While watching the Olympics the other night, I came across an unbelievable sight. It was not a gold medal, nor a world record broken, but a show of someone's strong determination to win.

The event was a swimming and started with only three men on the blocks. For one reason or another, two of them made mistake when they started, so they were kicked out. That would have been difficult enough, not having anyone to race against, even though the time on the clock is what's important.

I watch the man jump into the water and knew right away that something was wrong. Now I'm not an expert swimmer but I do know a good jump from a poor one, and this was not exactly medal quality. When he was swimming, the crowd started to laugh. Clearly this man was not a medal competitor.

      I listened to the crowd begin to laugh at this poor man that was clearly having a hard time. Finally he made his turn to start back. He tried his best, but clearly he was exhausted.

       But when they saw the man keeping on trying , they stopped laughing and beginning to cheer. Some even to stand and say: “Come , you can do it!” and “ Go for it！”

       A few minutes later ,this young man finally finished his race. The crowd went wild. You would have thought that he had won the gold, and he should have. Even though he recorded one of the slowest times in Olympic history, this man gave more heart than any of the other competitors.

       Just a short year ago, he had never swam, let alone raced. His country had been asked to Sydney as manners.

       In a competition where players remove their silver medals feeling they have somehow been cheated out of gold, or when they act so proudly in front of their competitors, it is nice to watch this game.

       A man that gave his all-knowing that he had no chance, but competed because of the spirit of the games.

    On his first day he was inside a church taking photos when he noticed a golden telephone on the wall with a sign that read "$10,000 per call". Jay wasintriguedso he asked a priest (牧师) what the telephone was used for. The priest told him that it was a direct (直接的) line to heaven（天堂） and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. Jay thanked the priest and went along his way.

    Next stop was in Des Moines, and there at a very large church, he saw the same looking golden telephone with the same sign under it. A nearby nun（修女）told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 he could talk to God.

    Jay decided to travel to Australia to see if they had a similar phone. He arrived at Western Australia, and again, in the church he entered, there was the same looking golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read "40 cents per call."

    Jay was a little surprised and asked the priest about the sign. 'Father（神父） Brian, I travelled all over the world and I saw this same golden telephone in many churches. I know it is a direct line to Heaven, but in all of them price was $10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?'

    Father Brian smiled and answered, 'My son, you're in Australia now - this is Heaven, so it's only a local call.'

    Mike and Julia always wanted to be sure they were doing the right thing before they made important decisions.

    When they wanted to buy a car, it took a long time for them to decide which one to buy. They looked at all the different cars carefully. It had to be the right size, the right color and the right price. Finally, they chose the car they wanted.

    When they went out for dinner, it always took a long time before they chose what to eat. They carefully read the menu and discussed all the choices together. They were patient and never in a hurry.

    After a while they had a baby boy, they were happy and called him Jordan. Jordan smiled a lot, but he didn't make any noise. He never cried. All their friends said, "He's such a nice quiet baby!"

    Jordan learned everything that other babies learn. He learned to walk. He learned to go to the bathroom by himself. He learned to sleep in the bed. He learned to sit on a chair and eat at the table. However, he didn't learn how to talk and he still never cried. But Mike and Julia didn't worry about it too much. They just waited. They were confident Jordan would talk one day.

    One day, while eating dinner, Jordan suddenly said, "Mother, I think the soup needs a little more salt."

    Mike and Julia were surprised, "You can talk!" said Julia.

    "Of course I can talk!" said Jordan. "After all, I am three years old."

    "Why didn't you talk before?" asked Mike.

    "I didn't need to," said Jordan. "The food was always good before."

    That year, I was a Junior 2 student. Falling off the stairs hurt me in the head. Almost everyone thought I was dead. But they were wrong. However, it was difficult to get back to normal life. I had to leave school and learn everything, walking, talking, and yes, maths.

    To help me with that task, Mrs. Pillar volunteered to come to the hospital and later to my house once a week. We began with basic maths skills. As time passed by, I made progress.

    I remember very vividly how she came to my home on Sundays, sat with me at the kitchen table and threw different coins on the table. She asked me to show her 38 cents, 17 cents, 63 cents. It was challenging, but she also made it fun.

    After a year and a half, I had progressed a lot, both in body and mind, to return to school. Seven years later, I graduated from the University of Texas at the top of my class.

    As years went by, I always kept in touch with Mrs. Pillar. Unluckily, one day my parents told me that Mrs. Pillar had been in hospital because she suffered a stroke (中风).

    Now it was my turn to help her. Mrs. Pillar lay in bed, unable to speak or know anybody around. I pulled some coins out of my pocket, dropped them on her bed, and asked her to show me 12 cents. The nurse thought that my action was very strange until one day Mrs. Pillar smiled happily as I began working with—just as she had worked with me years before. She made progress every day and was moved out of ICU (重症监护室) and finally out of hospital.

    One day, I called to wish her a happy New Year. She spoke into the phone excitedly, "Happy New Year to you and your family, Michael. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

    Mrs. Pillar was one of my Junior 2 teachers, but she taught me so much more about life than only maths.