2 . In 2019, after retiring from her career as a social worker, Ane Freed - Kernis decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. “I might be covered head to to e in dust but I’m happy — it was something I needed more of in my life when I hit 60,” she says.

This appeal has its origins in Freed - Kernis’ childhood. Growing up on her father’s farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. “I’ve always been drawn to the shapes and textures(质地) of stones,” she says.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed - Kernis soon became occupied with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the last thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. “He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought stone seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself,” she says. “After he died, I became determined to learn in his honour.”

Signing up for a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed - Kernis began to learn how to turn a block of rock into well-designed shapes. “It was really scary at the start because you would spend hours just hammering(锤打).”

Now 65, Freed - Kernis has a thriving small business built largely through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year that can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to complete, while her prices range from £ 200 to £ 3,000. “I’m making smaller ones,” she says. “I don’t have to depend on the money much, so I want to keep prices in the range that people can afford, mainly just covering costs and labour(劳动力).”

4 . Being cut from a school team can be a difficult experience for a kid. But when 13-year-old Emmie Tallent who has Down syndrome (唐氏综合征) didn’t make her school’s cheer squad (啦啦队), she responded in the most impressive way — she cheered anyway. Emmie Tallent, agirl with firm determination, took to the sidelines while her school’s cheer squad performed. She matched the entire routine, moving for moving, in a black dress and tie-dyed shoes.

Her sister, Sydnee, recorded this moment on video, and it’s now capturing hearts worldwide. The video, with over 3 million views and 87,000 likes, shows Emmie facing the official squad and performing the routine alongside them. Her performance is nothing short of inspiring. “Girl didn’t make the cheer team, but she didn’t care,” Sydnee wrote, admiring Emmie’s confidence.

“Emmie may not be on the cheer team this time, but I’m sure her talent and spirit will shine through somewhere in the future,” Sydnee said with a smile. “Right now, she’s satisfied and happy doing what she loves. Thank you all for supporting her. I want to show the world Emmie’s joy from pursuing what she likes and the beauty of diversity.”

The team did not have a lot of spots and even neurotypical (神经正常的) girls who were much better than Emmie didn’t make it to join it. Emmie’s school was giving Emmie help and kept encouraging her, but there are hard decisions that have to be made sometimes. Though Emmie didn’t make the squad, she wasn’t feeling upset at home, and continued to follow cheer squad’s routines and moves to please herself and spread joy to others, even if from the sidelines.

In the face of rejection, this tough 13-year-old chose to dance rather than sit by and let it define her, inspiring us all to embrace our uniqueness and find joy in every moment.

6 . On September 17, 2022, a father and son set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Oxford. David, 59, and his son, John, 28, weren’t the typical competitors. Despite difficulty in walking, John has his dream of being an athlete. His father would act as his arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son throughout the race.

To qualify as having finished, competitors must complete a hard 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. David and John had participated together in five Ironman competitions, but they had yet to finish in the required time.

The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. With one end of a rope tied to a belt around his back and the other end to a boat with his son inside, the father eased himself into the water. Swimming while carrying another person is tough enough — David also had to fight with jellyfish (水母).

The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and went through with the 112-mile bicycle ride in about nine hours, then set their sights on the final leg of the 26.2-mile marathon with David pushing John in the racing chair.

With minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, his mom, on the sidelines, handed him the rolling walker. Not that long ago, John could hardly walk 23 steps. But after years of painful training, he increased his step count and was determined to finish the race on his own. He knew time was almost running out and worried they wouldn’t make the cutoff. “Not because I wouldn’t get my moment,” he says, “but because dad had worked so hard.”

After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds — with just four minutes and 25 seconds to spare — father and son crossed the finish line together.

As the crowd flooded and cheered on John, the weary father kept a low profile. “He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says John. “He wanted it to be mine.”

8 . “Auntie Goose Legs”, a Beijing street food seller, was recently invited to a meeting on women entrepreneurship (企业家精神) at Peking University, one of China’s top universities. Her inspiring words moved the hearts of many.

In her 50s, Chen Xiufeng, from Lianyungang city in East China’s Jiangsu Province, along with her husband, Liang Decai, has been trying to make a living as street sellers in the country’s capital for more than two decades. In the past few years the pair began to sell homemade goose (鹅) legs. Their secret family recipe has won them a continuous stream of customers over the years, mostly college students, as they usually operated near campuses such as Peking University. They even took orders in advance and delivered goose legs to campuses by motorbikes.

Last winter, Chen became famous on the Internet after she moved her business to Tsinghua University. Old customers from Peking University and Renmin University of China began half-jokingly calling for Tsinghua University to give back their beloved “Auntie Goose Legs”. A “competition” among China’s top universities for “Auntie Goose Legs” soon unfolded. Related topics quickly topped the trending list on social media, making her a focal point of online discussions, while their homemade goose legs became hard to get. At one point, they sold out all 200 goose legs within 20 minutes.

At the meeting, when asked by the host if she felt she was “entrepreneurial”, Chen shook her head, stating that her efforts were merely ordinary means to make a living. Peking University commented in an article posted on the university’s social media account on Friday, stating that entrepreneurship is not only a broad concept, but one that can also represent an attitude toward life.

In Chen’s closing speech at the meeting, she said, “I hope everyone can choose a comfortable pace... Life is a long journey, not something you can cross in one step. You, the youngsters, are full of vitality; everyone is their own hero.”

9 . When I was young, my mother was very much concerned for my happiness and was always there to support me. We had healthy boundaries (界限). When my own turn came for being a mother, I was determined to do so.

But as my daughter and I sat down to choose courses for the seventh grade, I felt the boundaries begin to fall. Students were allowed three electives (选修课) each term. Several of these were year-long courses—band, orchestra, yearbook and Spanish, and the rest were random (随机的) — technology education, drama, leadership and PE. I hated PE in my own school days.

We read the elective options carefully and sweet relief flooded through me. “You can sign up for band, yearbook and Spanish, and you won’t have to take PE ever,” I told her. I settled back into my chair, a weight taken off my chest. My daughter, however, frowned. “But I’m not sure I want to take Spanish. And I want to do the leadership class... and try drama!”

I broke in on her words with more practical wisdom. “You can’t pick the electives you want, though. They’re organized randomly. So you might get drama and leadership..., or you might get gym class or technology education. You might get the classes you want, and you might not. Is it worth risking having to take PE?” Finally, she chose to take the chance and signed up for band, yearbook and one period of the unknown elective. I reminded myself she was not me.

Watching your child walk into the trap of middle school is worse than experiencing it yourself. Motherhood, after all, is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. I am not going into the seventh grade again. It is my daughter’s turn. She is her own person, and while she is delicate and easily hurt, she is also stronger and more confident than I was.

10 . If you ask children the question, “Where does your food come from?” Their answer probably is “the kitchen” or “the grocery store”. Mahan Chandra Borah, a 41-year-old rice farmer, was concerned about this and aimed to educate young people about the importance of agriculture in his country.

“Hundreds of varieties of rice and other crops went extinct in India because of people’s unawareness and I wanted to do something about it,” Mahan says. The result was the formation of the Annapurna Rice Library — a center preserving native seeds and all things ‘rice’.

As a boy, Mahan was a curious reader. “I always had curiosity about things and wanted to get a PhD,” he recalls. Most of Mahan’s days were spent reading and helping his father out in the fields. “Working with him in the fields is how I learnt all I know about farming,” he says.

“Our family was humble. While I wanted to study more, the money was an issue,” he adds. Things became even harder when Mahan’s father passed away. “I was completing my graduation and was heartbroken. However, I also had to look after my family. Studying further was out of the question, so I decided to do agriculture like my father for a living,” he says. 

Mahan could have decided to go for traditional farming, but instead, he decided to research alongside. “I went online to look for papers on farming and seed saving. For the library, I have 500 types of seeds preserved there,” he says. Mahan says his favorite rice variety is Bhao Dhan. It is very tough in nature and can adapt easily to the flood-prone (易发洪水的) nature of Assam. However, the lower yield (产量) per hectare has been the reason why the farmers do not prefer to grow the rice.

For the last 15 years, Mahan has operated his library on his own funds. “I run my household and maintain the library. Lack of funds has become an issue, but I am managing somehow and I am sure I will overcome the difficulties and keep it alive,” he says.