A while back the following people were instructed to write down their personal thoughts about “Today.” Here are a few of their answers.

* Today, I interviewed my grandmother for a research paper I was working on. I asked her to define Success. She simply said, “Success is when you look back on your life and the memories make you smile.”

* Today I asked someone else what his tips for success were. He replied, “Read something no one else is reading; think something no one else is thinking and do something no one else is doing.”

* Today, after a 72-hour shift at the fire station, a woman ran up to me at the grocery store and gave me a big hug. I tensed up as I didn’t recognize her at all. When she realized this she exclaimed with tears of joy, “On 9-11-2001, you carried me out of the World Trade Center. Thank you so much.” With that she gave me another big hug. This time I got the tears.

* Today, I watched my dog get run over by a car. As I sat on the side of the road, he licked my face right before he died.

* Today at 3 PM I got laid off. On the way home I got a flat tire. When I opened the trunk, the spare was also flat. A man in a BMW pulled over, gave me a ride and as we chatted, he offered me a job. I start tomorrow.

* Today, as my father, three brothers and two sisters stood around my mother’s hospital bed, my mother uttered these final words, “I feel so loved right now. We should have gotten together like this more often.”

* Today in the cutest voice, my 8-year old daughter asked me to start recycling. I smiled and asked “Why?” She said, “So you can help me save the planet.” I then replied, “And why do you want to save the planet?” “Because that’s where I keep all my stuff,” she answered back.

* Today, I kissed my dad on the forehead as he passed away in a small hospital bed. About five seconds after he died, I realized it was the first time I had given him a kiss since I was a little boy.

* Today when I witnessed a 27-year old breast cancer patient laughing hysterically at her 2-year old’s antics, I suddenly realized that I needed to stop complaining about my life and begin celebrating it again.

* Today a little boy in a wheelchair saw me desperately struggling on crutches with my broken leg and offered to carry my backpack and books for me. He helped me all the way across campus to my class and as he was leaving he said, “I hope you get to feeling better soon.” As I walked away, I cried.

* Today I was feeling down because the results of my biopsy came back malignant. When I got home, I opened an e-mail that said, “Thinking of you today. If you need anything, remember I’m only a phone call away.” It was from a friend from high school I hadn’t heard from in over ten years. She became my angel.

* Today as I was walking home, I came across a homeless person who looked extremely hungry. I stopped into McDonald’s and bought him a couple of burgers. After I handed them to him, he got up, walked over to another homeless gentleman and gave him one of his burgers saying, “We can share.” Then they both thanked me. But I was the one that was blest.