“Don't you have any toys you want to share?” I asked my son during our church's Christmas toy drive. “What about all those things in your closet you haven't used in years?”

    "I don't have anything,” he said. “We're so poor.”

    We're only “poor” because we refuse to buy him the phone he wants for Christmas, which would also require a monthly texting charge.

    “You're not so poor you have nothing to give,” I found myself saying to him, a phrase my mother often used on me.

    At work the next day, one of my students said, “I didn't spell your name right,” as she handed me a Christmas gift—a box of chocolates. No wonder she hadn't spelled it right—I had only worked at the center for a couple of months, and my name is not easy to pronounce, even in English, which is this woman's second language.

    I hadn't expected a gift—I worked at an adult education center, where we dealt with people who struggle economically. When I was hired, my boss told me she tries to keep snacks around the center and cooks “stone soup” once a week, where whoever can bring something in does, because “You will hear growling bellies here. They give their food to the children before they themselves eat.”

    And yet these people, so grateful for a second chance at getting an education, unable to sometimes even afford the gas money to come in, manage to do something for us nearly every week. Some bring in food; others do chores around the center. They help and encourage one another, and us. They give what they are able to give.

    It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站). “I'm paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”

    It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend's refrigerator: “Practice random(随意的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

    Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse(仓库) wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she'd taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn't know where it came from or what it really meant.

    Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

    “Here's the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies(想象) include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”

    The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!

    Attractions in New York

    Empire State Building

    Towering over 444 meters into the sky, the building has an indoor and outdoor observation deck on the 86th and 102nd floor, where you can see the overall view of the New York City. The building houses more than 1000 businesses. You can buy your ticket online in advance to avoid waiting .Telephone ： 212-736-3100 Location ： 350 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10118.

    Open Hours： 08:00-02:00

    Central Park

    For more than 150 years, visitors have come to Central Park's 843 green acres in the heart of Manhattan. Since 1980, the Park has been managed by the Central Park Conservancy, in partnership with the public. You can visit the official website of Central Park to learn more about Park happenings and activities and to learn how to help Central Park Telephone： 212-310-6600

    Location: 59th to 110th Street, Manhattan Borough from Central Park West to 5th Avenue, New York

    City NY 10022

    Open Hours： 06:00-23:00

    The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum

    The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum is a place of remembrance honoring those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The 9/11 Memorial Museum displays Monumental artifacts linked to the events of 9/11, while presenting stories of loss, sympathy and recovery that are central to telling the story of the 2001 attacks and the consequence. It also explores the global impact of 9/11 and its continuing significance.

    Telephone： 212-312-8800

    Location: 180 Greenwich St. World Trade Center New York City, NY 10007

    Open Hours： 09:00-20:00

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    At New York City's most visited museum and attraction, you will experience over 5,000 years of art from around the world. The Met is for anyone as a source of inspiration, and understanding. You can learn, escape, play, dream, discover and connect.

    Telephone： 212-535-7710

    Location ： 1000 5th Avenue, New York City, NY 10028-0198 Open Hours： 10:00-17:30

    Get ready to fill your days full of fun and adventure. West Dorset, an area of outstanding natural beauty, is always a place to go and there is always something going on. The following are some of the star attractions.

    Mapperton House & Gardens

    Impressive valley gardens surrounded by wooded landscape.

    Gardens open: Daily 11 am -5 pm except Fridays, March to October included.

    Booking through Tel: (0103)959203 or www.mapperton.com

    Bridport Museum

    Local history museum attracts every history lovers. We also have a year-round Local History Centre nearby where you can complete local and family history research.

    Open: Monday-Saturday, April to October included.

    Booking through Tel: (0103) 959711 or www.bridportmuseum.com

    Furlelgh Estate Wine Tours

    Vineyard and winery, producers of the UK's most outstanding wine. Come and see how the 2019 Winemaker of the Year makes wine.

    Open for sales: 11 am-4 pm Fridays and Saturdays, tours at 2 pm.

    Booking through Tel: (0103) 906323 or wwwjurleiehestate.uk

    Old Crown Court and Cells

    Experience two hundred years of shocking crime and punishment. Tours of court room and cells on selected afternoons mid July to end August.

    Open: Tuesday-Sunday, March to September included.

    Booking through www.visitdorset.com

    For all the latest information about attractions including opening times, reasonable prices and special offers，please go to www.visitdorset.com

Dear Alcohol,

    You've been around forever. I can remember all the pain you've caused for me.

    Do you remember the night you almost took my father's life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He's addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went spinning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn't the only one hurt by you that night.

    Do you remember the night of my first high school party? You were there. My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen completely. "I'm so embarrassed," they said as I held their hair back so that they could vomit. "I'm sorry," they said when I called taxies for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. "This won't happen again," they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night thanks to you.

    Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lessons? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car and killed the two people in the other car? He died the next morning too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn't realize her brother was in the midst of it all. She never saw him again. And it's all your fault.

    I wish you'd walk out of my life forever. I don't want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you've caused. Sure, you've made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you've caused in the lives of millions is inexcusable. Stop luring (引诱) in the people I love. Stop hurting me, please.

Sincerely,

Me

    I've come back to check on a baby. Just after dusk I'm in a car down a muddy road in the rain, past rows of shackled(戴镣的) elephants, their trunks swinging. I was here five hours before， when the sun was high and hot and tourists were on elephants' backs.

    Walking now, I can barely see the path in the glow of my phone's flashlight. When the wooden fence post stops me short, I point my light down and follow a current of rainwater across the concrete floor until it washes up against three large, gray feet. A fourth foot twisted above the surface, tied tightly by a short chain and choked by ring of metal spikes(尖刺) When the elephant tires and puts her foot down， the spikes press deeper into her ankle.

    Meena is four years and two months old, still a child as elephants go. Khammon Kongkhaw, her caretaker, told me earlier that Meena wears the spiked chain because she tends to kick. Kongkhaw has been responsible for Meena here at Maetaman Elephant Adventure, near Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, since she was 11 months old. He said he keeps her on the spiked chain only during the day and takes it off at night. But it's night now.

    I ask Jin Laoshen, the Maetaman worker accompany in me on this nighttime visit, why her chain is still on. He says he doesn't know.

    Mactaman is one of many animal attractions in and around tourist-crowded Chiang Mai. Meena's life is set to follow the same track as many of the roughly 3, 800 captive(被捕获的) elephants in Thailand. When Meena is too old or sick to give rides-maybe at 55, maybe at 75she'll die. If she's lucky, she'll get a few years of retirement. She'll spend most of her life on a chain.