I learned how to accept life as it is from my father. However, he did not teach me acceptance(接受) when he was strong and healthy, but rather when he was 1 and ill.
My father was once a strong man who loved being active, but a terrible illness 2 all that away. Now he can no longer walk, and he must sit quietly in a chair all day. Even talking is 3 One night, I went to visit him with my sisters. We started talking about life, and I told them about one of my 4 . I said that we must very often give things up as we grow—our youth, our beauty, our friends—but it always 5 that after we give something up, we gain something new in its place. Then suddenly my father 6 up. He said, “But, Peter. I gave up 7 ! What did I gain?” I thought and thought, but I could not think of anything to say. 8 , he answered his own question.
