1 . Yesterday after work, the boss told me I was fired. When I walked along a riverbed sadly, I suddenly realized it was New Year’s Day, a day to start afresh.

I passed by a man holding his son, one or two years old. The baby’s face was in pure joy, and his innocent eyes were full of wonder. The simple sweetness of the baby made me moved.

Walking on, I saw a young couple repairing their bicycle. They smiled at me and said, “Happy New Year!” I smiled and wished them the same. It was a simple thing, but for a moment it brought me a sudden joy.

I kept walking, enjoying the cheerful singing of birds. With people around laughing out loud, an old woman immersed herself in her sewing. She didn’t seem either happy or sad. A feeling of timeless peace flowed through me and all fear of what the future might bring disappeared. I thanked her in my heart, and moved on.

As I reached home, I was filled with great thanks and hope for life, which took me a long time to find. Actually, happiness could be simple and easy. Now I knew whatever the New Year would bring, there would be joy and enough love to help me through the hard times we all had to face.

“Happy New Year!” I said to myself.

2 . The Appalachian Trail winds some 2,190 miles across 14 states in the eastern US. Although it attracts thousands of serious hikers each spring, only one in four hikers completes the entire trail.

The Sutton family recently finished hiking the entire trail. They are a unique trio (三人组) as their son Harvey turned five on the trail, which makes him the youngest to complete the Appalachian Trail.

Josh and Carrie Sutton said they needed to take breaks from busy work called mini-retirements. “ We set the family goal of living a life with extraordinary stories. Doing things like hiking with a child on the Appalachian Trail gives you extraordinary stories, ” Josh Sutton said.

When Harvey turned three, they took him winter camping, and by the time he was four, the family completed a 50-mile hike, camping over six days. Seeing that Harvey developed a passion for hiking, they planned a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail. Hiking from end to end is called a thru-hike and generally takes five to seven months to complete.

They hit the trail in Georgia on January 13, 2021. The first weeks were cold. The trail was icy and snow-covered, and the weather was often cloudy and bitter, so they made slow progress. They would wake up early each day, pack their gear (装备), and then start walking. As they had many miles to cover each day, they had to be inventive and started using imagination and Skittles (彩虹糖) as incentive for little Harvey.

The family completed their journey on August 9, 2021. Little Harvey learned to count all the way to 2,193, the total miles his little feet traveled, and a big number for someone who just started kindergarten. “ I will do it again because I like it so much, ” said Harvey.

Although the Suttons are now back home, they have incredible memories of this mini-retirement. The journey is a life-changing experience for the Sutton family and is an inspiration for families who dream of taking a similar journey.

6 . In the early 1950s, I was a junior high student at Punahou School in Hawaii. During summer vacations, I often swam at Waikiki Beach. There was another man who would also _________. He was a tall, handsome, silver-haired Hawaiian. Occasionally I saw him swimming gracefully and effortlessly at a(n) _________ pace to the beach wall and _________ again.

One morning when I arrived as usual, he walked past me on his way to the water. Suddenly he stopped and asked me if I’d like to _________ against him. “Just for fun. Down to the beach wall and back.” He pointed in that direction. After some thought, I _________ it.

We jumped into the water and started swimming. Teenagers are often very _________, and I was no different. I started out as fast as I could to build a strong _________. But in the first 50 yards, we were even. When we reached the beach wall, we were still even. I was already _________. My legs felt heavy. My shoulders started to burn. As we turned back, my arms and shoulders were numb, and my head was spinning. I wanted very _________ to quit and __________ the rest of the way. But I struggled and __________ it, fighting the water.

When we finally arrived where we started, I was out of __________. “Just about even. You’re pretty good,” he said. He walked out of the water and up the beach. I stayed where I was, __________.

Ten minutes later my friend, Sammy Kauua, arrived. I told him what had happened. Sammy laughed, “Are you __________? That’s Duke Kahanamoku. He won gold medals at the Olympics!”

Several days later when I saw Kahanamoku on the beach, I talked to him about his swimming __________. What I really wanted to know was __________ an athlete could become good enough to win in the Olympics. “Oh, I trained,” he said. “__________ not hard, really. I did most of my swimming at the beach. I swam because I liked it. We trained of course, but __________ we just swam. It was natural.”

I was __________ at that time because there was no secret formula (秘诀) for success as an athlete. Thinking back on it now, though, I find the __________ he gave me very appealing.

8 . “Where is the light?” My dad used to ask me the question when I was little. It’s one of those questions that parents often use to find out how smart their young children are. During my teenage years, my dad jokingly told me that he thought I was going to be dimwitted(愚蠢的) because I pointed at him whenever he asked me where the light was.

Dad is from a rural area about 230 kilometers north of the capital Manila, and where most people live off the land, raising and selling livestock and poultry. His father, an artist and street magician, died when he was very young. To make ends meet, his mother went about town and washed laundry in various households. My dad found himself alone—lack of nurturing (养育) and love, short of family bonds.

Dad loved reading and always looked for opportunities to educate himself. One day, when my father was 16 and out of work, a stranger saw him sitting under a tree, absorbed in a book. He approached Dad and asked him why he wasn't in school. Dad replied that he had no money for college. The stranger saw his desire to study and recommended him to University of the Cordilleras as a working student. He also gave Dad a job in a local factory. Thanks to the warm-hearted stranger, Dad got his Bachelor of Arts degree, then went on to study law and became a successful lawyer. He wrote a widely-read textbook on Philippine law.

Looking at my father now, I can see how he was able to overcome so many obstacles. He is by nature a hardworking man, pouring his energy into his career without forgetting his family. He values education—when we were younger, he would tell me and my brother to constantly seek improvement in ourselves through learning.

Like a light, he shines with dignity and respect because of his achievements, but his light radiates the brightest for maintaining our family as a cohesive (有凝聚力的)unit with love and faith as its foundation.

There are times when my dad kids around and asks me, using my childhood nickname, “Sasi, where's the light?”

I just smile, and point at him.

10 . On many days I admit that I feel depressed, days when it seems that the efforts, the struggles, and the sacrifices of so many people fighting for social and environmental justice, fighting prejudice and racism, are fighting a losing battle.

But without hope, all is lost. It is a crucial survival character that has supported our species from the time of our Stone Age ancestors. Certainly, my own improbable journey would have been impossible if I had lacked hope.

Like all people who live long enough, I have been through many dark periods and seen so much suffering. I was in New York on that terrible day in 2001. I still can remember the disbelief, the fear, the confusion as the city went quiet except the whistles of the police cars and ambulances on the streets emptied of people.

It was ten years after that day that I was introduced to the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear tree discovered a month after the collapse of the towers. All that was left was half a trunk that had been burned black, with roots that were broken and only one living branch.

She was almost sent to the dump, but the young woman who found her, Rebecca Clough, begged that the tree be given a chance. And so she went to be cared for in a nursery in the Bronx. Bringing that seriously damaged tree back to health was not an easy task, and it was touch-and-go for a while. But whenever you give her a chance, nature returns. Eventually the tree made it. In the spring, her branches are bright with blossoms. I’ve seen people looking at her and wiping away tears. She is a symbol of the resilience (适应力) of nature — and a reminder of all that was lost on that terrible day 20 years ago.

The Survivor Tree, brought back from the dead, had not only put out new leaves herself but also nurtured (养育) the lives of others. Now do you understand how I dare hope?