There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

    He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him, “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”

    He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, “Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered.”

    Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

    It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

    The letter said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from room to room until they fall to pieces!”

    No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.

    Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com.

    Kid of the Year Photo Contest

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    No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. January 23, 2014, and ends January 21, 2016( the “Entry Period”). Entries must be arrived by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2016 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

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    Visit http://www.Facebook.com / Parents Magazine and click the Kid of 2015 tab. Fill out the registration form and upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos must be taken by entrants, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats and cannot exceed 3 MB.

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    LIMIT: One entry per household, per eligible(有资格的) child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one eligible child in the household, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.

Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said: "Make something out of the Tinkertoys. You have 45 minutes today - and 45minutes each day for the rest of the week."

    A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.

    Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time. His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect（感染）other students.

Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare, "But I'm just not creative."

"Do you dream at night when you're asleep?"

"Oh, sure."

"So tell me one of your most interesting dreams." The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. "That's pretty creative. Who does that for you? "

"Nobody. I do it."

"Really-at night, when you're asleep?"

"Sure."

"Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?"

    On Thursday night my two adult children took us out to dinner as our daughter lives in Bathurst and she will be there for Father's Day with her husband's side of the family. Two of our grandchildren were able to join us.

    Having pre-celebrated my Father's Day and it being on our minds, my wife asked this question only this morning:

    "Do you remember anything about your father?"

    While this subject had come up before, however, the question had not been put so bluntly(直率的). I answered "No. My only memory is of the few photos outside." You see, my father died when I was only four years old.

    Many people have lost their father early in life and it is easy to feel somewhat sorry for having to deal with such a situation, especially when the death has occurred when you are at an early age. On reflection, I think I do not remember anything because he passed away when he was a member of the Royal Australian Air Force. He was a Corporal(下士) doing land based duties, however, a medical condition took his life. It was 1942.

    The 2nd World War was in full battle and Australia was being attacked. My Mum and I with my younger brother, were living with my grandparents and I can only imagine the emotional circumstances that existed in the household at that time. Probably not something that would leave a memory.

    What I would like to say at this time, as the question is often asked, "What did you learn from your father?" The thing I learnt from his passing, at the age of 28, is a love of life. What I do remember is growing up wondering if I would live to his age, and after I did, thinking each year the bonus(津贴) of life I had been blessed with when compared to my father.

    I have sometimes felt disappointment in not knowing my father but life has moved on. However, can I say to those who do have fathers, celebrate today with him and return him all the love and happiness he has given to you.

    The fiddler crab (蟹) is a living clock. It indicates the time of day by the colour of its skin, which is dark by day and pale by night. The crabs changing colour follows a regular twenty-four hour plan that exactly matches the daily rhythm (节奏) of the sun.

    Does the crab actually keep time, or does its skin simply answer to the sun's rays, changing colour according to the amount of light strikes it? To find out, biologists kept crabs in a dark room for two months. Even without daylight, the crab's skin colour continued to change exactly on time.

    This characteristic(特性) probably developed gradually in answer to the daily rising and setting of the sun, to help protect the crab from sunlight and enemies. After millions of years it has become completely regulated (受控制) inside the living body of the crab.

    The biologists noticed that once each day the colour of the fiddler crab is especially dark, and that each day this happens fifty minutes later than on the day before. From this they discovered that each crab follows not only the rhythm of the sun but also that of the tides (潮水). The crabs period of greatest darkening is exactly the time of low tide on the beach where it was cought!

    When a terrible earthquake hit, many people were killed and many houses fell down. After the earthquake, all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble.

    One Sunday, when I was reading a newspaper, a special picture touched me. It gave the clothing sizes of each family member. I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than ourselves. I said to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and three-year-old Meghan. "We have so much, and these poor people now have nothing. We'll share what we have with them."

    I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this, I encouraged the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and games and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later she came back with Lucy, her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys. "Oh, dear," I said. "You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much." Meghan said, "Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she'll make another little girl happy, too."

    I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It's easy to give something that we don't want any more, but harder to give what we cherish (珍爱), isn't it?