With no air conditioners and no trees providing shade, the classrooms that faced south at my children’s middle school got too hot during the warmer months of the school year. I knew from my days volunteering in the school that students and staff got overheated and that it was difficult for them to concentrate.

As a long-time master gardener, I knew trees could shade those classroom windows and reduce the temperatures inside to relatively comfortable levels. If benches and trees were added, the front yard would be transformed into a beautiful outdoor classroom, one that would encourage teachers to bring their students outside to learn. And I imagined how wonderful it would be for our district’s kids, many of whom live in apartment buildings without yards or green space, to experience the happiness of sitting on a bench under a leafy green tree during their school day.

Then, I met with the school’s Parent-Teacher Association and told my idea of changing the school’s front yard. And I expressed my willingness to organize the project. The group liked the idea but thought it was too difficult. However, several days later, the principal told me, “I had further discussions with my staff. We all think you are very kind. We want to work with you to transform our school’s front yard.”

Later, I found a professional landscape designer who promised to design our front yard free of charge. After that, I found a local company that promised to deliver topsoil (表土) at a deeply discounted price when we were ready to transform our front yard. Then I contacted a charity which promised to provide us with various shade trees for free that would grow well in our area. And it would send a professional crew to help us plant the trees.

Then, we named our future front yard “The Habitat for Living & Learning”. At this point, we spoke with everyone we knew about the Habitat for Living & Learning. The hard work of spreading topsoil, digging and planting was scheduled to begin within weeks.

Para. 1: So we posted the tasks in the school’s front hall where everyone could see them.

Para. 2: Soon, everyone — students, staff and volunteers — began working to spread the topsoil.

My political career in the Student Union(SU)began by throwing frisbees (飞盘) on the campus lawn. I would throw a frisbee to someone I didn’t know and they would throw it to someone they didn’t know. Before long, we had built a community of people who met every day at lunch to throw frisbees.

Besides frisbees, the group decided to climb the mountain near our campus. When we reached the peak, it felt like we were at summer camp. We laughed, danced and told jokes.It was totally fun. While playing like little children in the cool mountain air, we all decided to do it again the following week. Our motto (座右铭) was “Bring a Friend” . We started out with a small group of hikers. But as the word spread, the number of participants increased.We made it a rule to climb the mountain every weekend. All of us were passionate about the fantastic experience, which we were looking forward to.

One day on campus, I decided to throw my frisbee to some strangers, run over and invite them to climb the mountain. Much to my surprise, a girl sitting in a wheelchair got hold of it. Her name was Grace. I asked her if she had ever been to the top of the mountain.She said she hadn’t. Holding the wheelchair tightly, she hung down her head in awkward silence. Then she told me that she had suffered from lung disease when she was young and depended on oxygen twenty-four hours a day. So, it was impossible for her to move without help. Fortunately, things got better.

With continuous efforts and treatment, she managed to live on her own with the assistance of the wheelchair: I told her that my friends and I would carry her if she were up for it. On hearing what I said, she refused without hesitation, adding that it would be a bother to carry her. But I tried my best to persuade her to come along with us by talking about the interesting experiences.

Having thought for a while, Grace still refused my offer.

On the downhilt path, Grace asked me why not run for the SU election.

Alex sat at a table in a cafe, scrolling (滚动) through his phone. Eric, the waiter, approached him with a nervous expression. Alex ordered a double black coffee but Eric seemed not to hear clearly what Alex said and asked for pardon.

“What? Are you deaf?”Alex said unkindly. After repeating the order, Alex went back to scrolling through his phone. His father had promised to buy him a car if he got good grades in school, but Alex failed his last math test.

A few minutes later. Eris returned with a coffee with milk in it. Alex was so angry that he said if he were the boss, he would fire Eric. Eric’s face turned red and hurried away to change the coffee. Just then, Alex’s father，Bill, joined ham at his table and told him he should be more respectful of people, even if they made mis takes. Worse still, in view of Alex’s poor study grades, Bill refused to buy him a new car and decided to teach him a lesson.

Bill asked the cafe manager if they were short-staffed and said his son needed a job and could start immediately. The manager agreed. Bill promised if Alex stuck it out, then they could talk about a new car after the summer vacation.

Alex showed up for work at the cafe the next day, nervous and worried. The manager assigned him the first table with a couple. They ordered two coffees with milk in both. Alex wrote down the order and took it to the counter. He stood awkwardly in front of the coffee machine.

“How does this thing work?” Alex turned a button, and steam came pumping out, catching him by surprise.

Alex looked around in panic and saw Eric watching him.

Eric asked Alex to keep a secret that he was losing his hearing.

“Don’t bug me! Hug me!” Bumper Sticker Lee Shapiro is a retired judge. He is also one of the most genuinely loving people we know. At one point in his career, Lee realized that love is the greatest power there is. As a result, Lee became a hugger. He began offering everybody a hug. His colleagues dubbed him “the hugging judge”, which is opposed to the hanging judge. The bumper sticker on his car reads, “Don’t bug me! Hug me!”

About six years ago Lee created what he called his Hugger Kit. On the outside it reads “A heart for a hug.” The inside contains thirty little red embroidered hearts with stickers on the back. Lee will take out his Hugger Kit, go around to people and offer them a little red heart in exchange for a hug. Lee has become so well known for this that he is often invited to keynote conferences and conventions, where he shares his message of unconditional love.

At a conference in San Francisco, the local news media challenged him by saying, “It is easy to give out hugs here in the conference to people who self-selected to be here. But this would never work in the real world.” They challenged Lee to give away some hugs on the streets of San Francisco. Followed by a television crew from the local news station, Lee went out onto the street. First he approached a woman walking by. “Hi, I’m Lee Shapiro, the hugging judge. I’m giving out these hearts in exchange for a hug.” “Sure,” she replied. “Too easy,” challenged the local commentator. Lee looked around. He saw a meter maid who was being given a hard time by a traffic police, who was giving a ticket to her for illegal car parking. He marched up to her, camera crew in tow, and said, “You look like you could use a hug. I’m the hugging judge and I’m offering you one.” She delightedly accepted it. The television commentator threw down a more hug challenge to Lee.

He had never before hugged people who were severely terminally ill as Leonard.

Doctors said it was the first time that they had seen Leonard smile.

Ray was there to pick me up for the three-hour drive back home. That was how I came to know his story. As the father of two, he spent six days a week driving in a town far away from home. On his only day off, he drove five hours there and back to have time with his family in Preston．

“Leaving the kids is hard,” Ray smiled gently.

I smiled, too. I remembered my dad and I eagerly talked on the phone about daily things when he worked away for weeks.

After two hours into our drive when a tall sign saying Preston came into our sight, I asked if it was where his family lived. “Yes, about 5 kilometers down the road,” Ray looked out in the right direction．

My heart hurt. Then I decided to give the family a gift, even if it just would be my time.

“Why don’t we stop and say hello?” I suggested.

I met Ray’s inquiring (询问的) eyes like I was joking.I nodded to him and said “Yes”.Then, we drove off the main road.

Soon, we came to a small house in a village．

Since Josh’s wife died five years ago, Jos h struggled to raise his daughter, Lisa, on his own. And things became more difficult after Lisa got sick and lost her ability to walk.

While her illness was curable, Josh simply couldn’t afford the operations and rehabilitation costs she needed for treatment. Her condition also required hands-on care, so he worked part-time to look after her.

One day, Josh went to the local pharmacy after work to get Lisa her medicine. After about thirty minutes of waiting in the queue, Josh was finally the next in line at the counter. Suddenly, a young woman rushed into the store and walked to Josh.

“I’m so sorry. Can you help me? My father is in urgent need of medicine,” the woman explained Emily begged Josh and other people in the queue. As Josh looked into the woman’s yes, he saw a sense of desperation. His daughter’s words suddenly rang in his head: Be good to people, and good will come back to you.“ He looked back at the crowd. ”It’s kay. We’ll all get a turn to buy,“ Josh said confidently to the crowd behind him. Emily ought the pills she had come for. As she made her card payment, an alarm suddenly went ff. The pharmacist and other staff suddenly started clapping. ”Congratulations! You’re our hundredth buyer today! Today is the tenth anniversary of our pharmacy. That means you get to take a hundred thousand dollar grand prize for our new promotion!“ the pharmacist explained with a large smile. Emily struggled to hold back her tears of joy as the pharmacist handed her a check for $ 100K. The crowds asked her to spare Josh some of her vin.

Emily said in tears, “My father was seriously ill and I really need money to save him. I promise I will repay you after he is well.” Josh decided to give up sharing money with the poor roman. Josh explained everything that had happened at the pharmacy to Lisa. “What you did as very kind, and I believe that one day, you will be rewarded for it. Those are the hidden secrets and treasures of life,” Lisa said.

Raven was an 11-year-old girl, who was known as a troublemaker. She never seemed to rest, and her classmates and teacher were always on their toes. Being called into the principal’ s office was not uncommon.

One day, during a math lesson, noticing the papers on the teacher’s desk, Raven came up with a plan. When the teacher momentarily stepped out of the classoom, Raven swiftly snatched a few papers from the pile. Carefully, she replaced them with her own doodles (涂鸦).

When the teacher returned, she began handing out the papers to the students. Confusion and surprise spread across their faces as they found Raven’s odd drawings instead of math problems. Raven couldn’t contain her laughter, and soon the whole class burst into laughter, except the teacher, who was very angry. The teacher had no choice but to send Raven to the principal’s office.

The school’ s principal Jason noticed Raven stting outside his office. She looked sad, defeated and without any hope. He approached her and brought her into his office. After being seated, the principal asked about what had happened.

“I am sorry, Mr Jason. I am a trouble-making child,” Raven said with her head down. Then she explained what she had done during the math class, and how what she had done ruined the math test.

Mr Jason continued to ask her whether she felt her behavior was appropriate. She shook her head in shame. With further investigation, Mr Jason learned that Raven lived in a shelter home. She had been orphaned (成为孤儿) for long.

So, at that point, Mr Jason had a feeling that Raven just needed a hand and recognized that she needed something to go in her favor, maybe for once. Mr Jason thought to himself.