Bees are more than just honey-makers, They are essential pollinators (传粉者) that help maintain the balance of our ecosystems and the diversity of our crops. Bees are among the most diverse and plentiful insects on Earth, with over 20,000 species worldwide. They belong to the order Hymenoptera (膜翅目昆虫), which also includes wasps, ants, and sawflies.

Bees have evolved to feed on nectar (花蜜) and pollen from flowers, and in doing so, they transfer pollen from one flower to another, enabling fertilization (受精) and reproduction. This process, called pollination, is essential for the survival of many plants, especially those that produce fruits, nuts, seeds, and vegetables that we eat.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), bees and other pollinators affect 35% of global agricultural land, supporting the production of 87% of the leading food crops worldwide.

Pollination also enhances the quality and quantity of the crops, as well as their resistance to pests and diseases. Without bees and other pollinators, our food supply and our biodiversity would be at risk.

Unfortunately, bees are facing many threats, such as habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, diseases, and invasive species. The FAO estimates that 16.5％ of vertebrate (脊椎动物) pollinators and 40% of invertebrate pollinators, such as bees, are facing extinction. This could have serious consequences for our food security, our livelihoods, and our environment.

Therefore, it is important to protect the bees and their habitats, and to raise awareness about their role and value.

One way to appreciate and support the bees is to learn how to identify them and observe their behavior. You might be surprised by the diversity and beauty of the bees that visit your backyard, garden, or balcony.

Ralph Emerson once said that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to be useful, to be loving, to make some difference in he world. While we appreciate such words of wisdom, we rarely try to follow them in our lives.

Most people prefer to live a good life themselves, ignoring their responsibilities for the world. This narrow perception of a good life may provide short-term benefits, but is sure to lead to long-term harm and suffering. A good life based on comfort and luxury may eventually lead to more pain be-cause we spoil our health and even our character, principles, ideals, and relationships.

What then, is the secret of a good life? A good life is a process, not a state of being : a direction, not a destination. We have to earn a good life by first serving others without any expectation in return because their happiness is the very source of our own happiness. More importantly, we must know ourselves inside out. Only when we examine ourselves deeply can we discover our abilities and recognize our limitations, and then work accordingly to create a better world.

The first requirement for a good life is having a loving heart. When we do certain right things merely as a duty, we find our job so tiresome that we'll soon burn out. However, when we do that same job out of love, we not only enjoy what we do, but also do it with an effortless feeling.

However, love alone is insufficient to lead a good life. Love sometimes blinds us to the reality. Consequently, our good intentions may not lead to good results. To achieve desired outcome, those who want to do good to others also need to equip themselves with accurate world knowledge. False knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance. If love is the engine of a car knowledge is the steering wheel(方向盘). If the engine lacks power, th car can't move; if the driver loses control of the steering, a road accident probably occurs. Only with love in heart and the right knowledge in mind can we lead a good life.

With love and knowledge, we go all out to create a better world by doing good to others. When we see the impact of our good work on the world we give meaning to our life and earn lasting joy and happiness.

Is forgiveness against our human nature?To answer our question,we need to ask a further question:What is the essence of our humanity?For the sake of simplicity, people consider two distinctly different views of humanity.The first view involves dominance and power.In an early paper on the psychology of forgiveness,Droll (1984)made the interesting claim that humans' essential nature is more aggressive than forgiving allows.Those who forgive are against their basic nature,much to their harm. In his opinion,forgivers are compromising their well-being as they offer mercy to others,who might then take advantage of them.

The second view involves the theme of cooperation,mutual respect,and even love as the basis of who we are as humans.Researchers find that to fully grow as human beings,we need both to receive love from and offer love to others.Without love,our connections with a wide range of individuals in our lives can fall apart.Even common sense strongly suggests that the will to power over others does not make for harmonious interactions.For example,how well has slavery(奴隶制) worked as a mode of social harmony?

From this second viewpoint of who we are as humans,forgiveness plays a key role in the biological and psychological integrity of both individuals and communities because one of the outcomes of forgiveness,shown through scientific studies,is the decreasing of hatred and the restoration of harmony.Forgiveness can break the cycle of anger.At least to the extent the people from whom you are estranged(不和的)accept your love and forgiveness and are prepared to make the required adjustments. Forgiveness can heal relationships and reconnect people.

As an important note,when we take a Classical philosophical perspective,that of Aristotle,we see the distinction between potentiality and actuality.We are not necessarily born with the capacity to forgive,but instead with the potential to learn about it and to grow in our ability to forgive.The actuality of forgiving,its actual appropriation in conflict situations,develops with practice.