I had never expected such an answer from my son.

    I was 28 at the time and my son had just been1 into elementary school, and was sitting on a park bench(长凳) with me, telling me all about his friends and teachers in the new school. He was extremely2 , I could tell. Looking up into the cloudy blue sky while I 3 , I was having a hard time thinking of questions to ask him about his new4 , probably because he was answering every single one of them before I even5  them.

    Being in America, there were people of many different races and 6  that lived here, 7  I decided to ask him about those people. He loved8 , and if he heard someone who had a different 9  or something like that, he would ask them where they were from. It was 10  for me. I thought he was being rude and didn't 11  it. But the people would always12  and tell him where, whether it was the UK, China, you name it. 13 , he would get into his seat in my car and demand that I take him to the 14  so that he could learn about those places. I would 15  do it, giving him every bit of 16  he craved(渴望). He would even tell me fun facts, things that I didn't know about. He was 17  the word “foreigner”, even though he had no idea what it 18 . I signed and spoke, “So, David, are there any 19  at your school?” He looked at me 20  the biggest smile I had ever seen, swing his legs back and force on the bench.

    “No, Daddy. Just kids.”

    Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!

    When I was a senior in high school, I 1 knew I wanted to pursue writing as a career.

    Writing had basically 2 me when I was only 7 years old, 3 since that time, I'd been bombarded(轰炸) by guidance counselors and career planners who all 4 me to have " a back-up-plan" in case writing didn't work out.

    I'd never even 5 a different career path, so I was very 6 and worried. After much thought, I decided 7 would be my "back-up-plan", and I signed up for a class through my high school.

    This8that every morning, I would serve as a teacher's helper for my favorite 6th grade teacher, Mr. Ralston. Morning after morning, I showed up in Mr. Ralston's classroom and9 papers for him.

    Sometimes, I even 10 a lesson or two. It was fun, and the students seemed to like me, so I was surprised when it came time for my 11.Mr. Ralston looked me right in the eyes and asked, "Do you really want to teach?"

    "Had I really been that 12?" I thought.

    "Don't misunderstand. You'll do fine in teaching," he continued. "But, is your 13 really in it?"

    "Not really," I14 "I want to write. I want to write new stories and fiction and poetry and so much more... but I've been told it's tough to make it as a writer 15 I thought maybe I would teach and then use my summers 16 to pursue writing."

    As I shared with Mr. Ralston my hopes, dreams and carefully plotted-out back-up plan, he smiled and said, "Why are you preparing to 17 with this back-up plan? If you want to be a writer, go for it! Pursue writing!"

    Mr. Ralston's 18 to follow my dreams was the little nudge(推动) I decided to help me push past my 19 of not making it as a writer and simply "Go for it!"

    That's what an encouraging word will do when spoken in love in 20 season. So, let's try and be like Mr. Ralston and speak that word of encouragement at just the right time and make a difference in someone's life today.

    It was my first day to Miss Hargrove's seventh grade. Past “newcomer experiences” had been difficult, so I was very1to fit in. After being introduced to the class, I bravely put on a smile and2my seat.

    Lunchtime was a(n)3surprise when the girls all crowded around my table. They were friendly, so I began to4. My new classmates told me about the school, the teachers and the other kids. They5out the class nerd（书呆子）to me: Mary Lou. She was a pretty girl with dark eyes and olive-skin,6she wore a long woolen skirt and an old-fashioned blouse. She looked stupid. The girls whispered and laughed7Mary Lou walked by. She ate alone.

    After school, the girls invited me to8them in front of the school. I was9to be a member of the club. We waited. For what, I didn't know. Then Mary Lou came down the school steps. The girls started10her, shouting rudely, biting comments. I11, and then joined right in. Mean remarks12from my lips. No one could tell I'd never done this before. The other girls stepped back and started cheering for me. Feeling13, I pulled on her backpack and then pushed her. Her backpack broke. Mary Lou fell and I backed off. Everyone was laughing. I14in. I was a leader.

    I was not proud. Something inside me hurt. If you've ever picked a wing off a butterfly, you know how I felt. Mary Lou got up, gathered her books and left without a tear or saying anything. She held her head15as blood ran down from her knee. I16her struggle away down the street.

    I turned to leave with my17friends and noticed a man standing beside his car. He must have been Mary Lou's father—he had the same olive skin, dark hair and handsome look. He remained still and watched the18girl walk toward him. Only his eyes—shining with both sadness and pride—followed. As I passed, he looked at me in silence with burning tears that reminded me of my19.

    Mary Lou's father's eyes taught me a good lesson that day. I never again hurt someone for my own20.

    The family had had a cat for years. Then one day, the children finally1 to persuade their parents to get them a dog as well. So a little Labrador(拉布拉多犬)2.

    The dog was so3that everyone wanted to hold him and he charmed everyone by just loving them. The cat made it very clear that she did not welcome another4 in the house, but the dog just5the cat anyway. The little dog6her everywhere, trying to make friends with the angry cat. No amount of7 behavior from the cat could persuade the dog not to love the cat.

    The family thought the cat would8 like the dog.

    Then one day the family heard horrible9 from their back yard. They ran to the10 to see what was happening. They lived in the suburbs and so they saw a real lynx( 猞猁) was just planning on11 their cat for lunch. The poor cat had nowhere to run or hide. It would only be a matter of seconds and their cat would be12 .

    And then suddenly a black lightning ran to the cat. The little dog13 the big lynx with all its strength. It did not be14or stop to think. It saw its15in trouble and did what had to be done. The family opened the window and started yelling and the father ran to the yard. The lynx soon disappeared into the16 .

    And ever since that day the cat's behavior toward the dog17 totally. Now it was the cat that followed the hero dog everywhere. They18in the same basket. The cat even let the dog eat from her bowl.

    So we can 19: if ever anyone is20 towards you, don't turn your back on them. They may not rescue your life—but their kindness can certainly rescue your day!

Fifteen-year-old Sansa has been writing for eight years and has been working on a book for the past four. Feeling stuck and unable to write, she started searching for writing groups in Los Angeles, looking for guidance. When she found WriteGirl, she was inspired.

Keren Taylor started WriteGirl in 2001 as a way to help teen girls who did not have access to creative writing programs. "Teen girls are incredibly vulnerable(脆弱的) and invisible," Taylor said. "They really need to be lifted up and inspired."

At WriteGirl, 400 women writers volunteer to mentor(指导) 700 teenagers a year. Every girl who has gone through the mentorship program has gone to college and several have pursued careers as professional writers. Through the program, girls dive into poetry, fiction, songwriting, play and so on, learning techniques from professional women writers. This leads to well-rounded training and sets WriteGirl apart from other organizations.

A typical exercise at WriteGirl is mic and rant, a 30-second session before writing for each girl. As a vehicle for teens to get their ideas out, it empowers girls to explore anything meaningful to them. "Not the flowery language, or rather, complicated expressions that sound skillful, but more of the natural, this is what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling." Taylor said.

Sansa's mentor Danyella Wilder is attracted by the long-term nature of mentoring at WriteGirl. Wilder wishes she had a program like this herself when she was 15. "To just have an organization where people are spending their time just to tell you, ‘Hey, good job,' or ‘That was amazing.' You're at the age where you need to hear that."

Rolland and Adeline are proud parents to nine beautiful children. Their youngest two, daughter Lanto, and son, Rindra, were both born with cleft lip（唇裂） conditions. In Madagascar, many families have never seen a cleft lip before, so it's a condition often greeted with fear and misfortune in some rural communities.

However, the news of Lanto and Rindra's cleft lip wasn't much of a shock for Rolland and Adeline because Rolland's cousin—a man in his fifties—had lived his entire adult life with an untreated cleft lip. Although seeing a relative with a cleft lip meant the family weren't fearful of the condition, they knew the negative impact an untreated cleft lip can have on a person's health and life. As any loving parents would, Rolland and Adeline wanted a better future for their children.

Rolland heard an advertisement on the radio about an Operation Smile surgical programme in Antsirabe, Madagascar. Finding out that Rindra and Lanto could have the cleft lip surgery they needed, for free, was a dream for the family. Unlike here in the UK, health services aren't free in many parts of the world, and the costs of treatment—or even travelling to reach medical facilities—are out of reach for most families.

When Rolland and his children arrived at the patient village, they were surprised to see so many other families in the same position. After a thorough medical evaluation by medical volunteers, Lanto was found to be fit enough for surgery, and later got the new smile her parents had dreamed of for her. But, for younger brother Rindra, the journey to a new smile would take a little longer.

Operation Smile has provided hundreds of thousands of safe surgeries for children withc left lip conditions worldwide. For more information about our work or to find out how you can help, visitwww.operationsmile.org .