Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they were sure to be there. They serve some certain purpose, teach you a lesson or help find out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: your classmate, neighbor, teacher, long-lost friend or even a real stranger. But you know that every moment they will influence your life in some serious way.

Sometimes things happen to you. At the time they may seem terrible, painful and unfair. But later you realize that without overcoming those difficulties, you would have never realized your further ability and advantages. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.

The people you meet influence your life, and the success and failure you experience create who you are. Even the bad experience can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

Enjoy every day even every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people whom you have never talked to before, and really listen. You should set your goals high, hold your head up, tell yourself you are a great one and believe in yourself.

You can make your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

Pete Rose，the famous baseball player，whom I have never met，taught me something so valuable that it changed my life.Pete was being interviewed in spring training the year he was about to break Ty Cobb's all－time hits record.One reporter asked, “Pete，you only need 78 hits to break the record.How many at－bats(轮到击球) do you think you'll need to get the 78 hits？” Without hesitation，Pete said，“78.” The reporter yelled back，“Ah，come on Pete.You don't expect to get 78 hits in 78 at－bats，do you？”

Mr.Rose calmly shared his rule in life with all the reporters who were anxiously awaiting his reply.“Every time I step up to the plate，I expect to get a hit！If I don't expect to get a hit，I have no right to step in the batter's box in the first place！If I go up hoping to get a hit，then I probably don't have a prayer of getting a hit.It is the positive expectation that has gotten me all of the hits in the first place.”

When I thought about Pete Rose's rule and how it was applied to everyday life，I felt a little embarrassed.As a business person，I was hoping to make my sales meet the quotas(定额)．As a father，I was hoping to be a good dad.As a married man，I was hoping to be a good husband.The truth was that I was an adequate salesperson，I was not so bad as a father，and I was an okay husband.I immediately decided that being okay was not enough! I wanted to be a great salesperson，a great father and a great husband.I changed my attitude to one of positive expectations，and the results were amazing.I was fortunate enough to win a few sales trips，I won Coach of the Year in my son's baseball league，and I shared a loving relationship with my wife！Thanks，Mr.Rose!

Everyone who knew anything about animals warned me against getting a rabbit in my early 20s, but I ignored them, and ended up with three. It turns out that all the people who are against rabbits have a point: Rabbits get sick all the time, and there are very few vets who specialize in their care. My years with rabbits have been full of feeding, hurried trips to the vet, sleepless nights and begging for advice on the Internet.

Now that my animals are old and weak now, I clear their waste and clean their legs with a rabbit-friendly shampoo. I spend a lot of time on the floor, because although my rabbits are hard to satisfy socially, they also hate to be picked up.

I am often asked the question: Why rabbits? Why not a dog, or a cat? I try to describe what it’s like to be with them. I had never felt a real duty towards anything until I had my rabbits.

My answers never satisfy anyone. I’m not sure about the question, either it so often implies instrumental value, as if the correct reply might be “They make good companions” or “They’re nice to look at”. I don’t have the right kind of reason. I don’t believe in the use value of any living thing. Like humans, animals just are — that’s it. Usually we do not look at other people and think about how to make them work for us. Yet so much of our way of seeing the world is founded on the assumption that animals are meant to serve a purpose. This seems wrong.

After all these years with my rabbits, the only thing I know is that there is no lesson to be learned or value to be acquired. There’s just an effort to be made, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what life is.