Like most people, I was brought up to look upon life as a process of getting. It was not until in my late thirties that I made this important discovery: giving-away makes life so much more exciting. You need not worry if you lack money. This is how I experimented with giving-away. If an idea for improving the window display of a neighborhood store flashes to me, I step in and make the suggestion to the storekeeper. One discovery I made about giving-away is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something back, though the return often comes in an unexpected form.
One Sunday morning the local post office delivered an important special delivery letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post-office box for a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were no boxes left, and that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard (无意中听到) our conversation. “Wasn’t it you that wrote us that letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?” I said yes. “Well, you certainly are going to have a box in this post office if we have to make one for you.
You don’t know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get nothing but complaints.”

像大多数人那样，我自小到大受到的教育都是将生活视为索取的过程。直到年近四十，我才有了一个重要发现：奉献更能使生活精彩纷呈。没钱也无需担心。看看我是怎么试着奉献的吧。如果我灵机一动发现改进隔壁商店橱窗展示效果的主意，我会走进那家店，向店主提出建议。我发现一条有关奉献的定律，那就是，你在奉献的同时绝对不会空手而归，只不过回报的形式往往出人意料罢了。

一个周日的早晨，本地邮局给我家发来一份重要的快递信件，但上面的地址却是我上班的地方。我给邮局局长写了封感谢信。一年多以后，我在开办一家新公司时需要一个邮政信箱。在邮局窗口，我得知所有的邮政信箱都发完了，我得排在很多人后面登记预订新邮箱。正当我要离开时，邮局局长出现在门口。他无意中听到我和邮局职员的对话。“您就是一年前因为邮局将快递信件发到您家里而给我们来信的那位先生吧？”我说正是。“好吧，您一定能够在本邮局得到一个邮箱，我们可以为您特别做一个。您可能不知道这样一封信对我们来说意味着什么。我们通常只会收到投诉。”