故事说的是一个终于从越南战场上回国的士兵，他从旧金山打电话给他的父母。
“妈妈爸爸，我回来了，但我有个请求，我想要带个朋友回家。”
“没问题，”他们回答，“我们很高兴见他。”
“你们还应该知道，”儿子继续说，“他在战斗中受了重伤，他踩上了地雷，失去了一只胳膊和一条腿。他没有地方可去，我想让他和我们一起生活。”
“我听到这些感到和遗憾，儿子，或许我们可以帮他找到住的地方。”
“不，妈妈爸爸，我想让他和我们住在一起。”
“儿子，”父亲说，“你不知道你在问什么，有这样残疾的人将是我们的沉重负担，我们有我们自己的生活，我们不能让这样的事情打扰我们的生活。我想你应该马上回家，并把这个人忘掉，他会找到靠他自己生存的办法的。”
说道这儿，儿子挂断了电话，父母没再得到儿子的消息。然而，几天后，他们接到了一个旧金山警察局打来的电话，他们说，他们的儿子坠楼身亡了，警方认为是自杀。这对悲伤的父母飞到了旧金山，他们被带到了市里的停尸房去辨认他们儿子的尸体。他们认出了自己的儿子，但让他们吃惊的是，他们还发现了一些他们过去不知道的一些事情，他们的儿子只有一只胳膊和一条腿。
故事中的父母跟我们许多人一样，我们更喜欢结交一些英俊、有趣的人，但我们不喜欢给我们带来不便，或让我们感到不舒服的人。我们不愿与那些不和我们一样健康，一样美丽，一样聪明的人交往。值得感激的是，还有一些人不是那样对待我们，他们无条件地爱我们，他们欢迎我们和他们住在一起，不管我们的境遇如何。
Determination
In 1883， a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.
Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington， an up and coming engineer， that the bridge in fact could be built.
Working together for the first time， the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration， and the headiness of a wild challenge before them， they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.
The project started well， but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage， which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
“We told them so.”
“Crazy men and their crazy dreams.”
“It’s foolish to chase wild visions.”
Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.
He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends， but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room， with the sunlight streaming through the windows， a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.
It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this， he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.
He touched his wife’s arm with that finger， indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.
For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife’s arm， until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man’s indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work， and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.
Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.
Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life， our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence， no matter what the odds are.
Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.