I have a blind friend who lives in New York City.1we have never met face to face, we still 2each other frequently. She is a 3lady and has become like a sister to me. Her 4and enthusiastic letters always 5my spirits and the inspiring poems she shares with the world always bring a 6to my face. She is all the more 7due to the fact that she lost her 8halfway through her life. She had to 9her career and relearn to do everything that most of us take for granted. Many would have given up after such a 10but not her.11, she started a glorious new life full of award winning volunteer work. Her12are full of teaching English to new immigrants, giving comfort to 13hearts, writing, serving her religious community, and helping others in 14way she can.

    The light of my friend's example is a beacon (灯塔) that I try to15as well. Whenever I feel too16in my own life I look at the challenges that she has 17in hers. She may have lost her sight but she 18lost her soul. She knows that the eyes that really see are the eyes of the heart, and she does her best every day to follow the 19vision that they give to her. I am sure too that their eyes of the angels watching over her are always filled with tears of20and that their faces are always full of shining smile.

    My 8-hour sleepy voyage finally came to an end after I stepped out of the airport. 1 on the bus, I was waiting anxiously for it to start.

    A woman beside me and her daughter both seemed 2. She told me that her daughter had an upset stomach and would3 continuously; 4, the mother had lost her purse. Apart from a significant 5 of money, the purse also had her phone and a phone number of an important 6. She would meet him for discussing a(n) 7 matter which had to be 8 by tomorrow morning.

    I handed her my cellphone without 9 and told her that she could make any 10 she wanted. I also produced a bottle of water I had in my bag to relieve her daughter of her 11. After making several calls, they finally 12 to the official! They turned to look at me 13 and thanked me many times. The woman tried to 14 for my assistance, but I refused 15 I knew she had lost her money.

    The next morning, I received a call from the mother, saying that they couldn't 16 how much my generous act touched them. They were so 17 that they had taken down my number to thank me. I was astonished to be thanked in this way. I never thought my simple offer 18 so much in her heart. And I thought of how many opportunities for kindness we had lost by plugging into cellphones and being disconnected 19 the reality around us-something with easy 20 may make a big difference to others.

    When most of us get a text message on our cell phone from an unknown person, we usually say "sorry, 1number!" and move on. But when Dennis Williams 2a text that clearly wasn't intended for him, he did something 3.

    On March 19, Dennis got a group text 4 him that a couple he didn't know were at the hospital, waiting for the 5of a baby.

    "Congratulations! But I think someone was mistaken," Dennis6. The baby was born and update texts were 7 quickly from the overjoyed grandmother, Teresa. In her 8, she didn't seem to realize that she was 9 the baby's photos with a complete stranger. "Well, I don't 10you all but I will get there to take pictures with the baby," replied Dennis before asking which room the new 11were in.

    Much to the family's surprise, Dennis stuck to his 12 ! He turned up at the hospital 13 gifts for the new mother Lindsey and her baby boy. Lindsey's husband was totally 14 by the unexpected visit. "I don't think we would have randomly invited him over but we 15 it and the gifts."

    Teresa 16 a photo of the chance meeting on a social networking website 17 by the touching words: "What a 18 this young man was to our family! He was so 19 and kind to do this." The post has since gained the20 of social media users all over the world, receiving more than 184,000 shares and 61,500 likes in just three days.

    I was eleven years old when the fire broke out that year. I stood outside in just my underwear while I watched the 1 that I grew up in rapidly burn to the 2. A few minutes earlier I had been 3 asleep in my nice, warm bed when a 4 woke me up. My mum's bedroom was just next to mine and my brother's. A fire had broken out there and 5 her. While I stumbled(跌跌撞撞地走)around in the 6 and darkness, she ran from room to room quickly waking everyone in the house. The house, however, was over 50 years old and made of wood. Before we could do anything the fire 7 it. We all barely 8 outside before the 9 engulfed(吞没) every room.

    I stood there 10 while the fire destroyed my books, clothes, and toys. I watched 11 while my mum cried and my Dad swore. I 12 what was going to happen to us 13 we had lost all of our things. As I looked around, though, I realized something for the first time: The things that 14 aren't things. I realized at that moment that we were all alive. 15 that was essential had 16 the fire. We would all be around to love each other for many years to come. And that was all that mattered.

    I still think of that fire in the 17 that helped me to become who I am today. It showed me for the very first time what is truly 18 in this life. It helped me to learn that the love we 19 is far more important than the things we 20.

    Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. Each of us fails from time to time. If we are wise, we accept these failures as a 1 part of the learning process. But all too often as parents and teachers we 2 this same right to our children. When I see a child 3 from this kind of pressure, I think of Donnie.

    Donnie was my youngest third-grader. His 4 of failure kept him from classroom games that other children enjoyed. He 5 answered questions ­ he was afraid he might be wrong. I tried my best to build his 6. But nothing changed until midterm, when Mary Anne, a student teacher, was assigned to our classroom. She was young and pretty, and she loved children. My pupils, Donnie included, all 7 her very much.

    One morning, we were working on math problems at the chalkboard. Donnie had 8 the problems with pains-taking tidiness. Pleased with his progress, I 9 the children with Mary Anne and went for art materials. When I returned, Donnie was in 10. He'd missed the third problem. My student teacher looked at me in despair.  Suddenly her face 11. From the desk we shared, she got a container filled with pencils. "Look, Donnie, " she said, kneeling beside him and gently 12 the tear-stained (弄脏的) face from his arms. "I've got something to 13 you." She removed the pencils, one at a time, and placed them on his desk. "See these 14, Donnie, " she continued. "They belong to Mrs. Lindstrom and me. See how the erasers are 15? That's because we make mistakes too. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That's what you 16 learn to do, too." She kissed him and stood up. "Here," she said, "I'll leave one of these pencils on 17 desk so you'll remember that everybody makes mistakes, 18 teachers." Donnie looked up with love in his eyes and a smile.

    The 19 became Donnie's prized possession. That, together with Mary Anne's frequent encouragement, gradually 20 him that it's all right to make mistakes ­ as long as you erase them and try again.

    A sound woke Damian Languell at 8:15 in the morning. It was so 1that he assumed it came from inside his house. As he 2to investigate, he heard another sound, this one coming most 3from outside. Looking out of his bedroom window, he 4a tree covered by smoke about 500 yards away. A car was wrapped around the tree's 5, its engine on fire.

    Languell 6buckets of water and ran to the crash site. The car, a 1998 Buick Regal, was split nearly in two, and the 7was where the driver's seat ought to have been, as if 8there. No one should have 9this crash. Yet there was 16-year-old Quintin Thompson, whose 10face pressed against the driver's side window, in 11pain. Languell, 35, tried to put out the fire with his buckets of water with no 12. "When the flames got into the front seats, I 13I had to get him out of there, he told WAGM-TV."

    In an act that a police report described as showing "complete 14of his own safety", Languell climbed into the Buick's After Thompson was 15of the seat belt with his help, Languell pulled him out and then dragged the teen to 16before the entire car was totally in flames

    Although Thompson 17multiple injuries to his legs, arms and face, a social media post described him as "looking great, smiling and 18." Languell thinks about that day often. "My heart 19Thompson. When you are that close to that level of hurt, you feel the 20to help so directly."