Having been a teacher for 25 years, I think I’ve taught my students the importance of good citizenship, to play by the ______. But most of the time, I embrace my role as a pupil.

One morning when I reached the intersection before my school, traffic was at a standstill (停). What was really ______ was that I could see the school.

Up ahead, the turn lane into the school’s parking lot was ______. If I could just turn to the right, the only thing between me and the turn lane was a long stretch of field. As I sat in my motionless vehicle, I heard that field call to me. I ______ the car out of the line of traffic and headed for the freedom of that open land ______ I heard a wail of siren (警笛) from behind.

An officer came up to me, and I handed him my ______ without even looking up. He glanced at it, and asked, “What’s going on, Madam?”

I started murmuring. “Well, I overslept, and…” Here my voice ______ a sad, pleading tone, the very quality I advise my students to ______--“I just wanted to get to school. I have to…”

“So you’re a teacher?” he ______.

“Yes, and I need…”

A car drove by, and I recognized one of my eighth-graders waving at me, ______ my name, pointing me out to his mother. As she drove by, I heard the police officer say it: “You wanted to be ______ because you’re a good teacher. “ At that point he paused before adding, “You were when I had you.”

And then I did look at him. I read the name badge on his chest. A ______ 7th-- grade student of mine. All grown up. Keeping people safe. Trying to keep me safe ______ myself.

He gave me a ______--not too different from ones I’d given him years ago--and sent me on my way. And at last I arrived at my classroom, wondering what I would ______ next.

I once heard a story of a 40-year-old woman who was jogging in a US state park when she was attacked and killed by a mountain lion. Her family immediately filed suit（提起诉讼）________ the state because of its “________ to manage the mountain lion population” and because it didn’t “react to reports of lion activity in the area by posting ________ signs.”

But an interesting thing happened. Her husband felt it was wrong to ________ the state or anyone else for his wife’s death, ________ he stood to possibly win a small fortune. Against her family’s wishes, he ________ the law suit. “Barbara and I have always taken responsibility for our own ________.” he explained. “Barbara ________ to run in the wild and, on a very long shot, she did not come back. This is not the ________ of the state, and people should take ________ for themselves.”

I would like to meet that man. He ________ believes that the Blame Game “is a no-win in the long run”. He seems like a person who would rather spend time ________ what’s broken than fixing the blaming for it on someone else. This isn’t about law suits—it’s more about whether we are essentially ________ of life or whether we are powerful and responsible people. An ________ step in gaining mastery over your life is to ________ the urge to make something or someone else responsible. Like novelist J.K. Rowling said to graduating Harvard students, “There is an expiry (过期的) ________ on blaming your parents for steering（引导）you in the ________ direction; the moment you are old enough to take the ________, responsibility lies with you.” Certainly ________ and circumstances have ________ who we are, but who is responsible for the person we become?