In high school, I was an editor of the school newspaper at the student union. And I won two national awards. I’ve been so focused on my dream of being a magazine editor that I’ve never wasted my time being fake-friendly to people—I was too busy for that. I almost didn’t socialize much in school, which meant I almost didn’t have any real friends in school. Unexpectedly, that annoyed a lot of people out of my expectation, so they began to talk about me behind my back. The gossip (流言蜚语) never bothered me since I was so into my goals and had no time to care much. But then I appeared on TV, and things changed.

When the show first broadcast last May, I received dozens of mean posts about me on the media sites, calling me “crazy”, and even some dirty words were used. Worse still, some strangers shot their fingers at me. How could they say such terrible words to me when they’d never met me? I still tried to focus on my work and told myself not to care about this, but that didn’t stop their comments from streaming in. Every day, mess messages continued to come in and it seemed no sign of end.

When I walked into class on a Monday morning, some girls actually pointed and whispered that I broke down the TV program. I wish I could have faced all negative things calmly or even ignore the gossip, but I couldn’t. Each time I went out of or into the classroom, there would be people I knew or total strangers, staring at me or whispering, only adding to my sense of shame, and I just wasn’t able to shake any of it off. All the negative attention started to overwhelm me physically and mentally.

Soon after, all the negative words started to destroy me.

I saw a quote in the journal. “Once you choose your way of life, be brave to stick it out and never return.”

Ollie Simmons was good at maths, but Ruby Riley wasn’t. Well, Ruby didn’t think she was. She sat next to Ollie and so she just copied him. This was the best way she had found to do maths and she didn’t have to think at all.

One day the teacher said, “We will be having a maths test after lunch.” Ruby felt there was a moth moving its wings inside her. “Can I copy off you?” she whispered to Ollie. Ollie thought for a minute. “What will you give me?” he whispered back. Ruby showed Ollie a stone she had. It was round and smooth and the colour of the sea. “OK!” he said, “Give me the stone, and then you can copy me.” Ollie Simmons got one hundred percent in the maths test and so did Ruby. Their names went on the top of the maths champs chart.

Every week there was a maths test and every week Ollie Simmons and Ruby Riley got one hundred percent. Ollie had to share the top place with Ruby, but it was worth it. He had a torch, a key chain, a golf ball and a gift box!

One day, there was a maths test again. This time, Ruby picked a watch, thinking everything would go as usual—Ollie would let her copy and they would go on the top of the chart together again. But she was wrong. The headmaster came into Ruby’s class. “I want to see Ollie Simmons,” she said. Ollie was gone for a long time. Then the door opened. It was the headmaster again. “Ruby Riley,” she said, “Come with me, please.” Ruby felt like a bird in a cage—there was no way to escape. The headmaster told Ruby that every lunchtime for five weeks she had to do maths. “You have to learn to think for yourself,” she said. “And Ollie has to learn a lesson, too. He’s going to teach you.”

Ollie was mad at Ruby for getting him into trouble.

Ollie proved to be a good teacher for Ruby.

Falling ill can be a valuable teaching tool for doctors and it can have an influence on how they look after patients.

Occasionally, doctors become patients, too. While as a doctor I wouldn’t wish ill health on anyone, it can be an inspiring lesson for medical professionals to suddenly be on the other side.

This happened to me a few months ago when I had a stomachache, which had decided to make its unwelcome presence just as I was going out for dinner with a friend.

The pain came from absolutely nowhere but within minutes I was unable to stand or walk. I had no doubt that fellow sufferers would sympathise. I was quite astonished by how painful it was.

Of course, being a doctor, I initially refused to believe that anything was wrong.

I was checked by my coworkers I was worked with. They only said that it was nothing serious. This reminded me of the time when I made conclusions without examining the patients carefully. How I wish I could have been more considerate to my patients.

I wasn’t going to be defeated by the stomachache, so instead I chose to writhe (扭动) around screaming for several hours until I had to admit that probably this was something more serious than a stomachache. Even doctors can underestimate the mental burden that pain brings for patients.

For the stomachache, I stayed in hospital for several days. Later, it turned out to be a kidney stone, which had to be taken out. Given the pain, I had assumed the stone was actually a small one. I was therefore fairly discouraged when it finally came out and it looked much smaller. How could something so small be so painful?

During my time in hospital, various doctors came to speak to me. They were all very nice and polite but one stuck out in my mind. Whenever he came to my bed to speak to me, he knelt down so he was at my eye level. He was actually the most senior of them all.

However, something about his manner and speech tone was incredibly calming. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Getting down on a patient’s level is a simple adjustment doctors can make to their care.

The instant my family boarded the plane, I felt like every head turned to us, looking at us with a fake politeness. I knew what they were thinking: “Oh! No. Please, don’t sit in the aisle next to me.” In my head I could even hear the flight attendant saying, “You can feel free to store your... child in the overhead compartment (隔层).”

We found our seats. My son sat by the window, my wife in the center, and I took the seat on the aisle. I saw a “cool guy” get onto the plane, a man about my age. He was wearing a concert T-shirt, ripped jeans, and I could hear that he’s listening to rock music on his iPhone. This guy represented who I was as a traveler before I had a child. He took the aisle seat directly across from me. We took off.

Planes are not designed with children in mind. There is no ball hole, no playground. To keep my child occupied, my wife and I took turns walking him from the pilot’s cabin to the tail. Suddenly, we hit turbulence (强气流) and needed to take our seats. The plane was shaking. My son’s ears began hurting from the drop in cabin pressure, and he had a meltdown. This is a child who has difficulty with crowded social situations and excessive stimulation. My wife and I could do nothing but held him to live through this moment.

I looked over at Cool Guy, and he was staring at me, trying to pour Coke. I wanted to say, “Look, Cool Guy, I am sorry if we are ruining your time on United Airlines, but we have a crisis here, and if anyone on this plane needs to drink, it’s me!”

Finally, my son fell asleep from exhaustion. And that wave of exhaustion flowed over my family. I just sat there, listening to the slight sound of the engine and hoping we would start our landing in Chicago soon.

Then, I felt that somebody patted my shoulder.

My son’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly grabbed the toy, delighted.