap - There was a reason Allies were called Allies. They were supposed to be collaborated with, not surprised with a unilateral knee-jerk)

I can go on and on. There will be more chest-thumping, more investigations, more finger-pointing. For now, I am stressed about how I may face my Kindergarten teacher!