The Power of a Note

          On my first job as sports editor for the Montpelier(Ohio) Leader Enterprise, I didn't get a lot of fan mail, 1a letter that was dropped on my desk one morning seemed 2  to me.

         When I opened it, I read: “A nice piece of writing on the Tigers. Please3 the good work.” It was 4  by Don Wolfe, the sports editor. Because I was a teenager (being paid for 15 cents a column inch ), his words couldn't have been more 5 . I kept the letter in my desk drawer 6  it got rag-eared. Whenever I  7whether I had the ability to be a writer, I would reread Don's note and feel 8  again.

        Later, when I got to know him, I learned that Don made a 9  of writing a quick, encouraging word to people in10  . “When I made others feel good about 11  ,” he told me, “I feel good too.”

    Not 12  , he had a body of friends as big as nearby Lake Erie. When he died last year at 75, the paper was 13  with calls and letters from people who had been recipients of his 14  words.

  15 the years, I've tried to copy the example of Don and other friends16  care enough to write uplifting comments, because I think they are on to something important. In a world too often cold and unresponsive, such 17 bring warmth and reassurance. We all need a push from time to time, and a few lines of 18  have been known to turn around a day, even a life.

        Be 19  with your praise. Superlatives like “greatest” “smartest” “prettiest” make us all feel good. Even if your praise is a little ahead of reality, remember that expectations are often the20  of dreams fulfilled.

Eating the Cookie

    One of my patients, a successful businessman, tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed unless things went a certain way1was “having the cookie”. If you had the cookie, things were good. If you didn't have the cookie, life was 2.

    Unfortunately, the cookie kept3.Some of the time it was money, and sometimes power. At4time, it was the new car, the biggest contract. A year and a half after his diagnosis(诊断) of prostate cancer, he sits5his head regretfully. “It seems that I stopped learning how to6 after I was a kid. When I give my son a cookie, he is happy. If I take the cookie away or it7he is unhappy. But he is two and a half and I am forty three. It's taken me this long to understand that the8 will never make me happy for long.

    The9you have the cookie it starts to fall to pieces or you start to 10about it crumbling (弄碎) or about someone trying to take it away from you. You know, you have to11a lot of things to take care of the cookie, to keep it from crumbling and be12that no one takes it away from you. You may not even get a chance to eat it13 you are so busy just trying not to lose it14 the cookie is not what life is about.”

    My patient laughs and says15has changed him. For the first time he is16.No matter if his17is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf. “Two years ago, cancer18me, 'What is really important?' Well, life is important. Live any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie. Happiness does not have anything to19with the cookie: it has to do with being 20.

    My father was a self-taught mandolin player. He was one of the best string instrument players in our town. He could not1 music, but if he heard a tune a few times, he could play it. I loved to sing, but I never learned how to 2 the mandolin. This is something I 3 to this day.

    Dad loved to play the mandolin for his 4 as he knew we enjoyed singing, and hearing him play. He was always there,5his time and efforts to see that his family had enough in their life. I had to mature into a man and have children of my own 6 I realized how much he had sacrificed.7played the mandolin like my father. He could8your soul with the tones. He seemed to shine when he was playing. You could see his9 in his ability to play so well for his family.

    One day, he was involved in an 10.On this particular day, Dad got the first finger of his left hand 11 by the machine. The doctor who operated on the finger could not 12 it, which did affect his 13 to play the mandolin.

    After the accident, Dad felt that he could not play 14.When I came home and asked him to play, he would make15 for why he couldn't play.

In August of 1993 my father was diagnosed with16lung cancer. About a week before his death, we asked Dad if he would play the mandolin for us. He said17.He knew it would probably be the last time he could play for us. When I looked around, there was not a18eye in the family. We saw before us a quiet man with an inner19 Dad was always doing something he had done all his life20.

    It's common for homeless people to pick up recyclables to sell and make a living. However, it's not so common to see them 1 in a restaurant where the average meal costs $ 150. But that's 2 what happened when a man walked into Benvindo, a 3 restaurant in Belo Hori- zonte.

    According to the staff, a homeless man 4 the waiters at the front door and wanted a 5. He also insisted on paying for it with the money he made by 6the cans: a single $ 50 note.

    "I thought this was somewhat 7," said Fontes, a 21 - year - old waiter. But he continued providing 8 for the man as he serves other guests. The man 9 a costly lunch, including a main dish and dessert, which 10$ 121.80. However, when the man asked for the 11, the restaurant's owner told Fontes to ignore the charge. Instead of accepting the 12 meal, the man politely turned it down and insisted on paying.

    When it became 13 that the man wasn't ready to change his 14, the waiter agreed to charge him $ 10.

    Fontes said, "I then had to 15, saying customers could get a discount on the lunch for there was an ongoing 16, because the man had $ 50 and refused to get the $ 40 17."

    A customer there took a picture of them and shared it online, saying, " I just 18 a great example of consideration. The photo gained hundreds of 19 praising Fontes and the man. Fontes said he simply wanted to 20an act of kindness for an honest hardworking man.

"Software developer at Unidays, internatsonal speaker and enthusastie learner" is how Jess White describes herself on her blog. But it is not a path she'd originally planned to follow. After completing her psychology degree. White took a Master's in neuro-science (神经科学), fully expecting an academic carcer. But after her interest was raised by the part of the course that involved coding (编码), she decided to take a Master's course in computer science. She graduated with flying color.

Now 27, White hasn't looked back. She joined Oakbrook Finance in Nottingham as a software developer, and stayed for two years, rounding off her time there by winning Rising Star of the Year at the 2018 Women in IT awards. At Unidays, a business offering discounts to students, she works as a back end developer in the maintenance team, "working on the systems and making them better". It's a job she loves. "It's a challenge every day and you never get bored. There is always something to learn." she says.

White believes that some graduates are put off technology careers because they don't realize the range of jobs available, "A lot of people think tech is programing. But there's also design product management—and everything in life is to do with tech these days. Whether it's buying something with your cards or posting something on social media, you can't really avoid it."

A common misunderstanding, she says, is that IT is all about maths. "I'm terrible at maths and it scared the living daylights out of me when I started this because I thought I wouldn't be able to do it," In practice, it hasn't been a problem, and she has found that there are a lot of creative elements in programing. Her psychology background has proved to be a bonus, enabling her to bring a different perspective to her work, purticularly when she has to cooperate with user experience designers.

As for the future, White wants to learn as much as she can and become very strong in the area.

Everyone wants a blue ribbon. Blue. First place. The best. However, I was 1 a blue﹣ribbon person in sports. 

One spring weekend our class had a field trip to a park. After lunch, our teacher 2 the idea of having a three﹣legged race. A little boy got me for a3 . This boy was the second most 4 boy in our class. I'm sure he knew he was in trouble the second they tied his5 to mine. This guy was a winner. But I knew that, with me, he didn't have a 6 . 

The gun sounded, and we were off to the other side.7 when we turned around and headed back for home , we were in the lead!

Then only feet from the finish line, I 8 and fell. Bad luck!

We were close enough that my partner could have easily 9 me across the finish line and won. He could have, but he didn't. Instead, he 10 , reached down, and helped me up, and I still have that little red ribbon. 

When we grew up, I became a lecturer. I gave a 11 to my audience. I told them about that little boy who had made a split﹣second decision that 12 a friend up was more important than winning a blue ribbon. 

I told them why I've kept that ribbon. To me, that ribbon is a 13 that you don't have to be a winner to those closest to you. The world may see you as a failure or a success, but those14 to you will know the truth. That's important to remember as we 15 through this life.