When my son was eleven years old, he came home from school in tears one day. A couple of the older kids bullied (欺负) him at the bus stop. Rob wanted to stay home from school, so he wouldn’t have to meet the boys.

We called the school. “We’ll be happy to call the boys’ parents,” We were told, “And you should call the police.” “We don’t know what we will do yet.” I said. I felt that calling the police was a choice to be used when everything else failed, and I wanted first to consider other ways of dealing with the situation, I asked him to hold off calling the boys’ parents.

The next day was Saturday. Rob happened to look our of the window and said in fer, “There are the boys who beat me up!” Two older boys were standing in front of our house, as if they were waiting for Rob to step outside.

My wife Bev opened the door and said with a smile, “Hi guys. Would you like some ice cream?” They looked at each other in puzzlement. But they were teenagers, after all, so one of them said, “Sure. Why not?”

Bev quickly introduced herself, Rob’s younger brothers and me. She even introduced Rusty, the dog. “And I think you already know Rob,” She said. Her idea was to help them to see that Rob was a person, not a target. He had a family and even owned a family pet.

Bev drew the boys into chat while we ate ice cream. After a few minutes, she said, “I know there’s been some trouble at the bus stop. I think there may be a misunderstanding.” They nodded that there had indeed been trouble at the bus stop. She continued, “Maybe we can talk about the misunderstanding, so you can be friends.” We talked until the ice cream was finished. Finally the boys apologized.

Understanding is a difficult task. It may be easier to control conflict by force than to find a way to cooperate. Force can calm a situation. But understanding leads to peace.

When we think of a generation gap we usually think of conflicting tastes in music, or pastimes. But now the generation gap is handwriting. After one teacher in Tennessee discovered that she had students who couldn’t read the assignments she was writing on the board, she posted it on the Internet saying handwriting should be taught in schools.

Opponents claim that handwriting has become out of time in our modern world. Typed words have become a primary form of communication. Once a practical skill, handwriting is no longer used by the vast majority of Americans. It is no longer taught in schools, and some claim that the time that it would take to teach it could be put to better use, for instance, by teaching the technical skills.

But even in today’s world there are still plenty of reasons to pick up a pen and apply it to paper. Many American institutions still require original signatures, for instance, signing for a registered letter and buying a house. And original signatures are much more difficult to forge（伪造）than their digital counterparts. There is also strong evidence that writing by hand is good for the mind. It activates a different part of the brain, and improves fine moving skills in young children. People also tend to remember what they write by hand more than what they type, and the process of writing by hand has been shown to stimulate ideas. Not only that, studies have shown that kids who write by hand learn to read and spell earlier than those who don’t. Not to mention, handwriting is pleasing, as is evidenced by the fact that no one has ever typed a love letter. And handwriting remains popular as an art form.

Yes we live in a modern world, but we live in a modern world that is based on fundamental values.