An old carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer（雇主）of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more relaxing life with his wife and children. He would miss the paycheck,but he needed to retire. They thought they could support themselves for the rest of their life.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house. The carpenter said yes,but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He turned to bad workmanship and used poor building materials.

It was an unlucky way to end his working life. When the carpenter finished his work and the employer came to see the house,he handed the front door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said," my gift to you."

What a shock！What a shame！If he had only known he was building his own house,he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted（不专注的）way,willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that,we would have done it differently.

It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more,that day deserves to lived with dignity（尊严）.

The sentence on the wall reads,"Life is a do-it-yourself project. "Who could say it more clearly?Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and choices you make today.

Once there was an honest milkman（送奶工）named Deenu. He treated every person kindly, but sometimes he got cheated. He felt very sad. One evening, after selling milk, he met a wise man and said, “but there are so many bad people who only care about themselves. What can I do?”

The wise man smiled and said, “I can see that you’re a good man. Answer a few questions first. Did you smile at all the customers who came to buy your milk today?”

“Sometimes, but not all.” Deenu replied.

“When you smiled, did they smile back?” the man asked.

“Yes, they were very nice people.”

“For those people you didn’t like, did you show them a smile first?”

“Not really — why should I?” Deenu asked.

“What if you gave them a smile as well?”

“Well. they...they might smile back,” Deenu said.

“That’s it. If you really want to do something for the world, you can start with yourself. You can’t decide how other people act, but you can decide what you do.” the wise man said.

When the new term came, I had a new classmate, a little old lady with a warm smile. She said, “Hi, handsome! I’m Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can I give you a hug (拥抱)?” I said, “of course!”

“Why are you in college at such an age?” I asked.

She joked, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have children and then travel around.” “No joke,” I said.

“I always dreamed of having a college education (教育). Now I’m getting one!” she told me.

Over the year, Rose became an icon (偶像). She easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she enjoyed the attention from other students.

At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our party. I will never forget what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. Here are the secret of staying young. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You have got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.

“There is a big difference between growing old and growing up. Anybody can grow old. That doesn’t take any talent or ability.” She added. “But to grow up, you have to find the chances in change. Have no regrets (后悔，遗憾). We usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we didn’t do.”

One week after graduation (毕业), Rose dies peacefully in her sleep. She taught us by example that it’s never too late to be all you can possibly be.