When I graduated from college I dreamed of being a television news reporter. Having no experience, I had to work in a small town until I finally got my big break in the form of a job in Boston. I made it.

    Soon, reality set in. I was too often sent to run after accused criminals out of courts, waiting outside of crime scene tape or at the doorstep of a family still crying for tragedy (悲剧). My breaking point came the day I accidentally informed a young woman that her mother died. It was the worst day of my professional life and the day I decided I no longer wanted to shine a light on these stories. My career was ebbing, and at the same time my personal life was too-I divorced.

    My mom had always told me “When you're feeling extremely upset, go help someone else.” So I started seeking out stories of people who had been in the news under tragic circumstances but were doing something inspiring with their lives: a young girl who was paralyzed (瘫痪的) by an accident but was uplifting her classmates with her positive spirit, a blind and autistic (自闭的) musician who learned to play 27 instruments, a disabled soldier who opened his own art studio. I started to tell and promote stories like them.

    Over the last 10 years I have discovered my kindness gift: my ability to see the beautiful side of a person and reflect it back to them and the world. In telling stories of people turning their own hurt into acts of helping others I have become more sympathetic, more grateful and kinder. I have learned kindness is who we are, that our power for it is limitless and that, as we shine a light on it, it grows.

    If you are travelling in Britain, besides so many world-class things to see and do in London, planning a day trip away from it can also be worthwhile.

    Stonehenge

    Stonehenge consists of a group of huge standing stones. The 5,000-year-old stones are one of the world's biggest mysteries that no one has figured out yet. While exploring Stonehenge, you can imagine wildly and decide for yourself how the stones came to be there and why. Although you can't touch the stones, you can walk among them and feel the changes of seasons.

    Windsor

    Most people visit Windsor to see Windsor Castle, where the Queen spends most of her time. The castle itself could keep you busy for days. The best way to appreciate Windsor Castle is to approach via the Long Walk, a straight road where there are no cars, but you might see some deer.

    Oxford

    Oxford is best known for its world-famous university. The large student population keeps the atmosphere young and fresh, though there's no shortage of history if you want it. 30 colleges make up the university itself. A tour of the colleges is a must—Harry Potter fans will recognize various locations used in the movies.

    Bath

    Founded by the Romans, who used the area's springs to create a spa retreat（水疗中心）, Bath's now the best tourist attraction of Southwest England. Visitors never miss the Roman Bath Complex, which is divided into four main parts—the Bath House, the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple and the museum, which displays fascinating finds from the historical ruins of the city.

    We've all experienced the feeling that comes when your phone makes a sound to tell you that its battery level is low. It often comes at the worst times—when you're out on a trip and don't have a charger（充电器）, or when you're expecting an important phone call.

    Indeed, this feeling is so common that South Korean electronics manufacturer LG has given it a name: low battery anxiety（低电量焦虑）.

    According to a survey of 2,000 US adults conducted by the company last year, 90 percent of respondents said that they panic if their battery level reaches 20 percent or lower. And last month, UK telecommunications service provider found that around 15. 5 million Britons live in “constant fear” of their mobile phones running out of power, according to a survey by the company.

    “The problem is not about being unable to make calls, but is rooted in the fact that smartphones are now where we store digital memories,” noted the Daily Mail, However, battery worries don't just affect smartphone lovers. Many owners of electric vehicles also suffer from so-called “range anxiety”. This refers to the concern that the vehicle may not make it to its destination before the power runs out. Meanwhile, it isn't just low power that people worry about. A study carried out by South Korea's Sungkyunkwan University and China's City University of Hong Kong found that many of us also worry about not having constant access to our phone.

    This condition is known as homophobia, short for “ no mobile phone phobia（恐惧症）”. Symptoms include feeling uncomfortable when access to one's phone isn't possible, being unable to turn off your phone, and constantly topping up the battery to make sure it never dies.

    So, why do so many people treat their smartphone with such importance? The reason may be that they keep us connected to the people around us, and if we're unable to use our phone, we feel like we're cut off from our social life.

    With products with bigger batteries being released all the time-such as Xiaomi's Mi Max smartphone range or Tesla's Model S cars-battery anxiety may hopefully soon be a thing of the past.

    A child who suffers bullying(霸凌) usually has low self-esteem and their ability to learn and be successful at school is greatly lessened. Therefore, bullying must be stopped.

    The best and most obvious way to stop bullying in schools is for parents to change the way they raise their children at home. Of course, this is much easier said than done and everyone raises their children differently. Bullies, however, come from homes where physical punishment is used and children have been taught that physical violence is the way to handle problems and “get their way”. Bullies usually also come from homes where the parents fight a lot, so children have been modeled on such violence. Parental involvement is often lacking in bullies' lives and there seems to be little warmth.

    Early intervention (干预) is truly the best way to stop bullying, but parents of the victims or therapists(治疗师) can't alter the bully's home environment. Some things can be done at the school level, however. Most school programs that address bullying apply a multi-faceted(多层面的) method to the problem.

    Hand out questionnaires to all students and teachers and discuss if bullying is occurring. Define exactly what constitutes(构成) bullying at school. The questionnaire is a wonderful tool that allows the school to see how widespread bullying is and what forms it is taking. It is a good way to start to solve the problem.

    Get the children's parents involved in a bullying program. If parents of the bullies and the victims are not aware of what is going on at school, then the whole bullying program will not be effective. Stopping bullying in school takes teamwork and concentrated effort on everyone's part. Bullying also should be discussed during parent-teacher conferences and PTA meetings. Parental awareness is the key.

    In the classroom setting, all teachers should work with the students on bullying. Oftentimes even the teacher is being bullied in the classroom and a program should be set up to teach about bullying. Children understand modeling behaviors and role-play and acting out bullying situations is a very effective tool. Have students role-play a bullying situation.

    A typical school day in the UK starts around 8:30 am. This is often even earlier elsewhere in the world, with students sitting down to their first lesson at 7:30 am in the US. The average teenager ideally needs eight to nine hours' sleep each night, but in reality a lot of teenagers struggle to get this much. A lot of the problems happen because our sleep patterns are not fixed, and they change as we grow.

    So a later school start time could help to solve this problem, by ensuring to get their eight plus hours of sleep and react properly to their body's natural rhythms(规律). There has been a general change over the past 25 years to shorten the school day. This is not at the cost of teaching time (which has remained constant) but at the cost of natural breaks, which has led to reduced lunch time and lesson breaks.

    Later start times could help teens' grades and health. This is mainly because it makes the management of children easier. Managing hundreds of children "playing" requires effective staffing. And there is always the fear that behavior worsens during breaks. So the theory goes that having them in class and strictly managed must be better.

    But this means that students barely have enough time to absorb what they were doing in maths before suddenly they are forced to study ancient history. And teaching staff also move through from one class to another, with hardly a rest or time to refocus.

    Clearly rethinking the school day could benefit everyone included. Anyway, it could also lead to better achievement in teenagers and less of a struggle for parents in the mornings. For teachers, it could also mean a less stressful day all around and what could be better than that?

Jean was a teacher who taught first grade. She drove an old Jetta with dull blue paint and worn seats. It wasn't the speediest tool, but Jean was never late to work. In fact, each school day she was the first teacher to arrive and the last teacher to leave.

She took great care to plan instruction, create assessments, and decorate her classroom. Parents in the neighborhood would beat down the principal's door to have their children arranged to her class. Jean could teach a mouse to read, and all her students passed into second grade with advanced vocabularies and language skills.

One August, two sisters in high school did not want to enter foster care (家庭寄养). They contacted their first grade teacher, Jean. Jean lived in quite an ordinary home with her son. Yet, she took the sisters in. Packed with children, the little blue Jetta sputtered (劈啪作响), but they had a good laugh.

One day, Jean spoke about her car, which she had driven for many years and had been old enough to retire. It was kind of dangerous for students to ride in such a car. She wanted a van. However, a new van was not within her ability. As a good friend, I listened to her concerns. Then, an idea came to me. I wrote a letter to The Oprah Winfrey Show, sharing Jean's story and her wish.

A month passed. Jean was invited to attend The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah hugged the teacher and told the details of Jean's story. Oprah announced that Jean deserved a new van.

The year was 1999. Six hundred miles away, I watched the joy of it all from the television. Jean's big heart taught me many lessons that year. One of them is that the simplest acts (like writing a letter) can require a strong faith. And nothing impossible.