【推荐2】A good mother is someone who would sacrifice everything for her children. It is common to hear parents saying, “How could you do this to me after all the sacrifices that I have made for you?”Most parents are driven by love. It is equally common to find children answering, “When did I ever ask you to sacrifice for me?”There is often a grain of truth in children’s words. The truth usually hurts.

Parents often confuse selfless love with sacrifice. In fact, the former is a self-serving act driven by one’s desire to live up to one’s standards. To sacrifice means to relinquish things of high value for the sake of another thing that one considers being of great value. That sounds so negative. However, self serving isn’t necessarily negative. It is human to act out of their desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain. To love one’s children essentially means accepting them unconditionally. It follows that full acceptance of the children is usually possible only when parents fully accept themselves. It is no secret that loving the children begins with loving themselves.

The sacrifices they make for their children are countless, and I’ve tried to put some of those sacrifices here. After becoming a parent, a couple’s life is centered on their little kids. Suddenly the baby tops the list of all relationships. Some friends and family members drift apart from parents emotionally. A kid demands undivided attention till he or she becomes independent.

Many parents suffer relationship issues because they spend most of their time either working or caring for kids, which causes a fading emotional connection between couples. In terms of career, most of the time, a mother makes sacrifices. Many parents take up jobs that allow them to spend more time with their kids. Some parents usually give up on their favorite foods just to buy foods for their kids. Holiday plans are decided by kids’ education.

Parents have unconditional love for kids. A parent never retires. As a daughter, and a mother, the more I go through parenting, the more I owe an apology to my parents because of their selfless love.

【推荐3】Sasha Masakowski remembers being six years old, seated at the piano next to her father — the well-known jazz guitarist, Steve Masakowski.

“He’d play harmonies in the background on the guitar, and he’d encourage me to improvise (即兴演奏),” Sasha recalls. “He’d tell me to play something using just the white keys or just the black keys, and I’d make up music.” She says she was a little composer playing along with her dad in their New Orleans home. “I love those memories,” she adds.

As Sasha got older, though, her interest in jazz began to flag. Sasha went to a local arts high school and focused on musical theater. Steve admits to hoping his daughter would develop a love for jazz.

The father’s expectation was eventually met when the daughter rediscovered jazz music. Sasha says she admired a guy in the jazz department and on the day they met, the first thing he said was, “I’m such a big fan of your dad’s!” She says the experience helped her realize that her father and his music were, in fact, cool. Finally, Sasha decided to study jazz instead of musical theater at the University of New Orleans, where her father headed the Jazz Studies Program.

Now, Sasha and Steve love playing together and they treasure the common language jazz gives them. Both compose music, but while her father is more focused on traditional jazz and teaching, Sasha likes to produce music with more electronic trends than Steve’s. Despite different interests, Steve’s pride in his daughter is clear. Today, Sasha is known for her musicality and her ability to improvise. “Improvising scares a lot of singers, but for me I feel like a little composer again at the piano next to my dad. I love it in large part because of him,” Sasha says.

【推荐2】In October, I told the eight-year-olds in the class I teach in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, about my plan. “Since all of you have done extra jobs around the house to earn some money,” I said, “then we’ll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner otherwise.”

I watched them while they walked up and down the supermarket. “Flowers!”   Kristine cried. The group rushed towards the holiday plants.

“You can’t eat flowers.”— It was wiser to use any extra money to buy something that could be turned into meals.

“But Mrs Sherlock,” came the begging voice, “we want flowers.”

Defeated finally, I put a pot of “funny” purple mums in the cart full of foods. “She’ll like this one,” the children agreed.

An organisation had given us the name and address of a needy grandmother who had lived alone for many years. We finally pulled up in front of a small house. A slightly-built woman with a weary face came to the door to welcome us.

My little group ran to get the foods. As each box was carried in, the old woman kept on saying “Thanks.”— much to her visitors’ pleasure. When Amy put the mums on the counter, the woman seemed surprised. She was wishing it was a bag of rice, I thought.

We returned to the car. As we fastened our seat belts, we could see the kitchen window. The woman inside waved goodbye, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the goods, straight to the mums. She put her face in them. When she raised her head, there was a smile on her face. She was transformed (转变) before our eyes.

The children were quiet. At that moment, they had seen for themselves the power they have to make another person’s life better. The children had sensed that sometimes a person needs a pot of funny purple flowers on a dark November day.

【推荐3】When I was small, my mother and I would walk to our local library in Franklin Square. As we didn’t always have access to a reliable car, walking hand in hand was the most convenient way to get anywhere. It was at story time for children that both my mother and I made lasting friendships.

Today, I am fortunate to live around the corner from the Gold Coast Public Library in Glen Head and a short walk to the Sea Cliff Children’s Library. My 18-month-old son, Colin, and I find ourselves in Sea Cliff several times a week, meeting and making friends. Well, that is what many people don’t understand — a library is more than books; it’s a community.

Sure, the library in Franklin Square was the place where I was introduced to Judy Blume novels. But it was also the place where I got my first e-mail address in 1997. At the library, friends and I learned how to research colleges and search for scholarships on the Internet. The library was the place where we sometimes giggled (咯咯地笑) too loudly, and where the librarians knew us by name. Their knowing our names wasn’t a bad thing. When I came home from my first term at Binghamton University, Mary LaRosa, the librarian at the Franklin Square library offered me my first teaching job.

I now teach reading at Nassau Community College. My students are often amazed that they can check out books via their smartphones and virtually visit a variety of Long Island libraries. The app used by Nassau and Suffolk county public libraries, as well as the college library, makes their homework easier by helping them find resources. Even though they can’t always easily visit their local libraries, the library is always with them.