By David Hegg

Sometimes going backward can be both rewarding and upsetting. Consider Robert Fulghum’s cogent little book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” Published in 1986, this volume of collected essays reminded us all that the essential values of life — sharing, honesty, kindness, personal responsibility, and a few others — were best learned in early childhood and meant to shape our lives.

Most parents would agree that instilling courtesy, self-control, civility, truth, perseverance and a host of other values in children is essential for establishing the ethical foundation that will enable them to become valuable contributors to society. However, as I look around our culture and see the dangerous erosion of courtesy and civil behavior, it seems Mr. Fulghum needs to come out with a refresher course in right and wrong.

One of the simple childhood lessons I remember learning was that two wrongs don’t make a right. For those of us who didn’t attend kindergarten, let me try to define and explain this monumental truth. It goes like this: If you are harmed by someone or something wrong – that is, unethical, harmful, or just plain mean – you should not respond in kind because wrong plus wrong still........

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