I hit a stranger as he walked by me, “Oh, excuse me.” I said. He replied with a smile and said, “Please excuse me too. I wasn’t watching out for you.” We said sorry to each other and went our own ways.

Later that day, when I was cooking, my daughter was standing too close to me. When I turned to reach for some milk, I nearly knocked her over. “Move out of the way!” I shouted. She walked away sadly.

While I was in bed that evening, my husband said to me, “While dealing with a stranger, you were polite, but with a daughter you love, you were unkind. Your daughter brought you some flowers that she picked herself this afternoon. You’ll find them in the kitchen by the door.”

I quietly went to my daughter’s bed. “Dear, I’m so sorry,” I said, “Are these the flowers you picked for me?”

She said, “I found them by the tree. I picked them because they’re pretty like you. I knew you’d like them.”

I replied, “I’m really sorry for the way I acted today. I shouldn’t have shouted at you.”

“It’s okay. I love you anyway,” she said as she kissed me.

It’s important and necessary for us to be kind to our loved ones. Everyone can live in a happy family if they do like this.

Each of us has dreams and goals for our future. What makes us study and make progress each day is closely connected with our personal dream and goal.

But why do you have dreams and goals, you still end up with nothing? What separates successful people from the dreamers is their persistent (锲而不舍的) action. When you learn your lessons in school, you must work hard and not give up. You will often find some of your lessons very hard. Try and keep trying, and you’ll be sure to successfully deal with any difficulty you meet with. If we have a hard lesson today, we should try to learn it well and then be prepared for a harder one tomorrow.

This is the famous formula (公式) for success:

Dream > Believe > Achieve

Most people have what they want (Dream) and think they can realize their dreams (Believe). And then they do nothing. They just imagine their dreams can come true. When they get tired waiting and lose a lot, they get bored. They say angrily how terrible their life is.

I personally believe that if you really want to achieve your dreams and goals in life, you have to add one thing to your success formula:

Dream > Believe > Act > Achieve

For me, act is the most important thing for success and that’s to Take Persistent Action (Act). If you say, “I can’t do it” and give up, you can never do anything valuable. However, “I’ll try” creates wonders. Let’s remember that there will be obstacles (障碍) in our life. We must face them bravely and solve them. Success is not something that falls down from the sky. Most successful people made their dreams come true because of their persistent action.

Please remember: Action is the bridge that connects our dreams to reality.

Growing old is something that happens to all of us. But many people often think older people are physically weak, helpless or unable to do anything meaningful. How do you feel about getting old? I once chatted with my grandma, Solveig King, to find out her opinions.

Born in 1927, my grandma grew up in America during the Great Depression (大萧条) of the 1930s and World War Ⅱ. There were no outdoor lights and no running water. “But it was a very happy childhood: snow every winter and always sunshine in summer, enough food, but no luxuries (奢侈品),” she said. This explains where she got her habit of keeping old boxes and never wasting any food.

In 2015, I went to live with my grandma for a few months. We would sit together and read books, go to the swimming pool, watch some travel programs on TV, do some gardening and then do it all again the next day. It was quite fun!

Now 96 years old and in a wheelchair, Solveig can’t go swimming anymore, but she still keeps up with her other hobbies. “I don’t feel ‘old’, just a little disabled! But I never wish I could do something I know I can’t do.” And she keeps a curious and adventurous (冒险的) mind. “Soon, I’ll need to live at a nursing home for two weeks while my family is away. I’m excited because I’ll get to learn all about old people!” she said. How active she is! I seem to know that getting old is not close to the end of life but a process of finding the beauty of life.