It started with a dogwood (山茱萸) tree. I was in Ohio when my mother died on a cold day in February, and everything was ______. A few weeks into my sadness, my uncle ______ planting a tree in her memory. He had ______ my parents decades before during a California spring. They drove down a neighbourhood street lined with blooming dogwood trees and ever since, the sight of a dogwood ______ him of my mom.

We planted the dogwood in my garden. It was as ______ as my mother’s arms. Planting a living thing to ______ her short and hard life ______ my heart. This tree would be a symbol of her, something I could ______ despite all I’d lost.

As a young adult, I was never good at cultivation (栽培)—opportunities, relationships, flowers. Because of distance and poor health, my ______ with my mom never got the chance to blossom like I’d ______. But my mom’s dogwood grew. Its roots pushed into the hard soil; its white blossoms exploded like stars every June. This tree gave me ______ that life goes on in spite of the past.

Soon I began buying other plants, and they suddenly grew well under my ______. And I grew, too, learning how to tend them. So many lessons that my mother must have known but didn’t have time to ______, I applied to my own life.

I believe this is my mother’s ______ she gave to me after death—the ability to make flowers appear out of dirt. It is her reminder to find the good in whatever I’m handed, and a(n) ______ that wherever she is, it is beautiful.

Though she has been gone for more than 14 years, I can still find her in my garden.

Once I took a taxi to a hotel in Palm Springs to give a speech. The _______ appeared to be in his 60s and I remember thinking how _______ he was to keep doing this boring job. 

_______, it turned out that he was the retired CFO of a major Chicago-based company. He took a part-time job as a taxi driver, so he could _______ new people and stay in touch with the world. He even _______ giving some good advice to me, a financially inexperienced _______. 

I believe every person deserves _______, and that I can always _______ something new from everyone else. Now, I make a point of listening to people about their _______. From taxi drivers to cleaning women, each person gives me a chance to indirectly visit a place or do a thing I might never ________ myself. I find that most people are ________ if I show an interest in, and respect for what they say. 

Respect doesn’t mean we have to ________ but that we disagree in a polite manner. My work is in high-speed electronic communications, where misunderstandings are common and can lead to ________ disagreements. 

Whether it’s on the Internet or in person, when I meet new people, ________ I’m open, curious and polite, I can learn ________ things. I believe it’s important to treat every person with respect.

If you hear about Matt Cox’s response to his daughter, who was suspended (暂停) from her school bus for bullying , you are likely to have an opinion about his actions.

Matt Cox ___________ his ten-year-old daughter Kirsten, who had ___________ bullied her classmates on the bus, to ___________ five miles to school in 2℃ weather. He drove behind her, filmed her walk, and ___________ the video to social media.

Matt who considered his ___________ a “life lesson” said, “She has been kicked out of the school bus for the second time this school year, because she ___________ another student from getting off the bus.”

“Last Friday, when my daughter brought home her ___________ for her bus suspension, she said, ‘Daddy, you are going to have to take me to school next week’. As you see, this morning she is ___________ a lesson,” said Matt.

In order to teach his daughter to be ___________ for her behavior and be aware of her ______________ for bullying her classmates, Matt ______________ her transportation to school, ____________, he made her walk. Many parents ______________ his actions, celebrating his “tough love”, while experts disapproved of his ______________ response, insisting that by publicly ______________ his daughter, he did more harm than good.

However, Matt didn’t ______________ their judgments. “I hope the video can lead parents to hold their children responsible for their own ______________. I am just a father trying to teach my daughter that life has standards for our actions and we have to pay for the ______________ of breaking them. It’s important to be kind and ______________ to others, because words and actions have strong effects on others, and some can be very ______________ and destructive.