I was a recent graduate of a leading business school and I was to join a big company in Gomia, Bihar. The company chose only the best, and I was full of it.

The night train from Calcutta would reach Gomia in the morning. I had a letter that said there would be a car to pick me up from the station and take me to the Guest House. However, I found no person in sight to receive me when I got off the train. I felt let down. I carried the luggage on my shoulder and came to the exit. There I saw a nice car. The driver was walking towards the car .Ah, my driver, there he was!

I went up to him and asked him to carry my luggage. He asked me who I was and I introduced myself. The driver opened the back door and had me seated. Along the way, he asked me some questions about me and my family. I was angry with the driver who asked too much and answered him in monosyllables (只言片语). After reaching the Guest House, we said goodbye.

The next day was a big day. I was to meet the boss of the place, Dr. S. K. Kamat, and I was nervous. I knocked on the door and walked into the large office. The big man had his back to me and as he turned, I recognized the man immediately. He was the driver!

He gave me a broad smile and said he was S. K. Kamat. I could have died at that moment. I apologized for my behavior and was at a loss for words. He said that he had come to the station to see off a friend. And he had seen me and wanted to be of assistance. He never referred to the incident almost as if it didn’t happen. When I walked out of the office, I learned a great lesson.

At an outdoor restaurant, a cockroach（蟑螂）flew in and landed on a woman. She started screaming out of fear; with a panic-stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping,   with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was spreading, as everyone in her group also got into a panic. The woman finally managed to flick the cockroach away but it landed on a man in the group who continued the drama. In the relay（接力赛）of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon a waitress who had rushed to their rescue.

The waitress stood firm, calmed herself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on her blouse. When she was confident enough, she grabbed it and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, I started wondering: was the cockroach responsible for their funny behavior? If so, then why was the waitress not disturbed? She handled the situation to near perfection, without panic.

It was not the cockroach, but the inability of the customers to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed them. I realized that it was not the shouting of my children or my boss or my wife, but my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbed me.

It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturb me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam. More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

I understood. I should not react in life. I should always respond. The customers reacted, while the waitress responded. Reactions are always instinctive（本能的）, while responses tend to be well thought out.

When Johnnie Martin was in the second grade in high school, one day a psychologist of the school called him into his office.

“Johnnie, I’ve made a very careful study of you. And I feel sorry to have to tell you… Though you have worked very hard, it has not helped. You’re just not fit for it.”

The boy buried his face in his hands, “This will be hard on my parents,” he said. “Their one idea is for me to be a college man.”

The psychologist laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “People have different kinds of talents. Some day you will find what your special gift is and when you do, you will make your parents very proud of you.”

Johnnie never went back to school. Jobs were scarce in town, but he managed to keep busy mowing the lawns of the householders and puttering in their flowerbeds. Before long he discovered he had an eye for color.

One day while he was downtown, he happened to notice a stretch of unused land behind the city hall. Chance or fate or whatever you may like to call it brought one of the town’s aldermen（市政委员会委员）round the corner just at that moment. The boy said, “I can make a garden out of this dump, if you’ll let me do it.”

“The town’s got no money for it,” said the alderman.

“I don’t want any money for it,” said the boy. “I just want to do it.”

The alderman was shocked to find someone who did not want money. He took Johnnie into an office, and when the young man came out he had the authority to clean up the public eyesore. Before long the old dump became a little beautiful park.

It was also a kind of show window for Johnnie. People saw the result of his skill and knew him as a natural landscape gardener.

That was twenty-five years ago. Today Johnnie is the head of a successful business in landscape gardening. His aging parents are proud of Johnnie, for he is not only a success, but he has also made his part of the world a lovelier place to live in.