Value Now No Longer Missed

    John, a famous musician, took his priceless antique zither(齐特琴)and played it in the crowded subway station. The music emanating from the zither was delicately streaming1the whole station. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly2the charming music. John only got 52 dollars for his work that day.

    However, in normal days, when John is about to hold a 3, one ticket can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is extremely 4to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply5for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but 6music feast.

    I have a very7friend who had totally changed after knowing that his wife8an acute illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. Nonetheless, his wife still did not manage to9the illness and passed away after three months. After that, he often sighed 10that due to his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is11to make up for it.

    It is no use crying over spilt milk. We have12a lot of precious things in our life without knowing how to13them. Actually, I also missed something 14before. The reason is simple: we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.

    Nevertheless, tomorrow is actually15reliable. There was a famous Buddhist monk saying that in many people's lives, they have only done two things: waiting and 16 . The result is that they were always too late to cherish 17they had before they lost it. We would often claim to do something when we 18, or when we have money or when we become old, etc. However, when we reach the19, we could no longer realize our20, because we have lost it by then.

    Sometimes you meet an ordinary person doing something extraordinary. On a recent trip I met Normand Gallant. Normand is someone you could pass on the street and 1 notice but he is a very special person who2 recognition.

    Norm lives in a remote area far from the 3 big hospital, so when his wife4 cancer several years ago, Norm was faced with a four hour5to where she could be treated. That meant lots of6 for meals, fuel, hotels and so on. But in the end the cancer took his wife 7.

    Norm was obviously8 by his wife's passing, but he was also very angry, 9 he realized that other people were10 the same sorts of hardships. He wanted to do something but he didn't want to give money to the 11 that support cancer research because he didn't know how much would actually get to the researchers. What he did was to 12 parties.

    About every three weeks on Saturday evenings, there is a party in Norm's garage. There is music and dancing, and 13 during the evening Norm tells about a family who are having difficulties 14the cost of supporting a cancer patient undertaking 15 far from home. Then a honey-pail is passed around and the money 16, every cent of it goes 17 to that family.

    Norm's personal loss has 18 an act of kindness that honors the 19 of the wife he has lost. Wouldn't it be 20if we had more people in the world like Normand Gallant?  He makes the world a better place.

    It was a bright sunny day, and the terrible experience happened when I was studying in Bangalore. One day, I got a call from my mom that my brother's 1 was fixed and they were arranging the wedding ceremony in the next few days. My 2 was pretty far. So the next thing I was 3 to do was to book my 4 ticket as there was no direct flight to my hometown. The 5 was done by an agent in my neighborhood. I paid the whole amount 6But when the day approached the 7 disappeared，leaving me without the train ticket, and thus 8 all my travel plan.

    But as it is said, once you face such 9 situations, you realize your inner strength. I 10 decided I would complete my whole journey by bus. Without further 11, I took a bus to the first city stop. The next bus was again not 12 —it was 8 hours to a city near my hometown, where my aunt lived. They were also going to 13 my brother's wedding ceremony. So I called them and 14 them to accommodate me. They15. Half the battle was won.

    Then next day, I was just a few hours from my hometown. When my aunts family and I were boarding our car, my 16 asked me to switch places with her.

    The journey continued. We were trying to overtake(超越) another car when 17 a truck appeared in front of us and we went directly head on in front of it. We 18with the truck. In this accident, almost everyone in our car was 19. Fortunately, I didn't have any injury, 20 my cousin who switched places with me was seriously injured!

    In 1975 my father had just begun building his second hospital in the Himalayas when tragedy（悲剧） struck our family. My mother and youngest sister Belinda were flying into the mountains to join him when their small airplane 1.

    It was years before Dad fully 2. Only through more adventures and projects in Nepal could he3 it. He has now built 42 schools and hospitals there.

    As I grew up, some of Dad's restlessness seemed to 4 me. I know many people think that being Edmund Hillary's son, I cannot help 5 mountains. Well, I am, at the age of 48, a mountain man. I have been on more than 30 mountaineering expeditions（探险）. And yes, I have climbed Everest twice. I am 6 because I have all that my father taught me, too.

    On one awful day in 1995, it was his 7 that saved my life. I was in a group of eight climbers just below the top of K2 in the Himalayas. We had just another 400 meters left to climb. But the 8 was going from bad to worse, and something didn't feel 9.

    At that time I heard my father's voice inside my head: “Down. Go down. Don't let the others 10 you to continue.”

    Then, from 11 I heard the voice of a fellow climber. “Come up,” she called. “Use the red rope.”

    Again my father's 12: “Don't do it. It's not 13.”

    Finally I told my climbing partner that I was going down. He too was feeling 14, but decided to go on ahead anyway.

    As I headed down, I looked back at my fellow climbers who were all climbing toward the 15. Soon black clouds appeared between us, and I 16them.

    Fear makes you careful. As my father always told me, 17 is not something that you should deny(否认). It is something you should 18. When I woke up in my tent the next morning it was silent and still all around. I found out that I was the only one who had managed to 19 what had to be done. The seven above had 20.

    Not all love is said out loud. It wasn't until I went to high school that I 1this. In my memories, it was Mom who held the family together. Dad was harsh and 2. Every evening, coming back home from work, he would 3 me for what I'd done wrong during the day.

    When I broke my leg after I 4 a swing, it was Mom who5 held me in her arms all the way to the hospital. In dead 6, Dad pulled a gurney (医院的轮床) right up to the door of the emergency room and when asked to move it away, he jumped and 7 , "I need this gurney. Don't you think it's urgent?" His voice did frighten me.

    Recently, as I was 8 my family's photo album with some friends, one of them asked, "What does your father look like?" At that moment, it 9 me that few pictures of my dad could be found. He was always the one 10 pictures for us. This 11 why nearly all of the photos in the album were of my Mom and me.

    Familiar scenes ran through my head. At my birthday parties, he just 12 himself blowing up balloons, setting up tables and trying to make everything 13. It was Mom who carried the cake with candles on it for me to14. Dad was sitting in the comer, tired and 15.

    Studying in high school now, I only go home about once a month. On my 16, Dad remains silent 17 , but Mom always tells me that it was Dad who drove to other towns to buy fresh seafood and vegetables, saying that it was 18 as long as I could enjoy the dishes he'd 19.

    Perhaps Dad just doesn't know how to 20 love. Or, I don't know how to recognize it.

Earlier this year Rodney Smith Jr. made headlines when he drove eight hours from his home in Huntsville. Alabama, to cut the lawn for an elderly soldier in North Carolina who couldn't find anyone to help him with his yard work.

That wasn't the first time the twenty-nine-year-old Bermuda native had gained such attention. To do his good deeds, Rodney often finds leads for those in need through social media.

Back to one August afternoon in 2015, Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home. That's when Rodney saw an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn. He would take a couple of shaky steps, using the handle to stabilize himself, pause, then slowly push the mower again. Rodney decided to help. Mr. Brown thanked him greatly, and Rodney went home feeling satisfied.

Sitting at his computer to do his homework, Rodney couldn't get Mr. Brown out of his mind. There must be many Mr. Browns out there. He went online and posted that he would mow lawns for free for senior citizens. Messages flooded in.

One day a cancer-battling woman said she wasn't having a good day. Rodney decided to do more than mowing lawns. After he finished mowing, he knocked on her door. "You're going to win this fight, Madam", he said. Then he asked folks to pray for her on social media.

Word of Rodney's mission spread. A grandmother in Ohio said he'd encouraged her 12-year-old grandson to mow lawns. He got a letter from a seven-year-old boy in Kansas. "Mr. Rodney, I would like to be a part of your program, and I'll make you proud," he wrote.

That gave Rodney an idea. In 2017, he decided to establish a programme Raising Men Lawn Care Service to make a national movement for young people. The kids learn the joy of giving back.

Yard work seems like a small, simple thing, but taking care of the lawn means a lot to the people they do it for. "When we mow their yards for free, they can use the money for healthcare and food etc. It means more than you would think," Rodney said.