Neither rain nor snow nor the dark of night can separate Tennessee postal carrier “Mailman Mike” from his 4-and-a-half-year-old friend Carter Lawson – or keep them from their appointments.

    For the past nine months, the two have teamed up every day in the preschooler's Knoxville neighborhood for a few minutes of delivering mail together and chatting with fellow neighbors. Lawson wants to be a mail carrier when he grows up, and in an inspiring story, his mom told us how mailman Mike Crenshaw has been a role model to her son. “Anyone could just be like 'Go away, kid', but Mike has really gone out of his way to talk with Carter,” said Cassie Lawson of the United States Postal Service carrier. Little Carter even got his own uniform to match Mike's. “It's been really cute. I just couldn't believe he got a full mailman's costume,” the postal service employee said.

    “Every letter carrier has stops he looks forward to and this is the one I look forward to every day,” said Mike. “He's the end of my day, and the best part of my day. Not because it's the end, but because he's such a cute little guy.”

    The man and the little boy's connection isn't a surprise to Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers. “Kids respond to mailmen because letter carriers are a friendly, uniformed part of the neighborhood who bring something to their house every day, and are someone they come to recognize and trust,” Rolando said. “It's the same for the elderly, but in addition, letter carriers may be the only person they communicate with all day.”

    In a world today of immense technology, population growth and economic flourish, planning for future residential (适合居住的) and commercial developments needs careful analysis with well thought through assumptions about effects on the environment and the people of the community.

    One example of a growing city is Wooster, Ohio, my place of residency, Wooster in the last five years has grown considerably in population, leading to a growth in commercial business. Surrounded by farmland, Wooster's planning commission chose to extend the community into these farm areas in the form of residential and commercial areas.

    Picture this—corn fields, old trees, clean air, country roads, and wildlife are all part of the area. Within four years, the people living on this farm step outside on their front porch to view an extensive shopping center containing Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Wendy's, TCBY, and a Cinemark movie theatre. The once quiet road is now a city street with traffic lights, busy with automobiles day and night. The air smells of car exhaust and fast food.

    Some destruction of farmland is unavoidable when a city expands. Instead of expanding outward, planning commissions should consider interior(内部的) remodeling of a city. Tearing down unusable buildings could remodel many areas inside the city. In addition, commercialized buildings could extend upwards to avoid unnecessary use of land.

    Environmentally, commercial expansion is harmful to the land. Besides forms of pollution, wildlife, including both plants and animals, is put at risk. A planning commission could have realized the benefits of environmental protection. Why not preserve the beauty and naturalness of the land while at the same time allowing for growth?

    With a steady growth of population and the need for more homes and more workplaces, many problems arise when planning for the future. The hillsides, fields and animal habitats need to be preserved while expanding cities. In the future, a world covered with concrete and asphalt（沥青）could become reality. Serious research and analysis are needed when planning for the future of our home communities and for the entire globe to avoid such a miserable result．

    Last week I was riding my special motorbike and then stopped at a convenience store. As I was getting my wheelchair off the back, a man watched me from his car and I noticed a wheelchair in his back seat. We spoke for a moment and I asked him about the wheelchair. He answered that it was for his daughter. “Well, do you think she would like to go for a ride on my motorbike with me?” I asked. He seemed shocked that a total stranger would ask him this. He thought about it for a second and said, “OK, as long as I can follow you.”

    He introduced me to Amy and he sat her on my back seat. Her father followed me for a few miles and she talked non-stop about what she wanted for Christmas.

    As we came back to the convenience store, she said, “This ride is the best Christmas present I could ever receive. I have been in a wheelchair my whole life and didn't know I could do this.” I told her about some of the other things I do (ski, travel the world by myself, etc.). As her father was taking her off my bike, she turned to him and said, “Oh Daddy, I'm going to be OK. Mr. Bryant does all kinds of things, and I will too.” Her father turned away as a tear of joy rolled down his cheek. He hugged me and said, “I was sitting here praying for a gift for Amy that would encourage her. She often felt that her life was dull compared to other children. God answered my prayer just now. Now I pray that God will bless you for your gift to Amy today.” I believed what he said. Being kind and thoughtful to others, we can be an answer to prayer.

    Of all the mountain gorillas that veterinarian Mike has treated in the past 18 years, a gorilla named Ijabo stands out the most. When Ijabo was three days old, an examination showed that one of his legs was badly damaged. Mike removed Ijabo's leg below the knee. Five years later, Mike says Ijabo is doing well. “I still see him every now and again,” Mike told TFK. “It's heartwarming.”

    Mike is a co-director of Gorilla Doctors. The organization provides medical care to ill and injured mountain and Grauer's gorillas. Its 16 veterinarians work in national parks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. For years, the apes have fallen victim to habitat loss, poaching, and disease. According to their website, Gorilla Doctor's task is to save the apes “one gorilla at a time”.

    The doctors treat mostly gorillas that are accustomed to humans. Trackers, guides, and veterinarians check on habituated gorillas in the field several times each week. Sometimes, a gorilla has a medical problem that requires treatment.

    That calls for an intervention. A helper shoots the animal with a dart(飞镖). If the gorilla appears to have a serious but treatable illness, the dart contains antibiotics to fight off infection. If it appears to need surgery, the dart contains a drug that leaves the gorilla unconscious and unable to feel pain.

    Although the gorillas are critically endangered, there are signs of hope, thanks in part to Gorilla Doctors. The mountain gorilla is the only great-ape species whose population is growing.

    “Habituated mountain gorillas are increasing by 4% each year, which is as fast as the human population is growing globally,” Mike says. He notes a recent study that credits the work of Gorilla Doctors for 50% of that growth. He is proud of the role his team has played in making it happen.

    I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt's house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.

    I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving and never to come back was hardly in my head then.

    The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism（乐观）, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times.”

    My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers（移民局官员）, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.

    From my experiences I have learned one important rule: Almost all common troubles go away at last! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.

    There are always stories in the life that can hardly be forgotten and will restore our hope for holidays every time we recollect.

    Johnny and I, along with our two young sons, Barry and Doyle, lived in a village in southern Alabama in 1979. We had bought the boys a bicycle for the New Year, and had hidden it in the garage ,where Johnny would assemble (组装)it on New Year⁵ s Eve after the kids fell asleep. But that day, Johnny had to go to Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, an hour away, to repair a jet. I had my hands busy with baking, preparing for holiday dinner and caring for two energetic boys.

    Just as I was making the chocolate cake, a neighbor knocked on the door. It was Beatrice, who was the only person on our road with a telephone. The base had called to say that a heavy tool had come apart suddenly, hitting Johnny's arm and breaking the bone. My brother Otto took me to the base hospital while my mother stayed with the children.

    We got there to find Johnny with a cast (石膏)on his arm, anxious to get home regardless of the doctor's orders. It was New Year's Eve, Johnny argued, and he had the bike to assemble for his boys. The doctor said he'd consider dismissing him the next morning if Johnny could find someone to drive him home. On New Year's morning, Johnny called the base and was told everyone was off duty; there was no one to drive him home. Johnny kept making calls. At last, a big blue car with the Air Force sign rolled up.

    I was putting dinner on the table when hearing the car. We were thrilled to see Johnny assisted by a uniformed Air Force officer. With Otto's help, Johnny assembled the boy's gift, and they all had a good time that afternoon. Our hearts were full of gratitude to the people who had gone the extra mile to bring us together.