Crayon Crisis

    The telephone rang. It was my sister, who was working in an elementary school. She told me she used my crayon 1 again.

    Over 40 years ago, I sat in my first-grade classroom2 the teacher asked me to go to the principal's office. I was shy. And I hated to be  3 For me, being called to the principal's office was my worst dream.

    When I pushed open the door, it was worse than I thought. Seated in front of the principal's desk were my 4 My father walked straight over to me. Holding my drawings, he asked, “Why do you only use a black crayon when you draw?" I couldn't speak.

    “5 me your desk,” said my father.

In my classroom, my father pulled out my crayon box from my desk. A single nub of a crayon rested in his palm—it was black.6, my father asked, “Where are the rest of your crayons? ”

    I quietly explained that I'd given all the other crayons to friends. I'd been   7 like my parents had taught me. My father let out a deep 8“You were sharing?”

    I nodded my head.

Back to the office, I looked at my father, then at the principal—both their faces were 9The principal whispered that I could go. I waved goodbye to my parents. My mother waved back, but I couldn't get my father's 10 he was glaring at the principal.

    I learned years later that my father's face was red due to 11 and the principal's was red due to embarrassment. The principal,12 seeing all my artwork done in black crayon, assumed (猜想) that I had deep emotional problems. He had called my parents in to discuss “my 13” and to suggest some psychological counseling (心理咨询).

    I was too afraid to say that I only had one crayon left. I was too shy to ask for my “shared” crayons back. Because I didn't 14 up for myself, others assumed the worst.

    Today my sister tells her students, “Don't be 15 to speak up. If you don't, I just might make the wrong assumption. Let me tell a story about my sister, when she was around your age...”

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.

    As we passed the Eaton's Department store's window, we stopped as usual to gaze and do our bit of dreaming. My mother set her eyes on a red dress1 it long.

    As we continued down the street, mother turned2for one more look. “My goodness! They'd display something a person could use!”

    Christmas was3and the red dress was soon forgotten. Mother was not the one who4items that were not practical. Father5liked to splurge(放纵)whenever the budget(预算)allowed. He'd get blamed for his occasional splurging, but it was all done with the best6.

    On our last trip to town before Christmas, mother suddenly said in surprise, “Would you just look at that!” She pointed7as Dad drove past Eaton's.

    “That big red dress is gone,” she said in8“It's actually gone.” I was certain to feel a bit of yearning(渴望)in her9.

    I'll never forget that Christmas morning. I watched Mother tearing the paper off a large box that read, “Eaton's Finest Enamel Dishpan”. “Oh Frank,” she10in surprise, “just what I wanted!” Dad was sitting in his chair with a huge11on his face.

    “Only a12wouldn't give a priceless wife like mine exactly what she wants for Christmas, “Dad laughed and winked(递眼色)at me, confirming his 13and my heart filled with more love for my father than it could hold!

    Mother opened the14 With trembling hands she touched the elegant material of Big Red.

    “Oh my goodness!” her eyes were15tears. “Oh Frank. You shouldn't have” came her weak attempt at16

    “Oh, never mind that! Let's see if it17he laughed, helping her put on the wonderful dress. Mother completely 18into another person.

I watched surprisedly19by the happiness in my parents I had 20noticed before. “You look beautiful,” my dad whispered to my mom—and she surely did!

    Haus was a godsend to the DaLuca family in Florida. When the dog arrived, their daughter Molly and he became best friends in no time. 1Molly was around, Haus was always by her side. In fact, the family said his sweet 2made him a "fan favorite" around the neighborhood.

    One day, Molly was in the backyard playing, and 3, Haus was right by her side. Then, suddenly, Molly's grandma saw Haus jumping forward frantically （发狂似地） at a（n） 4 snake.

    When the snake 5its way over to the pair, Haus put himself between Molly and the snake. After the first bite, many dogs would have 6. But Haus stood his ground. Bite after bite, he 7 the tiny human he loved so much.

    Grandma put Molly and Haus into the car and 8the brave dog to the vet immediately. It9that the snake bit Haus three times, and he had blood pouring from his leg.

    At the animal hospital, Haus went downhill 10. His body had so much venom（毒液）inside that he couldn't even raise his head. For a time, it was 11 whether or not Haus would pull through. 12though, he did!

    In addition to the antivenom, vets also 13muscle damage to Haus' leg. The treatments and week-long stay were 14. But people from all across the country 15 the furry hero, donating more than ＄52,000 to 16his medical bills.

    Molly prayed for her 4-legged best friend, and to her 17, Haus made a full18! Haus really proved his deep 19 for this family when he protected Molly from a(n)20 that most certainly would have been deadly!

    It's about 250 miles from the hills of west-central Iowa to Ehlers' home in Minnesota. During the long trip home, following a weekend of hunting. Ehlers 1about the small dog he had seen 2alongside the road. He had 3to coax(哄) the dog to him but, frightened, it had 4.

    Back home, Ehlers was troubled by that 5dog. So, four days later, he called his friend Greg, and the two drove 6. After a long and careful 7, Greg saw, across a field, the dog moving 8away. Ehlers eventually succeeded in coaxing the animal to him. Nervousness and fear were replaced with 9. It just started licking(舔) Ehlers' face.

    A local farmer told them the dog sounded like one 10as lost in the local paper. The ad had a 11number for a town in southern Michigan. Ehlers 12the number of Jeff and Lisa to tell them he had 13their dog.

    Jeff had 14in Iowa before Thanksgiving with his dog, Rosie, but the gun shots had scared the dog off. Jeff searched 15for Rosie in the next four days.

    Ehlers returned to Minnesota, and then drove 100 miles to Minneapolis to put Rosie on a flight to Michigan. "It's good to know there's still someone out there who 16enough to go to that kind of 17,"says Lisa of Ehlers' rescue 18.

    "I figured whoever lost the dog was probably just as 19to it as I am to my dogs," says Ehlers. "If it had been my dog, I'd hope that somebody would be 20to go that extra mile."

If you ask 100 people what subjects they wish they had been taught in school, there is a chance that the vast majority of them will complain about the lack of personal finance education. In my case, I did learn a bit about financing while in school — just not in the classroom. One of my earliest lessons on the basics of budgeting came from an unlikely source: the cafeteria.

My lunch budget was a set amount each week. Without a plan, it would be all too easy to blow through the budget long before meeting all expenses. Therefore, my very first budgeting lesson was to make a budget well. A bit of simple arithmetic (算术) helped me determine exactly how much money I could spend each day if I wanted to actually have lunch all week. 

Besides, my school had relatively diverse lunch offerings. You could not only get the common hot school lunch but also find many other foods of varying attractions. As far as I was concerned, what attracted me most was the ice cream. Unfortunately, I couldn't blow my daily lunch budget on ice cream. And I'd already figured out that splurging early in the week made for a rough time for the rest of the week. Hence, I learned my second important budgeting lesson: save for a goal. Because of this lesson, when Friday rolled around, I would have just enough left over for a wonderful lunch and the highly desirable ice cream. 

Nowadays, my budget is a bit more complicated than the lunch budget in the past. Although I no longer have to save my pennies for a frozen treat, budgeting my money today uses the exact same skills I learned all those years ago. Actually, whether you're budgeting for school lunches or credit card bills, the basics remain the same. And it's never too early — or too late — to learn how to make a proper budget.