Have you ever left your kids alone at home? Were you worried about them? A few months ago, when preparing for a trip to Barcelona, my husband and I realized that our son was just weeks away from his 18th birthday and that our daughter was enjoying her first year of high school. We thought it was time to leave our kids alone at home. However, we couldn’t imagine leaving them for a few days without our supervision(监管).

After talking with our kids, we decided to travel without them. Before leaving, I wrote a to-do list. I also asked some friends who had children older than mine for advice. One of my friends said, “They will do something dumb. You should prepare yourself for it.”

Sure enough, while we were away, our son locked himself out of our house. Thankfully, he called a relative who had a spare(备用的) key.

While we were away, did they wash their clothes on Tuesday? No, they didn’t. Did they eat the prepared sandwiches in the fridge? Of course not. But when we came home, the house wasn’t in a mess. The kids learned how to look after themselves. In fact, they both expressed how much they loved taking a break from our family life and how much they enjoyed having dinner in front of their favorite movies.

So don’t be afraid. With the right preparation and some practice, you and your children will get comfortable with those days home alone!

A man who was climbing a mountain thought he was alone. But suddenly, he was hit by a falling rock and then, a woman climber fell from above, landing right on him. They were both badly injured(受伤）. His leg was broken. He tried to stand but couldn’t. The woman’s arm was broken and couldn’t climb. What were they going to do?

It was very cold and night was coming. They both knew they wouldn’t live through the night if they didn’t go down the mountain before darkness came.

The woman had an idea. “Look,” she said. “I have two good legs, and you have two good arms. Together, that makes one healthy body.”

They tied themselves together so that he was on her back. Slowly, they climbed down, little by little. Every step was difficult. They had to stop every minute or so, but the man was counting on(指望) the woman’s strong legs and the woman was counting on the strength in the man’s arms to keep them from falling.

When they finally reached the foot of the mountain, they were found and sent to the hospital by the local people. In the end, they were fine.

They both learned a good lesson that day. A good team isn’t made up of people who can all do the same thing. It must be made up of people who can provide many different skills. By using their individual strengths, they went down the mountain safely.

Sometimes in life, we must depend on another person’s strengths to make up for our weakness.

Isn’t it good that we’re not all the same?

An old man who asks for money outside of 7-11（便利店） has made me a believer in sharing with the poor. About a year ago, this old man began to appear on my way to Tali Department Store every Saturday at noon. My lunch break is not very long, the store is some distance from my office, and my Saturday lunch is fairly expensive, so at first I just walked past him or paid no attention to him. But the more often I saw him looking ill-fed and penniless, the more I felt sorry for him.

Finally, I began dropping the change I got after buying my lunch into his white plastic bowl. It felt good to be a little bit generous（慷慨的）, so I started making sure I had change for him before I left the office. Soon he came to recognize me and gave me a joyful thank you.

Now we greet each other like old friends. If I do not see him in his usual place at the usual time, I worry that something bad has happened to him. When I see him back from other posts, I feel comfortable. One interesting thing is that since I started regularly dropping the change into his bowl, I have had a larger, better income（收益） than ever before. That seems strange, but I could be greatly blessed for the small acts of generosity and friendliness I show to “my lucky beggar”once a week.