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在生活中，我們的行為說明了我們的為人。我們的行為留下了一道真實的印記，讓別人知道我們是誰、會成為怎樣的人。“空說不值錢”這句話似乎早就過時了，但它的確有道理。行為的分量遠遠超過了語言！
I teach economics at UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.
His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: "Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," I said. "I choose to be cheerful."
"Let me give you an example," I continued. "In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.
"As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the Provost's office asked me what had happened.'This is my lucky day,' I replied, smiling.
"'Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?' She was puzzled.'What do you mean?'
'I live 17 miles from here.' I replied.'My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn't. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient fashion.'
The secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class." So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn't the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student's observation that I was cheerful.
An Indian wise man once said,"Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." I suppose it must be so.
