血浓于水

亲爱的母亲：

今年的七月不一样，因为父亲没交待下静悄悄的离开了我们。只委托黄师傅留下一首“年年今日再相见”便走了。歌未唱，人先逝。父亲想借此首歌来缅怀过去的往事。
父亲年轻时在外奔波，与我们相处时日不多，造成父子缺乏沟通，关系自然疏远，互不了解。长大后我们就离乡背井，在外自找生活，各忙各的。直至父亲远离我们了才感触良多。血浓于水，父亲始终还是父亲。若生前来不及叫“爸爸”，这辈子会遗憾终生。所以做父子或夫妻时要把握时机，也要把握因缘，因缘消逝才想做就来不及了。祝：万事如意。

Grateful To Life

Once President Roosevelt’s house was broken into and lots of things were stolen. Hearing this, one of Roosevelt’s friends wrote to him and advised him not to take it to his heart so much. President Roosevelt wrote back immediately, saying, “Dear friend, thank you for your letter to comfort me. I’m all right now. I think I should thank God. This is because of the following three reasons: firstly, the thief only stole things from me but did not hurt me at all; secondly, the thief has stolen some of my things instead of all my things; thirdly, most luckily for me, it was the man rather than me who became a thief ...”

It was quite unlucky for anyone to be stolen from. However, President Roosevelt had such three reasons to be so grateful. This story tells us how we can learn to be grateful in our life.

Being grateful is an important philosophy of life and a great wisdom. It is impossible for anyone to be lucky and successful all the time so long as he lives in the world. We should learn how to face failure or misfortune bravely and generously and to try to deal with it. If so, should we complain about our life and become frustrated and disappointed ever since then or should we be grateful for our life, rise again ourselves after a fall? William Thackeray, a famous British writer, said, “Life is a mirror. When you smile in front of it, it will also smile and so will it when you cry to it.” If you are grateful to life, it will bring you shining sunlight. If you always complain about everything, you may own nothing in the end. When we are successful, we can surely have many reasons for being grateful, but we have only one excuse to show ungratefulness if we fail.

I think we should even be grateful to life whenever we are unsuccessful or unlucky. Only by doing this can we find our weakness and shortcomings when we fail. We can also get relief and warmth when we are unlucky. This can help us find our courage to overcome the difficulties we may face, and receive great impetus to move on. We should treat our frustration and misfortune in our life in the other way just as President Roosevelt did. We should be grateful all the time and keep having a healthy attitude to our life forever keep having perfect characters and enterprising spirit. Being grateful is not only a kind of comfort, not an escape from life and nor thinking of winning in spirit like Ah Q. Being grateful is a way to sing for our life which comes just from our love and hope.

When we put a small piece of alum into muddy water, we can see the alum can soon make the water clear. If each of us has an attitude of being grateful, we’ll be able to get rid of impulse, upset, dissatisfaction and misfortune. Being grateful can bring us a better and more beautiful life.

未尽反哺心

亲爱的母亲：

一场的交通意外便夺走了我们亲爱的父亲。至今我心里还未能平复，唯恨自己在父亲有生之年未尽点孝心。回想起念宽柔一小时，父亲不惜为了孩子们，刻意向星马鞋厂老板借车回拉庆家载我们一同去学校。虽然次数不多，但显现出他对子女的厚爱。当时我们年少无知，体会不出，也不懂得感恩，只会自豪与高兴。当父亲年事已高时，动作反感也怠慢了。我们应该尽点孝，反哺心；住在同一个屋檐下，出席同一个宴席，载送父亲以保进出平安。可是这么简单的事我们并没做到。“慈乌失其母，哑哑吐衰音，昼夜不飞去，经年守故林。夜夜夜半啼，闻者为沾襟；声中如告诉，未尽反哺心.” 我们虽是人，切不如一只鸦。衰哉！祝安康。

Youth

Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self – distrust, fear and despair – these bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the star like things, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child – like appetite for what – next, and the joy of the game of living.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self – confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station, so long as it receives message of beauty, hope, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the wires are all down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed.

歌颂我的父亲

亲爱的母亲：

父亲来自贫苦家庭，自小失去了父母的关爱又受教育不多，所以这辈子生活过得崎岖清苦。但他具有坚强的毅力及节俭朴素的生活。在饮食方面他从未在意。虽然如此，他对外人特别的慷慨大方，从不计较。他热心公益，活跃于社团立下不少公德。只要有任何乐捐，他都会义不容辞。能舍能得，甘愿做，欢喜受。他以有限的学问与能力尽力去做多少事，无视小善而不为。他是一位应该受子女尊敬与歌颂的一位父亲。祝：幸福快乐。

The Cobbler Happiness

A cobbler passed his time in singing from morning till nigh; it was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear him; he was more contented in making shoes than was any of the seven sages. His neighbor, on the contrary, who was rolling in wealth, sung but little and sleepless. He was a banker; when by chance he fell into a doze at day break, the cobbler awoke him with his song. The banker complained sadly that Providence had not made sleep a saleable commodity, like edibles or drinkables. Having at length sent for the songster, he said to him, “How much a year do you earn, Master Gregory?”

“How much a year, sir?” said the merry cobbler laughing, “I never reckon in that way, living as I do from one day to another; somehow I manage to reach the end of the year; each day brings its meal.”

“Well then! How much a day do you earn, my friend?”

“Sometimes more, sometimes less; but the worst of it is, and, without that our earnings would be very tolerable, a number of days occur in the year on which we are forbidden to work; and the curate, moreover, is constantly adding some new saint to the list.”

The banker, laughing at his simplicity, said, “In the future I shall place you above want. Take this hundred crowns, preserve them carefully and make use of them in time of need.”

The cobbler fancied he beheld all the wealth which the earth had produced in the past century for the use of mankind. Returning home, he buried his money and his happiness at the same time. No more singing; he lost his vice, the moment he acquired that which is the source of so much grief. Sleep quitted his dwelling and cares, suspicions and false alarms took its place. All day, his eye wandered in the direction of the treasure; and at night, if some stray cat made a noise, the cat was robbing him. At length the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor; “Give me back,” said he, “sleep and my voice, and take your hundred crowns.”

父亲的歌声

亲爱的母亲：

父亲生前好学不倦，即使活到晚年，他还热爱唱卡拉OK，从中学习；不懂得地方还会做记录。虽然五音不全但他还是放胆去唱，快乐的唱。他的好学精神可佳，值得我们学习。如今父亲的歌声只能绕在我们的脑海里永不忘怀。父亲可算是一个快乐的人，他的快乐不是因为他财富或学识拥有得多，而是因为他与别人计较得少。拥有是负担，不计较就自在，能放下烦恼才能快乐。人如不知足，就永远都活在烦恼中。祝：活到老，无烦恼。

Lost Someone I Love

Once a circle missed a wedge. The circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly, it admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces, but none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It incorporated the missing piece into itself and began to roll. Now that it was a perfect circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to notice flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

The lesson of the story, I suggested, was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missing something. The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man. He will never know what if feels like to yearn, to hope, to nourish his soul with the dream of something better. He will never know the experience of having someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations, who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so. There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive, she can lose someone and sill feel like a complete person.

Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing. Life is not a spelling bee, where no matter how many words you’ve gotten right; you’re disqualified if you make one mistake. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose. When we accept that imperfection is part of being human, and when we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to. That, I believe, is what God asks of us – not “Be perfect”, not “Don’t even make a mistake”, but “Be whole”.

If we are brave enough to love, strong enough to forgive, generous enough to rejoice in another’s happiness, and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all, then we can achieve a fulfillment that no other living creature will ever know.

感恩父亲

亲爱的母亲：

父亲的逝世至今我还是那么难过，但面对眼前的生活，难过还是天天必须过。从今以后，我再也没福气穿到父亲亲自以那双粗糙的手为我制造的新鞋子了。我这辈子对他的恩惠感激不尽。虽未能报之以恩，唯祭之以尽诚。所以在生者若能有一份能力为他人付出是一种福气。祝：幸福永驻。

Home With Love

What makes a home? Love, sympathy and confidence. It is a place where kindly affections exist among all the members of the family. The parents take good care of their children, and the children are interested in the activities of their parents. Thus all of them are bound together by affection, and they find their home to the cheeriest place in the world.

A home without love is no more a home than a body without a soul is a man. Every civilized person is a social being. No one should live alone. A man may lead a successful and prosperous life, but prosperity alone can by no means insure happiness. Many great personages in the world history had deep affections for their homes.

Your home may be poor and humble, but your duty lies there. You should try to make it cheerful and comfortable. The greater the difficulties, the richer will be your reward.

A home is more than a family dwelling. It is a school in which people are trained for citizenship. A man will not render good service to his country if he can do nothing good for his home; for in proportion as he loves his home, will he love his country. The home is the birthplace of true patriotism. It is the secret of social welfare and national greatness. It is the basis and origin of civilization.

能放下才能快乐

亲爱的母亲：

其实我们的生活是美满的，虽然生活的过程很复杂，但这些生活就发生在我们自己里面，我们想让它变成美满，它就会美满，如果您烦恼，生活就会烦恼。拥有是一种负担，能学会放下才能快乐。祝永远快乐。

The Memories Give Meaning To Our Lives

“I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days.” ---- Henry David Thorean

When Thoreau wrote that line, was thinking of the Walden Pond he knew as a boy.

Wood choppers and the Iron Horse had not yet greatly damaged the beauty of its setting. A boy could go to the pond and lie on his back against the seat of a boat, lazily drifting from shore to shore while the loons dived and the swallows dipped around him. Thoreau loved to recall such sunny hours and summer days “when idleness was the most attractive and productive business.”

I too was once a boy in love with a pond, rich in sunny hours and summer days. Sun and summer are still what they always were, but the boy and the pond changed. The boy, who is now a man, no longer finds much time for idle drifting. The pond has been annexed by a great city. The swamps where herons once hunted are now drained and filled with houses. The bay where water lilies quietly floated is now a harbor for motor boats. In short, everything that the boy loved no longer exists – except in the man’s memory of it.

Some people insist that only today and tomorrow matter. But how much poorer we would be if we really lived by that rule! So much of what we do today is frivolous and futile and soon forgotten. So much of what we hope to do tomorrow never happens.

The past is the bank in which we store our most valuable possession – the memories that give meaning and depth to our lives.

Those who truly treasure the past will not bemoan the passing of the good old days, because days enshrined in memory are never lost. Death itself is powerless to still a remembered voice or erase a remembered smile. And for one boy who is now a man, there is a pond which neither time nor tide can change, where he can still spend a quiet hour in the sun.

儿子的音乐盒

亲爱的母亲：

元宵节已过了，年也结束了。新年间常被派去带醒狮队出去采青。元宵节当天也不列外，被派出去吉隆坡。吉隆坡的元宵节相当热闹，炮竹声响个不停，青也采不完，当收队结束工作时，已经是晚上十点钟了。

由于忙着学校的采青工作，时常忙到半夜；凌晨五，六点就起身赶着去学校报到，故无法在电话上联络。伊浚现在比较活泼，静的时候就躺着东张西望；要喝奶的时候凶的利害；跟他玩的时候就会笑眯眯；拿锦连送给他的音乐盒哄他玩时，手和脚一直在踢动，好像很紧张，想去捉，但捉不到，很生气；也许现在还小，还不能很好的控制手脚的活动，在过一，两个月就懂得了。宝满的三姐及三姐夫都很喜欢他，所以不太挂虑了，只不过那儿蚊子太多，偶尔被蚊子叮了一，两次。

当伊浚满三个月时，将托宝满的三姐带他去私人医院打针，我们抽不出时间带他去中央医院，而且交通又不方便。好了，就以简短告知一些有关伊浚的琐事，祝身体健康，万事如意。