【推荐1】“Is this the long way?” asked the young mother as she set foot on the path. And the Guide said, “Yes, and the way is hard, and you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning.”

The young mother was happy. She played with her children, fed them and bathed them, and taught them how to tie their shoes and ride a bike. The sun shone on them and the young mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.” Then the night came, the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother covered them close with her arms. And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary too. But at all times she said to the children, “A little patience and we will be there.” The children climbed and learned weather the storm. Year after year, she showed them understanding, compassion and hope, and, most of all, unconditional love. And when they reached the top, they said, “Mother, we could not have done it without you.”

The days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years. The mother grew old, and she became little and bent. But her children were tall and strong. And when the way became rough for her, they lifted her, and gave her strength, just as she had given them hers. One day they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gates. And Mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning, because my children can walk with dignity and pride, with their heads high, and so can their children after them.” And the children said, “You will always be in our hearts, Mother, even when you have gone through the gate.”

【推荐2】It was early November in 2013 when Ronan Renz Napoto and his family in Eastern Visayas, Philippines, heard over the news that there was a typhoon coming. “Living in the Pacific, we’re used to having typhoons so we weren’t very worried,” he said. When Typhoon Haiyan hit, they were unprepared for its violence. For years after, Ronan would have nightmares of the day. “Everything keeps on flashing back to me. It’s still painful to remember those events,” he said.

It was his journey to overcome those difficulties that led Ronan down the path of climate advocacy (宣传组). He started to actively volunteer with Greenpeace, participating in designing posters and helping with organizing activities. Ronan also took part in influencing policy makers in his community about creating effective environmental and plastic policies. His most memorable activity with Greenpeace is also the one closest to his heart, and that is collecting stories about typhoon from the different communities.

“It reminds me that behind the science of climate change, there are real people with real stories,” Ronan said. “Data are important but we don’t want to be just remembered as numbers, we want to be       remembered and our stories to be remembered about who we are and how we struggled.”

Ronan, is also the founder of Balud, a youth-led organization. “Coming from the disaster- affected area, I wanted to highlight the youth leaders from outside the big cities. In Balud, we create more opportunities for young people who are coming from vulnerable (易受伤害的) communities so that everybody knows that we also have powerful stories behind the science of climate change,” he said.

The process has not been easy for the young man, but Ronan’s determination and passion keeps him focused on his job. “We have in our local language the word Padayon, which means ‘to keep going’.”

【推荐3】I was staying at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on my way home to Washington DC. My connecting flight(换乘班机) wouldn’t be boarding for another six hours. I looked at the screen and found that there was another flight in an hour to one of the other Washington airports.

I decided to go to the service desk to see if I could change flights. I was willing to take “no” as a possible answer since I already had the other flight booked. As I walked to the service desk, I heard a woman shouting at an airport staff. Clearly, there was a delay(延误) on the woman’s previous flight and she missed the connecting flight. Because the delay was caused by her previous flight, the only thing the airport staff could do was reschedule the connecting flight for her, which wasn’t going to be until 9 the next morning. The woman was mad, but there was nothing else the airport staff could do. After about ten minutes of this, the women left angrily.

I calmly walked up and greeted the airport staff friendly, “Hello! How are you doing?” She looked a bit puzzled but said she had a good day. I asked about possibly changing the flight, and she said, “That flight is usually pretty filled.” I thanked her for her serving, and wished her a good rest after her duty. As I was walking away, she said, “Hold on. There was someone who just cancelled the ticket to the flight.”

Two minutes later, I had a new boarding pass for the earlier flight, a seat with much more legroom. It just proves that a show of true care will get you a long way.