Do you have a best friend at work? A person once said, “Relationships _______ more than work. Years from now, you will forget the _______ of the work you have done, but you will still _______ the people and the relationships you built.” 

We hear a lot about this and it’s true. We spend more time with our co-workers than our families. Getting along well with workmates is the _______ to our success in the job. 

Gallup, our employee engagement survey provider, has been asking us to _______ “Do you have a good friend at work?” for 30 years. He has discovered a strong _______ between having a good friend at work and performance on the job. 

I’ve worked with a lot of people over my career. The most _______ achievements, when I looked back, were made with _______ that I felt a strong social connection with. We not only worked as a team but also spent our spare time _______ with each other and caring about each other’s daily life. I do believe that our success ________ strong social connections at work. 

I’ve been through a lot with many people I would ________ my best friends at work. We’ve celebrated our ________ of the work, promotions(升职) and retirements(退休) together. We have supported each other through marriages, births, illnesses and even deaths. 

Good relationships and a sense of ________ are part of work culture that we shouldn’t ignore. ________, I have been working with amazing people over the years. Can you imagine going to a ________ every day where there is no fun or friendship?

I’ve started driving again. I drive along a road _______ 12 years ago near my home. As I drove tonight, I _______ Kelly.

Kelly was a _______ when it was constructed. She and her brother were _______ by her father after her mother passed away. By her own _______, she was a _______ child, climbing out of windows, staying out drinking etc. She started to settle in college. The year after I taught her, a _______ thing happened.

It was about this time of year and Kelly’s dad was about to turn to the new road. Since he was not _______ with it, he had a deadly accident. The lecturers sent her a _______ card. I wrote that I would help her with one of the 6 ________ she still had to complete. I knew it would be difficult for Kelly but I ________ to help her anyway.

At that time I had just ________ my marriage and was living in rented accommodation alone. Things were ________ but I committed myself to helping Kelly. I brought her to my home and I ________ her the full unit. I got her to complete all the assignments at my home ________ she could stay focused. Kelly made ________ in the unit I taught her, which fundamentally helped raise her overall grades. Kelly’s lecturer was so ________ with this that she got Kelly to ________ to the rest of the class! At last Kelly completed her course. I was so glad she didn’t ________.

A few years ago I met Kelly. She was pushing a pram (婴儿车), her baby sleeping soundly. It’s the ________ she deserved.

The other evening we had a knock at the door. It was a________neighbor who introduced himself and his boys to us. He also invited us to a block party as a way to know the people in the_________as well as celebrate the first anniversary of his two________sons coming to live with him.

We’ve lived here for almost six years and no one has ever come to ________themselves. I suppose we should have________it on to introduce ourselves to people moving in, but we haven’t. In my opinion, it took the initiative (首创) of a young________and his adopted sons to show me how I could________better attention to my own community. We have many local friends but I have to________that I haven’t usually been the one to develop the________in my own neighborhood.

This_________reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was_________to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to _________my town. I couldn’t change the town and as a(n)_________man, I tried to change my_________. Now, as an old man, I _________the only thing I can change is myself, and_________I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact(影响) on my family and _________on our town.   The impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the _________.”

For those of us who want to make a(n)_________in the world, it’s important we remember what Bucky Fuller said, “Think globally, but act_________.” For me, I’m going to make it point to meet more of my neighbors-staring now.