My six-year-old granddaughter, Cindy, and I stopped at a food shop for some bread. Cindy had1 it for several days. As we were going out of the door, a young teenage boy was coming in.

    The boy had no hair on the side of his head but a set of blue spiked(成锥形的) hair on top of it. His nose was 2 , and a ring ran through the hole. A chain went across his face and it was connected to his earring. He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other.

    Cindy, who was walking ahead of me, 3stopped when he saw the boy. I thought he had  4 my granddaughter. I was wrong. My granddaughter backed up against the door and opened it as wide as it would go. Now I came face to face with the young man. I stepped aside and let him5. He replied very6, "Thank you very much."

    On our way to the car, I 7 Cindy for holding open the door for the boy. To my surprise, she didn't seem to be troubled by the young boy's 8 . But I wanted to make sure. I wanted to be ready to talk about freedom of expressing themselves and allowing people's  9   .

    As it turned out, the person  10needed the talk was me. The only thing Cindy noticed about the boy was the fact that his arms were   11 . "He held a skateboard under one arm and a basketball under the other. He would have a 12  time to open the door, " said Cindy.

    I just paid attention to the partially shaved (部分剃光的)head, the set of spiked hair, the piercing and the chain. She saw a person carrying   13 under each arm and heading toward a(n) 14 door.

    What my granddaughter said reminded me that I should change my ways of judging people and 15 my granddaughter to be open-minded and warm-hearted.

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living and sometimes I had to work at night. One late night, I got a telephone call from a neighborhood. When I arrived there at 2:30 a.m., the only building was dark except for a single light in the first floor window. So I walked up and knocked at the door.

    “Just a minute,” answered a weak voice. After a long time, the door opened and a small woman stood in front of me. Next to her was a small suitcase.

    Quickly I took her suitcase to the car and then returned to hold her. She took my arm and we walked slowly to the car. She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It's nothing”, I told her, “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”

    When we got in the car, she asked, “Can you drive me through downtown?”

    “But it's not the shortest way,” I replied.

    “I'm in no hurry.” she said slowly, “I'm on my way to a hospice（临终医院）. I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long time.”

    I quietly turned off the meter. For the next two hours, we drove through the city and passed the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived, and some other special places. As the sun was rising, we stopped in front of a low building where two nurses were waiting.

    “How much should I pay?” she asked. “Nothing.” I replied.

    “But you have to make a living.”

    “Oh, there are other passengers.” Without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy, thank you.”

    Sometimes people may not remember exactly what you did or said. However, they'll always remember how you made them feel.

    "It's time to wake up, Emily," my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn't the alarm on my cell phone ring?

    Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program: "A day without technology." I didn't realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

    As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. "Uh-oh," I thought. "This isn't expected." Finally, I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

    The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn't so hard! I could do this every day.

    I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式), depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Face book, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

    My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

    "What happened to no homework?" she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

    This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me. Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried, I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

    These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I'm sure I wouldn't practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today's teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.