Some years ago when I was in my first year in college, I heard Salome Bey sing for the first time. The moment was exciting. Salome's1filled the room and brought the theater to life. I was so2that I decided to write an article about her.

    I3Salome Bey, telling her I was from Essence magazine, and that I wanted to meet her to talk about her career. She4and told me to come to her studio next Tuesday. When I hung up, I was scared out of mind. I5I was lying. I was not a writer at all and hadn't even written a grocery list.

    I interviewed Salome Bey the next Tuesday. I sat there6, taking notes and asking questions that all began with, “Can you tell me. . . ? ”I soon realized that7Salome Bey was one thing, but writing a story for a national magazine was just impossible. The8was almost unbearable. I struggled for days9draft(草稿)after draft. Finally I put my manuscript(手稿)into a large envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.

    It didn't take long. My manuscript10. How stupid of me! I thought. How could I11in a world of professional writers? Knowing I couldn't12the rejection letter, I threw the unopened envelope into a drawer.

    Five years later, I was moving to California. While13my apartment, I came across the unopened envelope. This time I opened it and read the editor's letter in14:

Ms Profit,

    Your story on Salome Bey is fantastic. Yet we need some15materials. Please add those and return the article immediately. We would like to16your story soon.

    Shocked, it took me a long time to17. Fear of rejection cost me greatly. I lost at least five hundred dollars and the chance of having my article appear in a major magazine. More importantly, I lost years of18writing. Today, I have become a full-time writer. Looking back on this19, I learned a very important lesson: You can't20to doubt yourself.

    One day, Luke Fortune drove from Oregon to Portland, where he parked his car in a paid garage overnight. The next morning, he 1 the car's window had been broken, along with his 2 for the future: His computer was 3 “Everything important to me was on that computer,” said Fortune. “I felt 4.

    Two days after the 5 another young man called Fortune. Masoud Almazrouei was an exchange student from the United Arab Emirates. He'd been 6by a man who said he had a computer for sale. Only $ 200. Almazrouei 7 a computer, so he bought it, took it home, and turned it on. Within seconds, he saw files and photographs. “I wondered who would8 a computer with all of this on it,” he said. “I 9it could be stolen.”Almazrouei found what appeared to be the owner's phone number and called it10

    “He told me the story and said it was his fault. I thought it was a11 I told him if he really had the 12 he should take it to the police.” Fortune said13a police officer called Fortune to say that a man had dropped the computer off and had said he was14He passed on the man's number. Fortune called and thanked Almazrouei and 15paying him a reward of $ 200—the money he was out. Almazrouei 16.

    When a report about the two young men's story made it to the local papers, Almazrouei received a(n)17 from Wim Wiewel, the president of the university where Almazrouei is studying. Impressed with his student's18Wiewel gave Almazrouei a new computer. “We thought since you 19 the computer, we should give you a computer so that you'll have one,” Wiewel told him. “We're very20you.”

    I was appointed to tend to this patient several weeks ago and began to grow closer to her. Communicating with her was1because everything she wanted to say to me had to be written on a notepad. As a nursing graduate, I was able to2her mind by observing even a slight 3 in a patient's facial expression.

    One day, when I was checking the patient, she4me on the shoulder to show me a note, "Do you think I could be let go5the hospital in a month to see my niece get married?" Taking her hand in mine, I told her that I could not6her, because I did not want to leave her a7sense of hope. 8, I made her believe that I would be there with her every step of the way on her journey toward9 Hearing that, the patient gave me a 10and a hug.

    Day by day, 1 built her11by walking around the floor with her. As I did this, I could see before my own eyes that her health was12improving and able to walk more steadily. On her last day in hospital, just before her niece's 13, she wrote me one last note, "I couldn't have done this14you; I love you." After kissing goodbye, I had a strong sense of achievement. I realized that moments like this were

    15I woke up early for16 in the hospital and spent long hours with her. I truly felt, and her17confirmed, that I was an18 part of this woman's recovery. My experience with this patient shows me that this career allows me to touch the19of people in ways that people in other20will never get to experience.

    Since finishing my studies at Harvard and Oxford, I've watched one friend after another land high-ranking, high-paying Wall Street jobs. As executives (高级管理人员) with banks, consulting firms, established law firms, and major corporations, many are now 1 on their way to impressive careers. By society's 2, they seem to have it made.

    On the surface, these people seem to be very lucky in life. As they left student life behind, many had a 3 drink at their cheap but friendly local bar, shook hands with longtime roommates, and 4 out of small apartments into high buildings. They made reservations at restaurants where the cost of a bottle of wine 5 a college year's monthly rent. They replaced their beloved old cars with expensive new sports cars.

    The thing is, a number of them have 6 that despite their success, they aren't happy. Some 7 of unfriendly coworkers and feel sad for eight-hour workweeks devoted to tasks they 8. Some do not respect the companies they work for and talk of feeling tired and 9. However, instead of devoting themselves to their work, they find themselves working to support the 10 to which they have so quickly become 11.

    People often speak of trying a more satisfying path, and 12 in the end the idea of leaving their jobs to work for something they 13 or finding a position that would give them more time with their families almost always leads them to the same conclusion: it's 14. They have loans, bills, a mortgage (抵押贷款) to 15, retirement to save for. They recognize there's something 16 in their lives, but it's 17 to step off the track.

    In a society that tends to 18 everything in terms of dollars and cents, we learn from a young age to consider the costs of our 19 in financial terms. But what about the personal and social costs 20 in pursuing money over meaning? These are exactly the kinds of costs many of us tend to ignore — and the very ones we need to consider most.