2 . On a cold February evening, while her mother slept peacefully, a kid slipped out of her home and into the darkened streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dressed only in a T-shirt, socks and a diaper (尿布), the 3-year-old girl wandered around the abandoned parking lots of the city’s southwest side all by herself. She was cold and almost certainly afraid, but most of all, she was not safe. Thankfully, the right person saw her out alone and knew something wasn’t right.

Gabe Botello was delivering pizzas for Villa Pizza when he saw the unattended child at around 3: 00 am. He caught sight of her in the McConnell parking lot, but by the time he’d dropped off the food to his clients and retraced his steps, she had disappeared into the night.

A father of three kids himself, Gabe refused to go back to work until he located the little girl. He started pulling into empty parking lots to search for her. He finally spotted her curling up (蜷缩) between two walls at a factory across the street.

The concerned father jumped out of his car, pulled off his coat and wrapped her up to keep her warm. He put her into his car and gave her some water while he called 911.

The police arrived and were able to locate the kid’s home, where they discovered her mother was sound asleep and thought her daughter was, too. Gabe didn’t judge the child’s mother, and he hoped no one else would, either. He said, “As a parent, I know that children are quick and don’t always listen when they are told what’s best for them.”

Gabe not only did the right thing by finding the child and calling the police, but his level-headed and compassionate response to her mother warms our heart. It truly does take a village sometimes to take good care of a child, and we’re so glad this experienced dad was there when a child needed him most:

3 . As Teachers’ Day approached, I received an interview assignment to talk with a very special figure about teaching. President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam talked with me about life’s toughest lessons and his mission of being a teacher to the Indian youth. He was now a leader and a wise old man. There was still a child in him though, and he was still curious about learning new things. To this day, he still remembered his first lesson in life and how it had changed his life.

“I was studying in fifth grade and must have been 10 years old. My teacher, Sri Sivasubramanialyer was telling us how birds flew. He drew a diagram of a bird on the blackboard, drawing the wings, the tail, the body and the head and then explained how birds flew into the sky. At the end of the class, I said I didn’t understand. Then he asked the other students if they had understood, but nobody had understood how birds flew.” he recalled.

“That evening, the entire class was taken to Rameshwaram shore by our teacher,” the President continued. “My teacher showed us sea birds. We saw wonderful formations of them flying and how their wings waved. Then my teacher asked us, ‘Where is the bird’s engine and how is it powered?’ I knew then that birds are powered by their own life and motivation. I understood all about birds’ dynamics. At last, he said to us with relief that we were very good.”

“That day from not understanding to the final understanding, as well as the gratitude to the teacher, has always impressed me. A proper education would help develop a sense of dignity (尊严) and self-respect among our youth,” said President Kalam.

5 . Two Georgian twins, separated at birth when they were sold to different adoptive families, have been reunited and have TikTok to thank for bringing them back together.

The astonishing story began 10 years ago when one of the twins, Amy Khvitia, sat watching Georgia’s Got Talent in her godmother’s house near the Black Sea. A young girl, who looked exactly like her, climbed up on stage and began to dance in front of the reality show’s judges. Another seven years went by when Ano Sartania, the young girl that had danced on television, was sent a TikTok video of a young woman with blue hair getting her eyebrow pierced. Determined, Ano took to a WhatsApp university group with her plea. asking for help finding the woman with the blue hair. Against all odds, someone in the group knew Amy and the pair was connected through Facebook. Amy and Ano agreed to meet in-person at a local train station.

“It was awkward, it was awesome, it was everything,” Ano told The Sun of that first meeting, adding, “It was weird for me like I was looking in a mirror.” As they grew to know each other more, the two women began to list the similarities they shared and admit to being a bit unsettled by it all. Both were born in the same hospital, but their birth certificates said they were born a couple of weeks apart. Wanting answers, they turned to their families to ask some hard questions and soon had an explanation — both families admitted to adopting the girls as newborns.

It turns out both of their mothers had been unable to have children and were told they could pay to adopt unwanted babies at the hospital. DNA tests ‘eventually confirmed that that Amy and Ano were twins. However, they wanted to know why their biological parents have given them up and if they had been sold for profit. The twins have since been reunited with their birth mother, Aza, who claimed she fell into a coma after delivering her identical daughters and when she woke up hospital staff told her that her babies were dead.

“While Ano and Amy’s story contains a lot of coincidence on their path to reunion, their adoption circumstances aren’t that unique in Georgia — as many as 100,000 Georgian babies have been put up for illegal adoption since the 1950s on the black baby market,” says Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze, who has been working to reunite families.

7 . For nearly two decades, a thin, sun-burnt postal worker could frequently be seen carrying packages along a dangerous mountain trail in the Taihang Mountains.

The 10-kilometer-long route, which is between 20 centimeters and 1 meter wide, is known as the “cat road” by locals, meaning that it is so dangerous that only cats could walk on it. Whereas, Zhao Yuefang, a postal worker in Ewu township in Huguan county, Shanxi province, had to walk the route every day to deliver mail.

Every day at the crack of dawn, he would start his journey along the “cat road”. From picking up the day’s post to delivering it to villagers and returning along the same route, it took Zhao four days. During rainy and snowy seasons, the mountain road, part of which hugs the cliffs, would become slippery and dangerous. One day in the winter of 2003, the “cat road” was covered in thick snow and he slipped off the trail. Fortunately, he was able to stop his sharp descent by grabbing a tree branch and slowly managed to climb to safety.

By 2012, Zhao had walked more than 300,000 km and delivered over 800,000 pieces of mail. Born and raised in the deep mountains, Zhao truly understands the significance of mail deliveries to villagers. “They depend on the mail to keep in touch with the outside world,” he said. “Their sheer joy written on their face while receiving any post struck me,” he added.

In 2012, a 67-km-long tourist highway was built and gone were those days when Zhao risked his life to walk on the “cat road”. But Zhao was even busier than before. “The number of packages I handle daily now exceeds the number I used to deal with in the past,” said Zhao, adding that villagers are turning to online shopping and ordering more and more goods by post.

9 . After the first half-day of kindergarten, Abe had something on his mind. His mum, Ricki Weisberg, had made him a sandwich for lunch but Abe wasn’t having it. It was not a good sandwich. So after he stepped off the school bus, he said, “Mommy. Terrible sandwich by the way. Really terrible.”

The honest exchange between Abe and his mum was recorded on video by Weisberg. Weisberg shared it online and it became a hit and brought a lot of laughter to so many people. “It makes me happy because of the gaiety it probably brought to people,” said Weisberg. “For me, I just love that piece of that. Life is hard. So giving people laughter makes me happy.”

But most people just wanted to know one thing: What was the sandwich?

Well, the “terrible” sandwich was a hurried, thrown-together butter and jelly sandwich, said Weisberg. On Abe’s first day, Weisberg reread the school communication and realized she would need to pack him food. At first, Weisberg thought she could make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But because of food allergy (过敏) considerations at the school, peanut butter was out of the question. So she made him a butter and jelly sandwich.

Weisberg said, “I thought I made a good sandwich and I was being a good mum, so I was just expecting him to be happy. I was quite surprised when he hit me with that sandwich review.”

The butter, Weisberg would later find out, had gone bad. The sandwich tasted really terrible. “It’s really hard being a mum. You never really know if you’re doing it right. I just want to encourage parents to build that level of trust with your kids so they can be honest with you,” said Weisberg.

10 . When I was a little boy growing up, my Mom, Dad, brothers and I lived in my Nana’s old house. It was surrounded by four huge vegetable gardens. And around the house so many flowers were planted. It was so beautiful there in the spring and summer. That wasn’t all, though. On the back porch Nana had dozens of potted plants hanging on hooks. She watered them, talked to them and nurtured them. And in the winter she would carry them all inside and set them on shelves near the windows of our enclosed front porch. There with a little water and a lot of love she kept them alive, green, and growing even during the coldest, darkest months.

As a boy I was puzzled by all the effort she put into them. I understood the vegetable gardens. They helped to feed the family all winter long. I even understood the flowers around the house. They were pretty and smelled so sweet in the summer months. The reason she put so much effort into caring for those potted plants, however, eluded me. They didn’t give us any food and they rarely had any flowers on them. They remained a mystery to my child’s mind.

Now as I’ve grown older I am beginning to understand why my Nana had those potted plants. It is the same reason I have so many pictures of sunrises and forests hanging in my home. They remind me during the dark, cold, winter months full of bare trees and yellow grass that light, love, and growth still exist. They remind me that Spring will come again. They remind me that God loves us and is still with us even when the earth doesn’t show it.

Today I see Nana’s potted plants in a new light. They are worth every bit of the love and care she put into them. But what tells me most about light and love is Nana herself. She is light to my soul even in my darkest times. And her love lives on in my heart even if she is in Heaven. May we all learn to love as she loved, shine as she shined, and live as she lived.