At the age of ten, I hated a girl. She liked to point out my shortcomings (缺点). Week by week, her list grew: I was very thin; I wasn't a good student; I talked too much; I was lazy and so on. Finally, I became very angry. I cried and ran to my father.
After listening to me, he asked, "Are the things she said true or not? Lyn, do you ever think what you're really like? Well, you now have that girl's opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and see what are true."
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I found that half the things were true. I couldn't change some of them (like being very thin), but I could change most of them. Suddenly, I wanted to change.
I showed the list to Dad. He didn't take it. "That's just for you，" he said, "You know better than anyone else the truth (真相) about yourself. But you have to learn to listen. When something said about you is true, you'll find it will be helpful to you. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know. It is the right thing to do."
Dad's advice has came to my mind at many important moments. In my life, I've never had a better piece of advice than this one.
