One day, Sam was on his way to a nearby town when his car broke down in the middle of nowhere. He tried to fix it but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Just then, a middle-aged woman passing by saw him struggling and approached him. She asked if he needed help, and Sam felt relieved.

The woman inspected the car and found out that the engine had blown up. She told Sam that she knew a mechanic in the nearby town who could repair the car.

The woman took Sam to the mechanic, and he got his car repaired. When Sam asked for the bill, he found that he left his wallet at home and didn’t know what to do. The mechanic told him that the middle-aged woman had already paid for it. Sam was surprised and didn’t know how to repay her.

However, the woman refused to accept any payment from him, simply smiling and saying, “You don’t have to pay me back. Just promise me that you’ll pay it forward to someone else in need when you can.” Sam was touched by her kindness and accepted her help.

Feeling grateful and inspired, Sam continued his trip to the town. Going through all these things, he felt a bit tired and stopped at a nearby cafe to have a rest. When he was about to leave, he noticed that the waitress was pregnant (怀孕的) and struggling to carry a tray of food to a table. He sympathized with her very much and went to help her carry the food without hesitation.

The waitress was surprised and thanked Sam for his friendliness. She asked him why he was being so kind to her, and he told her about the middle-aged woman who had helped him earlier and how he wanted to pay it forward.

When he arrived home, his wife asked him how his trip went.

Sam felt proud of the chain of love that he had started, which had spread far and wide.

After working many years in a large hospital, my work as head nurse in a small local hospital turned out frustrating. Occasionally we lacked supplies or equipment and sometimes the food was less than desirable. The biggest problem was the lack of qualified help. Still, everyone working there had a genuine love for the patients, and did their best to care for them.

Alice, a tiny, elderly lady with bright blue, twinkling eyes, was everyone’s favorite. Her only living relative was her son Jack, a large, tough man. Tattoos (纹身) covered his arms and an untidy beard grew wildly on his chin. No matter how cold the weather was, he always wore a tank top shirt so the snake artwork could be admired by all. He wore faded jeans, so stiff with thick dirt that they could have stood alone. His loud and rude manner frightened most of the staff.

But this large man loved his tiny mother. Every day, he roared up to the hospital entrance on his old motorcycle, pushed open the front door, and walked with heavy steps down the hall to her room, his loud boot heels announcing his arrival. He visited at unpredictable hours so he could surprise anyone who suspected him of not taking proper care of his mother. Yet, his gentleness with her amazed me.

I made friends with Jack, figuring I’d rather be a friend with a man like him, than an enemy. And I, like everyone else, truly loved his mother.

One particularly bad evening at the hospital, three nurses called in sick, the food carts came late and cold, and one of the patients fell and broke his hip. Jack came in at suppertime to help his mother with her meal. He stood and looked at me in surprise as I busily tried to do the work of three nurses. Exhausted, and near to tears, I avoided his stare.

After the patients were finally fed, bathed, and put to bed, I sat at the desk and put my head down on my arms for a few moments’ relaxation before the night shift arrived.

Suddenly, the front door burst open.

Putting down the rose on my desk, he turned around and left.

Molly was a single mother of two. She was new here so she didn’t interact much with her neighbors. However, she’d heard a lot of rumors (谣言) about her 82-year-old neighbor, Mr. Palmer. Some neighbors said he was spiritually sick. However, when she first saw Mr. Palmer, she did feel he was strange with his lonely lifestyle.

One day, Molly ran into Mr. Palmer. He was standing by a signal light and glancing around even after the light went green. Molly realized he needed help to cross the street, so she approached him. “Mr. Palmer. I’m Molly. I’ve only lately moved here. Can I help you?” she asked gently. The old man smiled at her. “Oh, Molly! Yes! Would you mind helping me cross the street?” “Of course not, Mr. Palmer,” she smiled. As they reached the other end of the street, Mr. Palmer thanked her over and over again. After that, Molly realized he wasn’t a strange man but just a lonely soul misjudged by everyone.

Days later, Molly got a new job and was just on a trial period, so she was too busy to babysit her kids, Ben aged 6, who had got epilepsy (癫痫) and Adam aged 4, when she was sometimes on the night shift.

One day, when she was returning home, she noticed Mr. Palmer sitting on a resting chair on his doorway. She stopped by and greeted him. During the chat, Mr. Palmer said he suffered from insomnia (失眠症), and only slept late in the morning for 5 to 6 hours at a time. Molly figured she could ask Mr. Palmer for help to babysit her kids while she was on her night shifts. When she asked him about it, he was happy to help.

When Mr. Palmer arrived at Molly’s house to babysit the kids, they got along well with him. Molly was relieved to see her children happy around Mr. Palmer each time and thought her kids were in safe hands while she left for work.

However, one day, when Molly got home from work early in the morning, her children and Mr. Palmer were nowhere to be seen.

The call was from an unknown number, and she was informed that her son Ben was in hospital.

As the bell was about to ring, our teacher announced a special assignment for next Monday: to share our gratitude for someone instead of giving a daily report. Hearing this, anxiety crawled over my body as the last thing I would do was speaking in front of the entire class! I couldn’t help complaining to my best friend Jenny.

“You are the chief violinist in our school orchestra, aren’t you?” she said. “So what’s the point of being afraid of speaking to a few our own classmates since you can handle acting in front of a large audience?”

Her point made sense, but being in a performance meant being part of a team. I shook my head. Besides, there were so many people I was grateful to, and choosing just one seemed difficult. Even if I could pick someone, I wouldn’t know how to say thank you. And even if I figured out what to say, I was sure I’d stumble(结巴地说) on my words when speaking aloud! Standing there, with everyone’s eyes on me, I would feel the spot light was wholly on me, and there would be no place for me to hide! “Oh no!” I covered my face with my hands and said, “I can’t do it, just can’t!” Real friends, the ones who know you well, don’t just do exactly what you ask. Jenny, always supportive and helpful, wrote something on a piece of paper and gently removed my hands from my face. She had drawn a cute cat with the word “CALM” written below it.

“Nice meeting you; I am the ‘everything will be fine’ cat,” Jenny laughed and sounded exactly like a cat. Pretending to listen to the cat, she asked, “Well, kitty, you think my friend should come to my house tomorrow, so we can prepare our speeches together I laughed out loud and relaxed a lot. I have to say Jenny was there for me, always!”

The next day, I went to Jenny’s house.       

Before the speech, however, I changed my mind and wrote “Jenny” on the blackboard.