My kids and I were heading into the supermarket over the weekend. On the way, we spotted a man holding a piece of paper that said, “_______ my job. Family to Feed.”

At this store, a _______ like this is not normal. My 10-year-old noticed him and make a _________ on how bad it must be to have to stand _________ in the cold wind.

In the store, I asked each of my kids to _______ something they thought our “friend” there would _________. They got apples, a sandwich and a bottle of juice. Then my 17-year-old suggested giving him a _________. I thought about it. We were _______ on cash ourselves, but… well, sometimes _______ from our need instead of our abundance is ________ what we need to do! All the kids __________ something they could do away with for the week.

When we handed him the bag of ________, he lit up and thanked us with ________ eyes. When I handed him the gift card, saying he could use it for __________ his family might need, he burst into tears.

This has been a wonderful ________ for our family. For days the kids have been looking for others we can ________! Things would have played out so __________ if I had simply said, “No, we really don’t have __________ to give more.” Stepping out not only helped a brother in ________, it also gave my kids the __________ taste of helping others. It’ll go a long way with them.

   Since finishing my studies at Harvard and Oxford, I’ve watched one friend after another land high-ranking, high-paying Wall Street jobs. As executives (高级管理人员) with banks, consulting firms, established law firms, and major corporations, many are now ____ on their way to impressive careers. By society’s ____, they seem to have it made.

On the surface, these people seem to be very lucky in life. As they left student life behind, many had a ____ drink at their cheap but friendly local bar, shook hands with longtime roommates, and ____ out of small apartments into high buildings. They made reservations at restaurants where the cost of a bottle of wine ____ a college year’s monthly rent. They replaced their beloved old cars with expensive new sports cars.

The thing is, a number of them have ____ that despite their success, they aren’t happy. Some ____ of unfriendly coworkers and feel sad for eight-hour workweeks devoted to tasks they ____. Some do not respect the companies they work for and talk of feeling tired and ____. However, instead of devoting themselves to their work, they find themselves working to support the ____ to which they have so quickly become ____.

People often speak of trying a more satisfying path, and ____ in the end the idea of leaving their jobs to work for something they ____ or finding a position that would give them more time with their families almost always leads them to the same conclusion: it’s ____. They have loans, bills, a mortgage (抵押贷款) to ____, retirement to save for. They recognize there’s something ____ in their lives, but it’s ____ to step off the track.

In a society that tends to ____ everything in terms of dollars and cents, we learn from a young age to consider the costs of our ____ in financial terms. But what about the personal and social costs ____ in pursuing money over meaning? These are exactly the kinds of costs many of us tend to ignore — and the very ones we need to consider most.

   When I was about 12, I had an enemy. A girl liked to point out my _____ Week by week her _____ grew: I was very thin; I wasn’t a good student; I talked too much; I was too _____ , always feeling superior to others, and so on. I tried to hear all these as long as I could. _____ , I became very angry. I ran to my father with _____ in my eyes.

He listened to me _____ , and then he asked, “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever _____ what you’re really like? Well, you now have that girl’s _____. Go and _____ a list of everything she said and mark the points that are ______. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”

I did ______ he told me. To my great ______, I discovered that about half the things were true. I couldn’t ______ some of them, but a good number I could — and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I had a fairly ______ picture of myself.

I brought the list back to Daddy. He ______ to take it. “That’s just for you,” he said. “You know the truth about yourself ______ than anyone else. But you have to learn to ______, not just close your ears in ______, feeling hurt when something said about you is true, and you’ll find it of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your affairs. Don’t ______ your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”

Daddy’s advice has always ______ me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.