【推荐2】Peter’s uncle lives in the country. Once in summer, Peter goes to stay with him for a few weeks. Whenever they go for a walk or for a drive in the car and pass somebody, his uncle waves to the passer-by. Peter is surprised and says, “Uncle George, you seem to know everybody here. Where did you meet them all?”

“I don’t know all these people,” answers his uncle. “Then why do you wave to them?” “Well, Peter,” says his uncle, “when I wave to someone who knows me, he is pleased. He goes on his journey with a happier heart. But when I wave to someone who doesn’t know me, he is surprised and says to himself, ‘Who is that man? Why did he wave to me?’ So he has something to think about during the rest of his journey, and that makes his journey seem shorter. So I make everybody happy.”

【推荐3】My little brother, John sat in the living room, a pen in one hand and my father’s book in the other. I could see that he was scribbling in the book with the pen. When my father walked into the room, my brother was afraid. Now he and I both waited for our father’s punishment(惩罚).

My father picked up his book and looked at it carefully. My father was a teacher. For him, books were very valuable(宝贵的). He took the pen from my brother’s hand, and then wrote in the book himself: John’s work, 1969, age 2. I’m very thankful to you for scribbling in my book. You made the book valuable.

“Wow,” I thought, “Is this punishment?”

The years and the books came and went. We always knew our parents loved us. Sometimes we would open the book, look at the scribbles and read my father’s love. My father taught us about what is really important in life: people, not things.

Now I am a father, too. Unlike my father, I don’t wait for my daughters to take books from my bookshelf and scribble in them. I take one down and give it to my children to scribble. When I look at their artwork, I think about my father and the lessons he taught me.