Another few years had passed when a friend’s husband died. Pat had been a well-respected doctor at a big hospital， and hundreds of cards were sent to the family. Among them was a sym pa thy card from a plumber who had once worked at their house. He wrote that when Pat had paid the bill， he wrote on the invoice， “Thank you for a good job.”
“Thank you”——the two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
许多年前，当我刚走出校门在丹佛工作的时候，有一次我驱车去密苏里州的父母家过圣诞节。我在距离俄克拉荷马州加油站50英里的地方停了下来，计划去拜访一位朋友。我将油箱加满，排队站在收银机前，主动向一对也在付油款的老年夫妇问好。
我发动汽车离去，但没走几英里远，浓烟便从我汽车的排气管中冒了出来。我把车开到路边，开始考虑下一步该怎么办。
一辆车紧接着我的车停了下来。是我在加油站里打过招呼的那两位老年夫妇。他们说会把我送到朋友家。在去城里的路上我们交谈着，当我走下车时，那位老年男士递给我一张他的商业名片。
后来我写了一封信对他们给予我的帮助表示感谢。不久我收到他们寄来的圣诞包裹。包裹中有张便条，上面写着：“为你提供帮助让我们的假日生活变得更有意义。”
很多年过去了，一天早上，我开车去附近一个城镇开会。傍晚的时候我回到车旁，发现车灯亮了一天，蓄电池已经没电了。但是很快我发现“伏特经销处”就在隔壁。我走过去发现店里没有顾客，只有两个销售人员在展示厅里说话。
“不知你们伏特公司能否帮我一下？”我边问边解释了我的困境。
他们很快开着一辆轻便小货车来到我的汽车旁，接上跳线电缆，然后发动我的汽车。他们没有收取任何报酬，当我回到家后，我写信向他们表示感谢。
我收到了一位销售人员的回信。他说，没有人曾经花费时间写信给他向他表示感谢，而我的感谢信对他来说意味深长。
几年后，一个朋友的丈夫帕特去世。他曾经是一家大医院中一位德高望重的医生，此时家里收到数百张卡片。卡片中有一张上面充满同情的话语，是曾经在他家干过活的一位水管工寄来的。他提到帕特付账单时在发票上写道：“谢谢你完美的工作。”
“谢谢”——这是两个很有分量的字。它们虽然很容易说出口，但却意味深长。
Leaders
领导者
A teacher assigned her 8th-graders to pick a leader and write an essay. Most kids wrote about famous people， but a student named Julius titled his pa per“Benny： The Man on the Bus.”
“I’ve been taking a public bus to school for years，”he wrote. “Most passengers were going to work and almost no one ever talked to anyone else.
“About a year ago， an elderly man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver， “Good morning！”Most people looked up annoyed and the bus driver just grunted1.
“The next day the man got on at the same stop and again he said loudly，“Good morning！”to the driver. By the fifth day， the driver greeted the man with a cheerful “Good morning！”and the man said loudly， My name is Benny. What’s yours”“The driver said his name was Ralph.
“That was the first time any of us heard the driver’s name and soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Ralph and Benny. After about a month， Benny extended his cheerful “Good morning！”to the whole bus. Within a few days his ‘Good morning！’was returned by a whole bunch of ‘Good mornings’and the entire bus seemed to be friendlier.
“If a leader is someone who makes something happen， Benny was our leader in friendliness.
“A month ago， Benny didn’t get on the bus. Some of us thought he died and no one knew what to do. The bus got awful quiet again. So I started to act like Benny and say，“Good morning！”to every one and they cheered up again. I guess I’m now the leader.”
一位老师给她八年级的学生们出了一个作文题：我心目中的领导者。大多数孩子写的都是名人，但一名叫尤利斯的学生的文章标题却是“本尼：公共汽车上的那位老人”。
“几年来，我一直坐公共汽车上学，”他这样写道，“大多数乘客都是赶去上班，彼此之间几乎从不说话。”
“大约在一年前，一位老人上了车，他大声地对司机说了一句‘早上好！’。不少人用反感的眼神瞅着他，就连司机也不满地嘀咕着。
“第二天，老人在同一站上了车，他又大声地向司机说了声‘早上好！’到了第五天，司机竟也愉快地问候了他一句 ‘早上好！’老人大声说：‘我叫本尼。你叫什么？’司机回答说他叫拉尔夫。
“那是我们所有人第一次听到司机的名字。此后不久，车上的人们就开始彼此交谈并跟拉尔夫和本尼打招呼了。大概过了一个月左右，本尼快乐的‘早上好！’的问候感染了整个车厢。几天后，他那句‘早上好！’就得到了所有人的回应，整辆车上的气氛似乎也更友好和睦了。
“如果领导者是指那些促使事情发生的人，那么本尼就是使我们深受感染的友善的领导者。
“一个月前，本尼不再乘车了。乘客当中有人猜他死了，谁也不知道该为此做些什么。车里又恢复了可怕的寂静。所以我开始像本尼那样和所有人说‘早上好！’，于是他们又都振奋起来了。我想现在我就是领导者。”
Who packing your parachute？
谁为你的降落伞打包？
Charles Plumb， a U.S. Naval Academy graduate， was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions， his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile.He was captured and spent six years in a Communist prison.
One day， when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant， a man at another table came up and said，“You’re Plumb！ You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down！”
“How in the world did you know that？” asked Plumb.
“I packed your parachute，” the man replied. “I guess it worked！” Plumb assured him，“It sure did—if your chute hadn’t worked， I wouldn’t be here today.”
Plumb couldn’t sleep that night， thinking about that man. Plumb said， “I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform. I wondered how many times I might have passed him on the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning， how are you or anything because， you see， I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.”
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship carefully weaving the shrouds3 and folding the silks of each chute， holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know.
Everyday we may make it through in safety. But when the day ends， most person will think what they obtained or what they lost. Maybe we can change our minds： Today we can lay on our comfortable bed just because other’s help and we never know who he is.
毕业于美国海军军官学校的查尔斯？普拉姆，在越战期间是一名喷气式战机飞行员。在完成75次作战任务后，他的飞机被地空导弹击落。他被抓获并在北越监狱待了六年。
有一天，当普拉姆和他的妻子在一家餐馆用餐时，另一张桌子的一个人走过来对他说：“你是普拉姆吧？在越南的时候你在小鹰号上驾驶喷气战机。后来你被击落了！”
“你到底是怎么知道这些的？”普拉姆吃惊地问。
“你的降落伞就是我打的包，”那个人回答，“我想你的降落伞没出问题吧！”普拉姆肯定地告诉他：“一点问题也没有，不然，今天我也不可能在这儿了。”
那个晚上普拉姆辗转反侧。他说：“我不停地想他穿海军制服时的样子。我很想知道在小鹰号上我有多少次经过他的身旁。我很想知道有多少次我可能看到过他却从没对他说一句早上好之类的问候。如果说到原因，你看，仅仅因为我是飞行员而他是水手。”
普拉姆想那个水手不知道花了多少时间待在航母深处的某张长木桌旁， 在那儿他认真仔细地编织吊伞索并为每个降落伞打包。在他手里的每个降落伞都影响着那些与他素未相识的人的生命。
每一天，每一个人都可能平安度过。然而，一天结束后，许多人会斤斤计较于得失，或许我们可以换个角度想一想：今天我们又能舒适地躺在自己的床上，是不是因为有什么人帮过我，而我却对此一无所知？
Learning to Listen
学会聆听
We all know what it’s like to get that phone call in the middle of the night. This night was no different. Jerking up to the ringing summons， I focused on the red， illuminated numbers of my clock. It was midnight and panicky thoughts filled my sleep-dazed mind as grabbed the receiver.
“Hello？”My heart pounded and I gripped the phone tighter.“Mum？”The voice answered. I could hardly hear the whisper over the static. But my thoughts immediately went to my daughter. When the desperate sound of a young crying voice became clear on the line， I grabbed for my husband and squeezed his wrist.
“Mum， I know it’s late. But don’t ... don’t say anything until I finish. And before you ask， yes I’ve been drinking. I nearly ran off the road a few miles back and…”I drew in a sharp， shallow breath， and released my husband. Sleep stillfogged my mind， and I attempted to fight back the panic. Something wasn’t right.
