Audrey Hepburn was an actress and fashion icon who was born in Belgium. Hepburn was a talented performer known for her beauty, elegance and grace. During her early 20s, she studied acting and worked as a model and dancer. She also began to get some small film roles.

Audrey gained immediate fame in the U.S. with her role in Roman Holiday in 1953. This film turned out to be a great success as she won an Oscar as Best Actress. This gained her enormous popularity. She continued to fascinate audience with roles in films like Breakfast at Tiffany’s, My Fair lady, War and Peace, and Always.

Becoming famous never changed Hepburn’s generous character. She felt a deep sense of responsibility to help those in need, especially children. From 1967, after 15 years in film, Audrey acted only occasionally. She spent more time with her family and also working with UNICEF. In 1988, Audrey was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF designed to provide emergency food and healthcare to children suffering the war. She travelled representing UNICEF, making over 50 dangerous missions into bleak destinations to raise world awareness of wars and droughts.

Her passion for service was enduring. Even as her life ended at 63 years of age, she remained a gracious woman. Her spirit of social responsibility lives on in her words, “Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand: The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.”

I was once a teacher in a primary school and spent my days with a variety of students. I liked them, always trying to help them solve their problems. Of them, the most impressive to me was Donnie, a 9-year-old boy.

Unlike most naughty boys of his age, who lived a care-free life, Donnie was a shy, nervous perfectionist. His fear of failure kept him from classroom games that other children played with joyous excitement. No matter how funny the games seemed to be, he just declined to be engaged in them. He seldom answered questions since he was afraid that he might be wrong. Written assignments, especially math, reduced him to nail-biting frustration. He seldom finished his work because he repeatedly checked with me to be sure he hadn’t made a mistake.

Then one morning we were working math problems at the chalkboard. The kids were really active and responded quickly to me. Pleased with their progress, I left the children with Mary Anne, my student teacher, a lovely and clever girl, and went for art materials. However, when I returned, I found Donnie was in tears. It turned out that he’d missed the sixth problem. Poor Anne just looked at me in despair, not knowing how to deal with such a boy. Suddenly her face brightened. She immediately reached the drawer we shared for some pencils.

“See these pencils, Donnie?” she said, kneeling beside him and gently lifting the tear-stained face from his arms. “They belong to Mrs. Lindstrom and me. See how the erasers are worn? That’s because we, your teachers, make mistakes too. Hundreds of thousands of them, like spelling a wrong word, missing a number and so on. But we are not defeated by them. Instead, we simply erase all the mistakes and bravely try again. That’s what you must learn to do, too.”

She then kissed him and stood up

After that, the pencil became Donnie’s prized possession

It had been a hard year for Anna and her twin girls. A few months before the pandemic hit, her parents had moved out of Kansas. No other relatives lived nearby. As COVID-19 spread, the family felt lonely, scared, and isolated.

On a particularly tough day last December, Anna came up with an idea of having the girls send letters to Santa by balloon. She told them that Santa would catch the balloon while he flew through the air on his sled. The twins, at the age of six, named Atlas and Emma, were excited at their mother’s idea. They clapped and hopped around. Then Anna took out a note and a pen. “Now, girls, let’s make our Christmas wish list to tell Santa what you are eager to get. I will help you with the note.” Finally, the handwritten note read “Dear Santa, we are Atlas and Emma. We live in Liberal, Kansas. This year we have been nice. We would like candies, Spider-Man balls, Frozen dolls, and a puppy. With love.” Atlas and Emma checked their wish list by counting the words as their mother read it out loud. Made sure that there was nothing wrong, Atlas folded the note into a small piece and Emma attached it to a balloon.

It was a cold, windy but sunny morning one week before Christmas. Anna dressed the girls in identical pink sweatshirts, and then she took them outside to release their wishes to the universe. “Bye, balloon! ” the girls called, waving as the balloon floated away, sailing above the trees and into the sky.

The family enjoyed a modest Christmas together, and then the calendar turned to a new year. One day in early January, Anna noticed that a friend had been calling her all morning. When Anna finally called her back, the friend cried out, “Someone found your balloon and posted it on Facebook.”

Anna was surprised and logged on Facebook to find out what happened.

Kindness from strangers drives away the cold weather and the haze of the pandemic.

The little country schoolhouse was heated by an old fashioned, pot-bellied stove. A little boy had the job of coming to school early each day to start the fire and warm the room before his teacher and his classmates arrived.

One morning, they arrived to find the schoolhouse engulfed (吞没) in flames. They dragged the unconscious little boy out of the flaming building more dead than alive. He had major burns over the lower half of his body and was taken to the nearby county hospital.

From his bed the dreadfully burned, semi-conscious little boy faintly heard the doctor talking to his mother. The doctor told his mother that her son would surely die—which was for the best, really—for the terrible fire had devastated (破坏) the lower half of his body.

But the brave boy didn’t want to die. He made up his mind that he would survive. Somehow, to the amazement of the physician, he did survive. When the mortal (致死的) danger was past, he again heard the doctor and his mother speaking quietly. The mother was told that since the fire had destroyed so much flesh in the lower part of his body, it would almost be better if he had died, since he was doomed to be a life-time cripple (瘸子) with no use at all of his lower limbs.

Once more the brave boy made up his mind. He would not be a cripple. He would walk. But unfortunately from the waist down, he had no motor (引起运动的) ability. His thin legs just dangled there, all but lifeless.

Ultimately he was released from the hospital. Every day his mother would massage (对……按摩) his little legs, but there was no feeling, no control, nothing. Yet his determination that he would walk was as strong as ever. When he wasn’t in bed, he was confined (限制) to a wheelchair.