Earlier this year Rodney Smith Jr. made headlines when he drove eight hours from his home in Huntsville. Alabama, to cut the lawn for an elderly soldier in North Carolina who couldn't find anyone to help him with his yard work.

That wasn't the first time the twenty-nine-year-old Bermuda native had gained such attention. To do his good deeds, Rodney often finds leads for those in need through social media.

Back to one August afternoon in 2015, Rodney Smith Jr. was driving home. That's when Rodney saw an elderly man struggling to mow his lawn. He would take a couple of shaky steps, using the handle to stabilize himself, pause, then slowly push the mower again. Rodney decided to help. Mr. Brown thanked him greatly, and Rodney went home feeling satisfied.

Sitting at his computer to do his homework, Rodney couldn't get Mr. Brown out of his mind. There must be many Mr. Browns out there. He went online and posted that he would mow lawns for free for senior citizens. Messages flooded in.

One day a cancer-battling woman said she wasn't having a good day. Rodney decided to do more than mowing lawns. After he finished mowing, he knocked on her door. "You're going to win this fight, Madam", he said. Then he asked folks to pray for her on social media.

Word of Rodney's mission spread. A grandmother in Ohio said he'd encouraged her 12-year-old grandson to mow lawns. He got a letter from a seven-year-old boy in Kansas. "Mr. Rodney, I would like to be a part of your program, and I'll make you proud," he wrote.

That gave Rodney an idea. In 2017, he decided to establish a programme Raising Men Lawn Care Service to make a national movement for young people. The kids learn the joy of giving back.

Yard work seems like a small, simple thing, but taking care of the lawn means a lot to the people they do it for. "When we mow their yards for free, they can use the money for healthcare and food etc. It means more than you would think," Rodney said.

As an only child, Nicole Renae often felt lonely in her youth. But that all changed when she turned ten. For her birthday, Renae's grandmother 1 her with an adorable gray 2 named Chloe.

From the very start, the two were 3 . "She was my best friend," Renae said. Every ounce of love Renae gave, the little dog returned tenfold.

But when Renae was 14, her father 4 a new job that came with a shocking warning: He'd be working at home, and the house needed to 5 noise disturbance.

"Chloe was very noisy," Renae said. "I was just a kid, so I didn't have any 6 in the matter. I didn't want to 7 my dog. I just felt so sick and 8 about it. With no easier option, the family sent Chloe to a humane society.

9 , Renae grew up, got married, and had a child of her own. But her family didn't feel quite complete. Remembering the 10 that having a dog had brought her as a kid, Renae wanted her daughter to 11 the same. She had it in her mind that she would 12 a puppy, but then one day she saw a post on a social media platform about a 13 dog that needed a new home. The dog in the photograph looked a lot like Chloe —she was even named Chloe. In an instant it was 14 : She would adopt this older dog.

When she met Chloe, the dog seemed so familiar. And Chloe appeared to feel the same 15 about Renae. Soon Renae cried with excitement because she felt so lucky to have Chloe again.

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums (脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—actually as big as our boat—was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves. "She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe—and to give us a trusting (信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.

The Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu is often called the sage(圣人) of poetry. Unlike Li Bai, this poet wrote in various styles, and his works were often innovative(创新的) in language and subject matter. His poems were also filled with meaning. 

His innovation was not at all welcome. The readers of his time rarely showed much appreciation of his original and innovative works. The masses in fact hated and scolded them. Like many artists, Du Fu was only recognised for his genius long after his death. 

Du Fu was born in Luoyang, Henan Province. Although he came from an influential literary family, his early attempts to gain a position in the government by way of the exam system failed repeatedly. He was 43 years old when he finally managed to hold an official position. This was the time when Emperor Xuanzong was attracted to the beautiful Yang Yuhuan and made her his concubine(妃子), which Du Fu severely criticised in his Song of the Beautiful Ladies. 

As the emperor got distracted from important government affairs, some military leaders were becoming too powerful. Du Fu took office in 755, and in the same year a rebel(叛乱) leader An Lushan led his army into the capital of Tang Dynasty. The emperor fled to the west and left the governing of the state to his son. Du Fu and his family took the road north to escape the rebels. 

The poet left his family and tried to get to the headquarters of the new emperor, but he was caught and held prisoner by the rebels in Chang'an. After order was restored again, Du Fu got back his position in the capital. However, he did not enjoy the favour of the new emperor and was given a minor provincial post. In 759 he finally left this disgraceful position and spent the rest of his life wandering around the country. 

At my first lesson in Chinese calligraphy, my teacher told me plainly: "Now I will teach you how to write your name. And to make it beautiful." I felt my breath catch. I was curious.

Growing up in Singapore, I had an unusual relationship with my Chinese name. My parents are ethnically Chinese, so they asked fortune tellers to decide my name, aiming for maximum luck. As a result, I ended up with a nonsense and embarrassing name: Chen Yiwen, meaning, roughly, "old", "barley （薏米） "and "warm".

When I arrived in America for college at 18, I put on an American accent and abandoned my Chinese name. When I moved to Hong Kong in 2021, after 14 years in the States, I decided to learn calligraphy. Why not get back in touch with my heritage? I thought.

In calligraphy, the idea is to copy the old masters' techniques, thereby refining your own. Every week, though, my teacher would give uncomfortably on-the-nose assessments of my person. "You need to be braver," he once observed. "Have confidence. Try to produce a bold stroke （笔画）." For years, I had prided myself on presenting an image of confidence, but my writing betrayed me.

I was trying to make sense of this practice. You must visualize the word as it is to be written and leave a trace of yourself in it. As a bodily practice, calligraphy could go beyond its own cultural restrictions. Could it help me go beyond mine? My teacher once said to me, "When you look at the word, you see the body. Though a word on the page is two-dimensional, it contains multitudes, conveying the force you've applied, the energy of your grip, the arch of your spine." I had been learning calligraphy to get in touch with my cultural roots, but what I was really seeking was a return to myself. Now I have sensed that the pleasure out of calligraphy allows me to know myself more fully.

During a recent lesson, my teacher pointed at the word I had just finished, telling me: "This word is much better. I can see the choices you made, your calculations, your flow. Trust yourself. This word is yours." He might as well have said, "This word is you."

In 1984, I was a painfully insecure teenage girl from a dysfunctional family, depressed, underweight, and rejected by my classmates. My only comfort was to be the stage manager at our school.

One day, actors from the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival came to perform for the school. One of them was Barry Kraft, and he was unlike anyone I'd ever met. As I ran around backstage helping him, he treated me with friendliness and respect that he would show for friends in his living room.

He showed up at our drama class and asked everyone to narrate a monologue (独白). To my shock, he took me aside after class and said, "Your monologue was the best. That was really very good."

I made it through graduation and got accepted to college. That summer, I traveled with a friend to see Mr. Kraft perform. During one performance, I gathered up my courage and dropped him a note during the break, saying I was visiting and if he looked he could see us. Almost immediately I regretted sending the note. I thought it was the most presumptuous (冒失的) thing I had ever done.

At the end of the show, he was waiting for me! He smiled broadly and gave me a hug. Then he said, "Would you like to visit backstage?" And off we went. Every time we met someone, he introduced me and said, "She's a very good performer who was a huge help to me at her school visit."

It is difficult to describe how important this man's attention was to me. A successful actor doesn't have to give a depressed teenager the time of day, but he did far more. My confidence had just increased 800 percent. I am now a happily married professional, and whenever I notice a teenager in need, I remember Barry Kraft. He saw a teenager in need of attention and support, and he took the time to help. So now I take the time, too.