Taking charge of yourself involves putting to rest some common beliefs. At the top of the list is the notion that intelligence is measured by your ability to solve complex problems; to read, write and compute at certain levels; and to resolve abstract equations (方程式) quickly. This vision of intelligence asserts (断言) formal education and bookish excellence as the true measures of self-fulfillment. It encourages a kind of intellectual prejudice that has brought with it some discouraging results. We have come to believe that someone who is very good at some form of school discipline is ''intelligent''. Yet mental hospitals are filled with patients who have all of the professional certificates. A truer indicator of intelligence is an effective, happy life lived each day and each present moment.

If you are happy, if you live each moment for everything it's worth, then you are an intelligent person. Problem solving is a useful help to your happiness, but if you know that given your inability to solve a particular problem you can still choose happiness for yourself, or at a minimum refuse to choose unhappiness, then you are intelligent. You are intelligent because you have the ultimate weapon against the big N.B.D. — Nervous Break Down.

''Intelligent'' people do not have N.B.D.s because they are in charge of themselves. They know how to choose happiness over depression, because they know how to deal with the problems of their lives.

You can begin to think of yourself as truly intelligent on the basis of how you choose to feel in the face of trying circumstances. Everyone who is involved with other human beings in any social context has similar difficulties. Disagreements, conflicts and compromises are a part of what it means to be human. Similarly, money, growing old, sickness, deaths, natural disasters and accidents are all events which present problems to actually all human beings. But some people are able to make it, to avoid abandoning themselves to depression and unhappiness despite such occurrences, while others collapse or have N.B.D.s. Those who recognize problems as a human condition and don't measure happiness by an absence of problems are the most intelligent kind of humans we know; also, the most rare.

“Why is life worth living?” If you ask this question, you will get different answers.【小题1】 But we have put together a few reasons from different people as to why life is worth living.

Learning. This is the reason we heard from school and college-going kids.【小题2】. Right from studies to games, the eagerness (渴望) to do better and learn more makes their lives worth living.

【小题3】. When we speak to a few office workers and professionals, this is the reason they give. The ability to create things, that is a weekly report or a new document or a painting or composing a new song seemed to make life worthwhile for many.

New Opportunities. This is another reason that is put forth by people in different professions. Both professionally and personally, these people look forward to moving ahead and getting appreciation. They like to catch the new opportunities life throws at them which can make their lives worth living.

Exploring. Some people just like to say that they want to explore more and discover new horizons. Touring around the world, learning about the world history and visiting the most famous places do make life worth for many people.【小题4】.

Love. Well, this reason is an evergreen one. Life is worth living for the loved ones around, that is a wife/husband, children or friends.【小题5】. Being able to love someone and being loved back can certainly makes life worth living.

About 15 years ago, when my children were still in elementary school, I was very active in the Parent Teacher Association. At one of the monthly meetings the topic of discussion was the new curriculum (课程) that the state of Michigan was presenting. Many concerns were voiced at that meeting, and one of them was my own. My concern was that the children were being taught things that were once taught at a much later age.

Let’s face it: children today have to learn and adapt to a more technological society, one where if you’re not a peak performer you’re just not well received. Some say that the children of today have it so much easier than 10—20 years ago. They’re given so much more, not having to work for their toys and little extras. They sit all day long in front of a computer playing games… How hard can that be?

I, for one, think that today’s child is missing out on so many wonderful experiences because of technology. What type of people skills are they learning? They can thumb type faster than any other generation before them, but they can’t pick up the phone and have a really deep conversation.

There is an elementary school not far behind my home and I used to see children on the playground every day. Weekdays and weekends, there would be children playing, shouting with joy. But now I don’t see many children there after school, nor on the weekend. Has the playground gone from our children’s life?

I know many teachers, some of whom are my friends, may throw a shoe at me when I say play doesn’t always need to have a purpose. And it doesn’t always have to have a teaching module included. To compete in today’s world, the children have to be experts at multitasking, and on top of their game at all times. I, for one, think this is a shame.