Larry Ritsema was out for an early morning jog around his neighborhood one day. On a quiet street, he began to feel weak. Suddenly, everything went black. Larry fell to the ground.

    Less than a minute later, Tom Alguire passed by on his bicycle. He caught sight of a man lying on the roadside, so he jumped off his bike and ran over. He recognized Larry immediately, because he had been Larry's doctor for nearly 20 years.

    Dr. Tom felt for a pulse (脉搏) at first. Finding none, he began to give Larry first aid. It wouldn't restart Larry's heart, but it would keep the blood flowing until someone else arrive d. Tom could only hope someone would come by soon, at around six o'clock in the morning on a holiday weekend. Tom couldn't stop pressing Larry's chest to run for help — Larry's brain cells would die without the blood. And Tom didn't have a cell phone with him.

    Soon, a car did drive by. But the driver ignored Tom's appeal for help. What was he going to do? Tom was very worried. Finally, another car came down the road, driven by Michael Saliot, a U.S. Coast Guard Officer. Michael wasn't one to pass up a chance to help a person in need. He quickly dialed 911.

   Doctors then found that Larry had suffered a heart attack and there were severe blockages in two of Larry's major arteries (动脉). Only the timely arrival of Dr. Tom saved his life.

   How did Dr. Tom happen to be bicycling that morning, down that quiet street? It turned out that as Tom rode, his bike chain fell off. He spent about eight minutes fitting it back; otherwise, he would have seen nothing of Larry's problem.

    You may be familiar with the following famous people, but have you heard of their graduation speeches, in which they either share their unforgotten experiences or give you some great inspiration(启迪).

    Michael Dell, University of Texas at Austin

    And now you've accomplished something great and important here, and it's time for you to move on to what's next. And you must not let anything prevent you from taking those first steps. ... You must also commit to the adventure. Just have faith in the skills and the knowledge you've been blessed (赐予)with and go.

    J.K. Rowling, Harvard University

    Half my lifetime ago ,I was striking an uneasy balance between my ambition and the expectation from my parents who were not rich...But what I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty(贫穷), but failure. The fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you know little about failure, you might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success.

    Steve Jobs, Stanford University

    Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith...Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle.

    Bill Gates, Harvard University

    We need as many people as possible to have access to the advanced technology to lead to a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities ,smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches and deal with the world's inequities（不公平）like hunger, poverty, and so on.

    One morning, my newspaper wasn't delivered on time. Since I always brought it to work, it upset me that I would have to pick one up on my way to work. After breakfast, I was already running late, but figured I could make it if I hurried.

    As I pulled into the parking lot of the store, I noticed a young man in a wheelchair who seemed to be struggling. “Someone else will stop and help him,” I thought.

    However, no one stopped. I got out, and walked over to see what the trouble was.

    “Is there anything I can do?” I asked. It was then that I noticed he wasn't able to speak, and was still struggling with the chair.

    I looked down at the chair and noticed that the clamps (夹具) holding the electronic keyboard had apparently become loose causing the equipment to slip down, out of his reach.

    I pulled it back into place and then re-tightened the clamps. He hit a key on the keyboard. An electronic voice told me, “Thank you.” He then found the control that steered (操纵) the chair, turned and left.

    I got back in my car and headed off to work, completely forgetting my newspaper. As I drove, I felt a deep gratitude (感激). I was truly blessed to have the physical abilities that allow me to live a normal life. Here was this young man who relied on machines to get around and communicate. He probably dreamed about doing all the things that I thought were normal and simple.

    It's funny; fifteen minutes before that happened, I was whining because my morning paper hadn't arrived on time. I was glad I helped the young man, because he helped me gain a new viewpoint on everything I had in my life.

    What is the most important day of your life? For many people the answer is your Wedding Day—the day when you marry another person and promise to live together as husband or wife for the rest of your lives.

    Wedding celebrations differ from country to country—in China the bride wears red while in India the wedding continues for three days. However, in Britain the bride wears white and wedding usually only lasts for one day.

    In the UK it is possible to get married in a religious or civil ceremony. A religious ceremony takes place in a church. A civil ceremony, on the other hand, can be held in an office, in a hotel, or even on a boat.

    On the day of the wedding the bride and groom are kept separate until the ceremony. It is said to be bad luck if the groom sees the bride in her dress before the wedding. The bride arrives at the ceremony accompanied by her father and bridesmaids. They officially give her away to her new husband. During the ceremony the happy couple exchange vows and give each other wedding rings which they will wear forever. At the end of the ceremony they kiss.

    Afterwards they go outside where friends and family throw rice or color papers over them and then they go on to the reception where there is a lot of food and drink. After the meal the father of the bride and the best man make speeches. Then the bride and groom take the first dance. It is a lot of fun. Finally, at the end of the party the newly-weds leave to go on honeymoon, usually to a very romantic destination.

    One afternoon I toured an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting.I was looking forward to a quiet view of the art works.

    A young couple viewing the paintings ahead of me chatted nonstop between themselves.I watched them a moment and decided the wife was doing all the talk.I admired the husband's patience for putting up with her continuous talk.Distracted by their noise,I moved on.

    I met with them several times as I moved through the different rooms of art.Each time I heard her constant burst of words,I moved away quickly.

    I was standing at the counter of the museum gift shop making a purchase when the couple came near to the exit.Before they left,the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a white object.He extended it into a long stick and then tapped his way into the coatroom to get his wife's jacket.

    “He's a brave man.”The clerk at the counter said,”Most of us would give up if wewere blinded at such a young age.During his recovery he made a promise that his life wouldn't change. So, as before,he and his wife come in whenever there's a new art show.”

    “But what does he get out of the art?”I asked,“He can't see.”

    “Can't see?You're wrong.He sees a lot.More than you or I do.”The clerk said,“His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head.”

    I learned something about patience,courage and love that day.I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without sight and the courage of a husband who would not allow blindness to change his life.And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away hand in hand.

    We talk a lot in the U.S. about success. Success is the dream and the end point. And not by coincidence the idea that hard work leads to personal success is as American as apple pie.

    But the reality is that sometimes we fail. And sometimes things, through no fault of our own, don't go our way. We're faced with a life-changing diagnosis (诊断), the passing of a loved one or job loss. We don't, as a society, have as much to say here.

    I think uncertainty does us all harm. We'd feel better equipped to deal with uncertainty if we talked about it more. I had so fully bought into the belief that with enough effort, I could control what happened in my life. I actually caught myself thinking I could "work my way out" of my cancer. As it turns out, cancer doesn't really care about one's work.

    We might also make wiser decisions — this isn't just a feel-good exercise. For example, technology and medicine have progressed to the point that many patients are living longer than they would have even a decade ago. These are achievements worth celebrating. And yet I wonder if the focus on success is sometimes misguided here as well. If it is one reason why we tend to pursue expensive end-of-life treatments, they often accomplish little other than to make a patient's final days painful and frightening. The fact is that, when asked, many patients would rather focus on living meaningfully in their final days.

    My hope here is to make a case for thinking about meaning, in the same way we think about pursuing success. In that spirit, I've asked several people, each of whom has met misfortune, how they find meaning in their lives. The diversity in their responses reflects the fact that there are no right or wrong answers here. We each can find meaning in different things.