I once had a friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the news that he might only live up to six months was a great shock to him, his family, and his friends. However, in spite of the serious illness, he was initially determined to look into all available treatments that might cure or extend his life. I think that when you find yourself in such situations, you tend to look up every possible way for hope of saving your life.

    As months went on and his health grew worse, I noticed an unexpected change in attitude that came over him. He had also been a happy person with a cheerful personality, but rather than give in to discouragement and self－pity, he took comfort in God and humanity. His talks focused on others rather than himself, and he spoke of the afterlife as something he was prepared for, believing that his concerned ancestors, including his mother and father, were there waiting for him.

    During the last few months, weeks, and days of his life, he was kindly cared for by family, friends, his loving wife, who looked after both his physical and emotional needs, and workers from a local hospice (安养院) came to the home to regulate his medication and provide any other needed support. He didn't complain about his fate, and he willingly allowed others to serve him.

    Indeed, one might think why God allows death and suffering in our world, but for me, such experiences taught me to value family more and kindness for others. You often can't learn these important attributes in the lap of luxury, and perhaps, such an experience is the greatest and final gift the illness can give those left behind.

    If you get into the forest with your friends, stay with them always. If you don't, you may get lost. If you really get lost, this is what you should do. Sit down and stay where you are. Don't try to find your friends—let them find you by staying in one place.

    There is another way to help your friends or other nearby people to find you. Give them a signal (信号) by shouting or whistling (吹口哨) three times. Any signal given three times is a call for help.

    Keep up shouting or whistling always three times together. When people hear you, they will know that you are not just making noise for fun. They will let you know that they have heard your signal. They give you two shouts, two whistles, or two gun-shots (枪声). When someone gives you a signal, it is an answer to a call for help.

If you don't think that you will get help before night comes, try to make a little house—cover up to the holes with branches (树枝) with lots of leaves. Make yourself a soft bed with leaves and grass.

    What should you do if you get hungry or need drinking water? You would have to leave your little house to look for a river. Don't just walk away. Pick off small branches and drop them as you walk so that you can find your way back. The most important thing to do when you are lost is—stay in one place.

    So many of us hold on to little resentments that may have come from an argument, a misunderstanding, or some other painful event. Stubbornly, we wait for someone else to reach out to us—believing this is the only way we can forgive or rekindle a friendship or family relationship.

    An acquaintance of mine, whose health isn't very good, recently told me that she hadn't spoken to her son in almost three years. She said that she and her son had had a disagreement about his wife and that she wouldn't speak to him again unless he called first. When I suggested that she be the one to reach out, she resisted initially and said, "I can't do that. He's the one who should apologize." She was literally willing to die before reaching out to her only son. After a little gentle encouragement, however, she did decide to be the first one to reach out. To her amazement, her son was grateful for her willingness to call and offered an apology of his own. As is usually the case when someone takes the chance and reaches out, everyone wins.

    Whenever we hold on to our anger, we turn "small stuff" into really "big stuff" in our minds. We start to believe that our positions are more important than our happiness. They are not. If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy. The way to be happy is to let go, and reach out. Let other people be right. This doesn't mean that you're wrong. Everything will be fine. You'll experience the peace of letting go, as well as the joy of letting others be right.

    You'll also notice that, as you reach out and let others be "right," they will become less defensive and more loving toward you. They might even reach back. But if for some reason they don't, that's okay too. You'll have the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your part to create a more loving world, and certainly you'll be more peaceful yourself.

    Our family loves the snow and cheers at the first good storm of the season. While others may think of Florida, we dream of a cabin vacation in New York's Allegany State Park.

    One particular trip, I recall, was just a bit more memorable than the rest. What we now refer to as the snow pants incident began accidentally enough. My husband, Bernie, and our 2-year-old daughter, Faith, were building a snow fort while I sledded down a nearby slope.

On the way back up from one trip, I saw a small stone tumbling down the track I had just made. I was puzzled, since all the other rocks were buried under several feet of snow, as I stood and wondered about the stone—it jumped! This was no stone. This was a mouse.

    Now, I love nature, but that doesn't include mice. I loudly protested the invader, and Bernie, coming to my rescue, assured me that this was not a mouse but a mole, as if that mattered. A mouse or a mole I still didn't like it.

    Bernie and I stood for a few minutes watching the creature disappear from the path into the furry white and come back out again. But soon it disappeared and I headed up the hill again.

    Shortly after I left, my husband screamed out, saying that the mole had gone up the leg of his snow pants. You have to understand Bernie can be quite a joker, and I smelled a rat. Not wanting to be a sucker and fall for another one of his jokes, I laughed it off. When he started running for the cabin, though, I stopped laughing and decided maybe this was for real.

    “Don't you dare take that thing into the house!” I yelled. But like a flash, Bernie was already dashing through the cabin's front door, with his snow pants, the mole and all. If it were me, I'd have been down to my long underwear right there in the snow without a second thought.

A few minutes later Bernie appeared. We relished the rest of our winter vacation, drinking lots of hot chocolate, sitting beside the fireplace and admiring nature—from a safe distance.

    The Renaissance marks a period of human awakening. In this article we are going to explore the inventions during this period which have helped change the life and progress of mankind.

    Clock

    The first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300's. Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum (钟摆) around 1602. The pendulum greatly improved the movement of the hands of a clock. The average error with the pendulum varied only by seconds each day. Before this the error was from 10 to 15 minutes a day.

    Eyeglasses

    In the late thirteenth century, paintings first appeared with people wearing or holding eyeglasses. From these paintings, we know that eyeglasses were invented in Italy. Around 1300 the Venetian Glassmaker's Guild made it illegal for cheap glasses to be made. By 1352, eyeglasses were only worn by well-educated rich men. In 1456, the invention of the printing press allowed books to become widespread. Once people owned books, reading glasses began to be seen in the hands of common people. In 1623, the Spanish invented the first graded eyeglasses.

    Flush toilet (抽水马桶)

    Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth, made the first flush toilet for himself and his godmother in 1596. He was teased by his friends and never made another one.

    In 1775, Alexander Cummings reinvented the flush toilet more commonly called the water closet. Two years later in 1777, Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for it.

    Wallpaper

    In 1496, the first paper factory came into operation in England. English artists soon make wallpaper for decoration. For the next 200 years England was a large producer of wallpaper for Europe. Before wallpaper was invented, only wealthy people could afford to decorate the walls of their houses.