Learn English with American Primary School Textbooks

Chapter 44 Literature and Art (9)
Poor people are very remarkable people.We went out one night and brought back four people from the street, one of whom was in critical condition.So I told the nuns, "You take care of the other three, and I will take care of this endangered man." And so I did for her all that my love could do.I put her on the bed and saw such a beautiful smile on her face.She held my hand and just said "thank you" and died.I couldn't help examining my conscience in front of her.I asked myself, what would I say if I were her?The answer is simple, I try to draw attention to myself by saying I'm hungry, shivering, dying, in pain, whatever.But she gave me more and more—she gave me her gratitude.She died with a smile on her face.So did the man we brought back from the drain.At that time, he was almost completely eaten by bugs, and we took him home. "I've been living like an animal in the street, but I'm going to die like an angel, loved and cared for." It's so good, I saw the greatness in him, that he could say if that is the case.He died like that, blaming no one, cursing no one, wanting nothing.Like angels - that's the greatness of our people.So we believe what Jesus said - I'm hungry - I'm naked - I'm homeless - I'm not wanted, loved or cared for - and yet you I did it all.

I guess we're not really social workers.In people's eyes, maybe we are doing social work, but in fact, we are really just practitioners in the center of the world.Because, 24 hours a day, we touch the body of Christ.I think in our big family we don't need guns and shells to break the peace, or bring it - we just need to come together, love each other, and bring back peace, joy, and vitality to the souls of every family member world.In this way, we will be able to defeat all the evils that exist in the world.

I am going to use my Nobel Peace Prize money to build a home for the homeless.Because I believe that love begins in the family, and if we can build homes for the poor, I think the love will spread far and wide.And we will bring peace and be a gospel to the poor through this love of generosity.First for the poor in our own family, then for our country, and for the poor of the world.In order to do that, sisters, our lives must be tied to prayer, we must be one with Christ to understand and share, because to be united to Christ means to understand and share.Because there is still so much misery in the world today... When I bring a hungry man from the street, give him a plate of food, a piece of bread, I can satisfy him, I can drive away his hunger.But when a person sleeps on the street, feeling unwanted, unloved, intimidated, outcast by society—this kind of poverty is heart-wrenching, unbearable.So let's always meet each other with a smile, because a smile is the beginning of love, once we start loving each other naturally, we will think of doing something for each other.

Exercise
Read stories about Mother Teresa.

15 Do I Need To Like Myself?Do you have to like yourself?
Yes! People who don't like themselves are a pain in the neck!

Usually, people with a poor self-image use one of two irritating strategies. They either:

a) criticize you a lot or
b) they criticize themselves a lot.
STRATEGY A: They criticize you a lot. They figure that by criticizing other people they can feel better about themselves.
Let's take Fred, who feels inferior. Fred thinks he has a big nose and piggy eyes. He also secretly feels a bit stupid.
So what's his strategy to feel better about himself? He criticizes all his friends. He has names for them like “Flathead”, “Chicken Legs” and “Dogbrain”. Whenever someone else makes a mistake, he announces it to the whole class. (He probably doesn't even realize he criticizes people—or why he does it.)

If you have parents, friends or brothers and sisters who don't like themselves—they might criticize you and everyone around them. Just remember that they criticize you because they have a problem. If you remember that they are actually hurting inside, you won 't get so upset by their behaviour.
STRATEGY B: Some people who don't like themselves criticize themselves a lot. They use reverse psychology
Take Mary who doesn't like herself. She's always telling you "You are prettier than me. You are smarter. Nobody likes me." She's hoping that you will reply: "No Mary! You are clever. You are beautiful." After a while, people like Mary get on your nerves!

In a nutshell, When we don't like ourselves, we irritate other people. We also put ourselves through a lot of stress. When we accept ourselves a little better, we don't play these games.
How Can I Like Myself?

In our hearts, most of us believe we should be doing better. We think that we should have gotten higher grades. We want to be popular and hang out with the “in” crowd. We feel we don't measure up to our parents ' expectations. Our parents help to confirm this idea when they ask: "Why can't you be more like your brother?"

Whenever you are feeling low, be your own best friend. Accept that, up to now, you have lived your life the best way you know how. No one sets out to screw up their life! Like anyone, you've done the odd stupid thing. With more information you'll likely do better in the future.
Liking yourself means forgiving yourself. If you have made some serious mistakes, if you have hurt some people—and yourself—feeling guilty won't help.
If you are feeling guilty about something, you have already suffered enough. Being guilty for another six months won't help anybody.
Forget perfection and aim for improvement. It's a funny thing. When you forgive yourself for your own mistakes, you automatically begin to let others off the hook for the same things.
"But I'm Not Brilliant"

You might look at yourself and say: "I'm not as beautiful as my sister, I'm not as talented as my friends and I'm not brilliant at anything! How can I feel good about me?"

Fact: Nobody is good at everything and most of us have those thoughts!

But here's the lowdown! Talent and beauty are very useful—but there are plenty of talented and beautiful people around whom we don't necessarily admire. And some of them are a pan in the butt!

The qualities most of us value above all others are honesty, courage, persistence, generosity and humility. Take a look at this list and you'll find something interesting. You aren't born with these things. You develop them. Anyone can have them! If you want self-respect, and respect from others, you don't have to be an Einstein or a super-model.
You simply work at developing your own honesty, determination, generosity, humility and courage. It is called “character”.
In a nutshell: How you feel about yourself is in your hands.
Vocabulary
Irritating ["iriteiti?] adj. Stimulating, annoying, making angry;

v. to irritate, to provoke
Strategy ["str? tid? i] n. strategy, strategy

criticize ["kriti"saiz] vt. criticism, criticism, comment;

vi. to criticize, to criticize

nutshell ["n?t-?el] n. The shell of nuts, small things, small containers;

vt. generalize
Screw [skru:] vt. Rotate, twist, squeeze, force;
n. screw, miser, spiral
automatically ["?:t?"m? tik? li] adv. Automatically, mechanically, unconsciously;

adj. Without thinking

persistence [p? "sist? ns, -"zis-] n. Continue, persist, stubborn
Humility [hju: "mil? ti] n. Humble, humble

Practice
1. Why Fred criticizes all his friends?

2. Why Mary always praise others?

3. What qualities that most of us value above all others?

Translation
Indeed!People who don't like themselves are annoying!
Usually, people who don't feel good about themselves use one of two strategies: they're always critical of others, or they're always critical of themselves.

Strategy [-]: Always find fault with others.They think they can feel good about themselves by finding fault in others.

For example, Fred, he felt inferior to others.Fred felt that he had a big nose, two pig eyes, and secretly felt a little stupid.

What would he do if he wanted to feel better?So I picked all my friends' faults and gave them some strange names, such as "crew head", "chicken leg", "dog brain" and so on.Whenever someone made a mistake, he announced it to the class. (He probably didn't even realize he was criticizing someone, or why he was doing it.)
If your parents, friends, or siblings don't like themselves, they're likely to pick on you and everyone around them.Remember, they pick on you because they have a problem.In fact, they have hurt inside, remember this, and you will not be particularly upset by their behavior.

Strategy [-]: Some people who don't like themselves always say that they are not good.Their psychology is just the opposite.

Take Mary for example, she doesn't like herself.She always said to others "You are prettier than me. You are smarter than me. No one likes me".In her heart she wished the answer would be something like, "No, Mary! You're smart and beautiful." It didn't take long for someone like Mary to be a nuisance.

In short, if you don't like yourself, you will bother others, and you will also be under a lot of pressure.Be nice to yourself, and you won't play those annoying tricks.

How can I like myself?

In their hearts, most people think that they should be better than they are now.We think test scores should be higher.We want to be popular, to be with the "trendy" people.We feel that we fall short of our parents' expectations.Parents also confirmed this.They'll ask, "Can't you learn a little more from your brother?"

Whenever you feel bad, you have to be your closest friend.Acknowledge that you are living your life the best way you know so far.Nobody wants to sabotage their own life on purpose.You've done weird and stupid things like everyone else.If you know more, you will do better in the future.

Liking yourself means forgiving yourself.Guilt doesn't work if you've made a serious mistake, if you've hurt someone else, hurt yourself.

If you feel guilty about something, you've suffered enough.Another six months of guilt will be useless to others and to myself.

Forget perfection, aim to improve.This is a very interesting thing.Once you forgive yourself for your mistakes, you automatically stop holding others accountable for the same mistakes.

"But I'm not very good..."

(End of this chapter)