My fifteen-year-old son has just returned from abroad with rolls of exposed film and a hundred dollars in uncashed traveler's checks, and is asleep at the moment. Obviously, he postponed as much sleep as he could: when he walked in and we hugged, his electrical system suddenly switched off, and he headed directly for the bed, where I imagine he beat his old record of sixteen hours.
It was his first trip overseas, so weeks before it, Ipressed travel books on him, and a tape cassette(盒式磁带) of useful French phrases and advised him on clothing and other things.
During the trip, he called home three times: from London, Paris, and a village named Ullapool. Near Ullapool, he climbed a mountain in a rainstorm that almost blew him off. In the village, a man spoke to him in Gaelic, and, too polite to interrupt, my son listened to him for ten or fifteen minutes, trying to nod in the right places. The French he learned from the cassette didn't hold water in Paris. The French he talked to shrugged(耸肩) and walked on.
When my son called, I sat down at the kitchen table and leaned forward and hung on every word. When I interrupted him with a" Great!" or a" Really?" I knocked a little hole in his communication. So I just sat and listened. I have never listened to a telephone so attentively and with so much pleasure. It was wonderful to hear news from him that was so new to me. In my book, he was the first man to land on the moon, and I knew that I had no advice to give him and that what I had already given was probably not much help.
The unused checks are certainly evidence of that. Youth travels light. No suitcase, not much luggage and a slim expense account, and yet he went to the scene, and came back safely. I sit here amazed. The night when your child returns with dust on his shoes from a country you've never seen is a night you would gladly turn into a week.
As a person who is graduating from high school very soon, I have some suggestions for those in high school or those who are soon going to be high school students. I am sure others can benefit from reading them and will not make similar mistakes like me.
Do not value the first impression highly. Don't reject a person or an idea too early just because you immediately get a bad impression. You will miss many opportunities because of that. Although something seems bad at the first impression, it does not mean it is bad all the time. Try to give everything a fair chance.
Don't try to please everybody. There is no way you can please everybody or get everybody to agree with you. It is a huge waste of time.
Have respect for authorities （权威 人士）. No matter how much you may dislike them, just remember that teachers care about you and they are only doing their jobs. Don't argue with them.
Realize high school is not the real world. The real world isn't a closed environment. What is rewarded in high school such as popularity and agreement is different from what is rewarded in the real world. If high school isn't working out for you, you may find yourself better at handling the real world.
A. Do not be too quick to judge.
B. Just learn to say the word "No" a lot.
C. Listen to their advice and consider it carefully.
D. Many of them are based on regrets that I have.
E. Bad habits are hard to break and remain with you for a long time.
F. It is a free society where people accept responsibility for their actions.
G. Don't spend any effort trying to please others who will never like you.
