单选题 I was the "I can"t" child-the poster child for the word "can"t. "Whatever my mother told or asked me to do was immediately 1 by my whining, "I caaaaan"t." 2 , very few tasks or goals that I set out to do were ever completed.
One evening, my mother showed me into the family room, where she was reading an article in the TV Guide. "I want you to read this article," Mother began. "It"s about Marlo Thomas. She tells how a short poem that she was forced to learn by her father 3 her life. She went from saying "I can"t" to "I can!"
I took the small 4 from Mother and looked down at the glossy pages. There was Marlo, looking pretty and adorable. Beside her photo was the poem my mother had spoken of: a simple one entitled "I Can."
"I want you to memorize that poem," Mother said firmly.
"Mamaaaaa," I belly-ached. "I 5 learn that poem. It"s too loooong."
"It"s not too long and yes, you can learn it. I want you to know it perfectly by this time tomorrow."
I lowed my shoulders, turned and walked my way back to my bedroom slowly with the magazine loosely held in my small right hand. With a 6 heart, I climbed onto my bed and began my task.
"Can"t is a word that is enemy to 7 ," I began. I repeated the line. I repeated it again and again 8 it held firm in my heart. "An enemy ambush to break your will into pieces... " I continued the process until the following evening, when I proudly recite the poem that has continued to be my motto.
Saying "I can" helped me to survive the 9 moments of my life. Saying "I can" encouraged me to 10 things I would have otherwise seen out of my reach. A simple poem learned at seven is a poem that will support me to seventy-seven. Maybe even farther.