After a salon(美发厅) turns away a physically challenged woman, a stranger makes a truly beautiful gesture. “Beauty isn’t about having a pretty face. It’s about having a pretty mind, a pretty heart, and a pretty soul, Oh, and pretty nails!” That may well be Angela Peters’s motto.

Last July, Peters, 36, rolled her wheelchair into a nail salon at the Walmart shopping center in Burton, Michigan, with the idea of painting her fingers. But Peters was turned away. The salon told her that they were afraid it would be too difficult to properly paint her nails given that her hands shook, What was meant to be a clay of happiness for Peters was now a disappointment.

Ebony Harris, 40, saw everything and approached Peters. Harris offered to do her nails. They shopped for nail polish. They settled on a bright blue — a statement color that would catch every eye. They then made their way into a neighboring Subway, found a table for two, and set up shop. Harris gently took Peters’s hand into hers and carefully began painting her nails.

Watching it all with awe and admiration was Subway employee Tasia Smith. What struck her most was the ease and gentleness displayed by Harris as she painted Peters’s nails, all the while chatting as if they were old friends.

Peters, who runs a poetry website, heavenlypoems. com, harbors(心怀) no bitterness toward the nail salon that turned her away. (The salon says they refused to offer Peters service because they were too busy.) “When people do us wrong we must forgive,” Peters wrote on her website. “I just want to educate people that people with different challenges, like being in a wheelchair, can have our own business and get our nails done like anyone else.”

The messages always start with something like, “Hey, I’m so sorry but ...” Something has suddenly come up — a terrible headache or a pet cat having a problem. The person I have made plans with isn’t going to make it. By this point I usually have been fully dressed, about to walk out the door, or the party has already started. However, I mostly ignore it. I have to “flake” sometimes, too.

But over the past year or so, my friends and I have started to realize that people are flaking a lot more often. When people flake, the first question that appears in our brain is “Why?” or “Is something bigger really happening?”

Think of those flakers in your friend group who can’t arrive on time to get plans started. That may be more common among some personality types. For these people, they seem to have little concern for how other people feel. Another type is what scientists call conscientiousness. People who have no conscientiousness (责任心) are bad at planning things or don’t follow through – in other words, flake.

Flaking has got more common in the last ten years. Research shows it’s just easier to flake in the age of technology. Distance allows people to cheat others. You can just make up an excuse and don’t show up. You could say technology is just distance. In other words, when you don’t want to follow the plan, it’s easier to send a message to someone to cancel the plan than to tell them face to face. Being flaked on in this way can make you feel that they are treating you as is you don’t have thoughts or feelings.

How to Be a Successful Team Leader？

Every well-organized team needs to have an outstanding leader with specific skills. Sometimes the leader’s abilities can come to affect the whole team. Although you students are still young, it’s never too early to cultivate leadership skills.

A team consists of both leaders and followers. 【小题1】 What is essential to the role of the leader is the ability to unite the whole team. A great leader enables their team to achieve-a common goal through the giving of clear directions and support. Meanwhile, everyone on a team also desires personal success, so a balance can be hard to strike. A leader should have fierce determination. 【小题2】

What’s more, a successful and charming leader ought to be able to handle interpersonal relationships well. They should be honest, fair, objective and impartial (公正的) when it comes to both rewards and punishments. 【小题3】 And in so being, the working atmosphere will only come to be improved.

【小题4】 Good communication skills allow people to build good relationships, which is an essential part of being a good leader. If you find it hard to express your ideas clearly to those who you cooperate with, it may be rather difficult for you to be a good leader. Positive thinking will make it easier for leaders to become effective speakers and communicators. Listening and observing carefully is also of great importance, and a good leader knows how to listen effectively when communicating with others.

It’s a well-known fact that, whatever field you wish to work in, leadership skills are necessary for anyone who desires to have a successful career. 【小题5】