What I would teach all the children of the world

Beside "Reading", "Writing", "Arithmetic", "Deductive Reasoning". Well now I feel like I came up with a whole new slew of things to write about. But I just posted in the comments over at a blog I happened across: http://beyond-school.org/

I was commenting that if I was going to try and reach out to all other countries and teach them something it would be:

"No one can solve your problems but you. If you want something, you have to work for it so that you can get it or afford it. Free trade benefits both parties because you both end up with a good that otherwise would have cost you more. Trust no one and be suspicious of anyone offering help. Don't enter "contests" or "lotteries" and even avoid signs of "Free ". Nothing is free and there is always a catch. When people relate when something happened to them, they tend to exaggerate, not because they are bad people, but they are convinced it happened that way. The only thing you can control in your life is your reaction to other people, so the less you react the way they would expect the better. If someone insults you, smile and laugh, because they cannot hurt you with words and if they see you cringe they will only attack more. You are responsible for your feelings, and the more you think about how someone has hurt you, the more they win. Do not give money to people you don't know, and take care of your family and friends, the best kind act is to do for others what you do best because it will have the biggest impact. Try to give other people the benefit of a doubt."

Thought of one more thing "There is a lot more out there than what goes on in your house, your school, and your town. The minute you leave home it's like living in a different world and it will only get better. Try not to live with your parents over the age of 18. Then the minute you leave college it's another whole new world, and it gets better. You may one day move out of your town/city and everything changes again."

But don't worry. What life does best (and I'm including humans) is adapt. Whatever changes are thrown your way, you can handle. At the beginning is probably the worst, but you can get through it and eventually you won't even remember the pain. After all, you control your memories.