【推荐1】Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate from the bottom of your heart, for he was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When asked how he was able to do so, he would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

There was no doubt that Jerry was unique because he had several followers who were greatly touched by his attitude. Being a natural motivator, Jerry was there telling the employees how to look on the positive side of the situation whenever he or she was having a bad day.

Curious about his style, I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I can 't believe it! You can't be a positive person all the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself. ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You choose to be in a good mood or in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, but it's not that easy,” I said. “Yes, it is,” Jerry answered. "Life is all about choices. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or a bad one. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live a life."

I thought about what Jerry said. Soon after that, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought of him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up by three armed robbers, who then shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the local hospital. After 18 hours of operation and weeks of medical care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I met Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I'd be twins. Want to see my scars?” I refused to see his scars, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door, but I didn't,” Jerry replied. “Then, as I lay on the floor. I remembered I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren't you scared?” I asked.

Jerry continued, “When I was wheeled into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses. I got really Scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action.”   “What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes.’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and shouted, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his experienced doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I have learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

【推荐2】Everyone can be angry. But if you take the time to actually examine your anger instead of just “feeling" angry, you'll have a better understanding of yourself. Knowing why you feel so angry can provide you with some surprising answers. These answers can enable you to suddenly grow spiritually and mentally.

I can give you a personal example. I went to a meeting once and I was verbally（口头地）attacked over an application I supported at my workplace. Various people went on and on about how terrible this system was and that it never worked. That didn't bother me that much. I was used to that but one of the comments that was said was, "Your job is pointless. ” This really upset me and at the time, I was absolutely furious （发怒的）with that comment.

I was so angry and upset that they would treat me that way. Once I took the time to think about what was really making me so mad, I learned a lot. I realized that the comment was more true than I wanted to admit. In the big scheme of things, my job was pointless. It wasn't what I really wanted to be doing with my life and this was what frustrated me the most. Here I was pouring part of my heart and soul into a job I didn't even really want to do. I was using it as a crutch （拐杖）because I didn't have the confidence in myself to take the scary road towards what I really wanted to do. As soon as I realized that, a lot of my anger just melted away. I also realized that I needed to start focusing on what I really wanted to do.

I now consider this incident as a great gift. It got me back on track to moving in the direction I wanted to go with my life. I probably wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't taken the time to figure out why I was really so angry.

【推荐2】Fernando, Lucia, and their moms were heading downhill. Tired and hungry, Fernando was eager to have a rest and eat up the sandwich buried in his pack. Lucia desperately wanted to rest her tired feet and legs, which ached terribly from the challenging climb up the mountain. Mountain climbing was not her greatest talent.

Distracted by hunger pains and by the beautiful view of the valley below, Fernando didn't see the large fallen branch steps ahead of him. His foot caught on it, sending him down a steep path. After rolling to a stop, he knew something was wrong with his ankle.

His mom supported him as he tried to stand, but it was much too painful. They tried calling 911, but the surrounding trees blocked their cell phone signals. Analyzing their dilemma, the group decided that Lucia and her mom would climb back to the top of the mountain, where they would set off the emergency flares they carried. Lucia really began to worry when the group settled on this plan. She wasn't confident that her overtaxed muscles could carry her up the mountain a second time in one day!

Fernando's mom stayed with her son, and tried to make him as comfortable as possible.   The air on the mountain was dry and turning cooler. She wrapped him in her jacket to keep him warm and periodically gave him sips of water.

Meanwhile, Lucia and her mom climbed up the mountain-again! A feeling of pride washed over Lucia when she finally made it to the mountaintop-she was tougher than she thought! Then pride turned to amazement when she spotted a helicopter approaching. Quickly, her mom fired a flare, and they shouted and waved to attract attention. The helicopter flew round to let them know that he had seen them. The plan nearer and the pilot circled had worked-they were going to get Fernando safely off the mountain!

【推荐3】My 6-year-old son hates the British. To be more specific, he hates the British Empire that had ruled over up to a quarter of the world’s land by the early 1900s. He hates that one of the biggest diamonds in the world, found in India over 1,000 years ago, now sits in the queen’s set of crown jewels.

How does my 6-year-old son know all about this? Well, because we talk about it and have a lot of books at home. And now that we have more flexible schedules since we have to work at home- and the kid has to do school at home--- we have even more time together. He is naturally attracted by the books with characters that look like him.

As a scholar of multicultural education, I know that children are able to understand complex issues, like racism, if they are broken down and explained in a way that they can grasp. So, when books talk about subjects like racism, slavery, or colonialism（殖民主义）, my wife and I explain those terms as best as we can.

The-coronavirus pandemic （全球性流行病） has brought on a lot of hardship and heartache to families everywhere, and it has also made it easier for parents like us to spend more time with our children. As parents of color, we have an opportunity to offer counter-stories that focus on people who look like us, instead of having our children forced to learn from narratives and stories written from a European or white angle.

Schooling at home provides a unique chance for children of color to build up their knowledge of their histories and larger struggles for social and racial justice locally and globally. Perhaps this moment can be an opportunity, a place of possibility within the overwhelming task of parenting during the pandemic.