朴实的父亲，朴实的爱。我们每一个人又不曾从父亲那里得到一生用之不尽的财福——做人的道理——无论干什么工作，首先要诚实。

I shook hands with my father in the truck, and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to say a little to me. “I can’t tell anyhting,” he finally said, “I never went to college, and none of your brothers went to college. I can’t say ‘Don’t do this or do that.’ because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up. I can’t help much with money either, but I think things will work out.”

He gave me a new check-book(支票薄). “If things get pushing, write a small check. But when you write one, send me a letter and let me know how much. There are some things we can always sell.”

His words made me think of the four years at college. All the checks I wrote were less than a thousand dollars. My patr-time jobs such as reading to the blind students and sitting with the teachers’ kids filled in the financial gaps(经济不足).

“You know what you want to be, but whatever you do, to be honest always comes first.” my father went on. “When you get a job, be sure to work hard.” I knew that soon I would be alone in the big town, and I would be missing the cool winds and a life where your thinking was done for you.

Then my dad reached down beside his seat and brought the old broken Bible(《圣经》) that he had read so often, the one he used when he wanted to look something up in a friendly argument with one of the neighbors. I knew he would miss it. I knew, though, that I must take it.

He didn’t say “Read this every morning”. He just said, “This can help you if you will let it.”