One Friday afternoon in my first year of high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home. His name was Kyle. He seemed to be carrying all his books. Then some kids ran at him, _______ all his books out of his arms. His glasses went _______ and landed in the grass. My heart _______ to him, so I jogged over and handed him his _______. He thanked me with a big smile.

Monday morning came and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books _______. I teased him, “Boy, you are gonna build some real _______ with this pile of books every day!” He just laughed and handed me half the books.

He turned out to be the best student of our class and had to make a _______ on the graduation day. As he stood on the stage, he _______ his throat, and began: “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it _______ those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings…but mostly your friends… I am here to tell you that being a(n) __________ to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.”

I just looked at my friend with __________ as he talked about the first day we met. He had planned to __________ himself. He had cleaned out his locker __________ his mom wouldn’t have to do it later and carry his stuff home.

He looked __________ at me and gave me a little smile. “__________, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the __________.”

I heard the gasp (倒抽气) in the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us about his __________ moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me with that same __________ smile. Not until then did I realize the __________ of the smile. With one small action you can change a person’s life. God puts us all in each other’s lives to __________ one another in some way.

Tawnya Ford and Larry Sumpter are always ready to make their kids feel awkward. When their 15-year-old daughter Madelynn Sumpter broke the rules by going to a sleepover party secretly, they gave her a choice between ________ her phone for a month, or giving them access to her social media for two weeks. She chose the latter and the netizens are so ________ of it.

Madelynn Sumpter’s social media ________ by her parents began early in November with an Instagram post that ________ she had chosen to abandon her social media for two weeks. So her ________ could expect “some amazing Instagram posts, snapchats and tiktoks from her parents”. On November 11, Madelynn’s dad had already begun his ________ exploration to embarrass his teen daughter, by ________ one of his photos, saying “Felt cute. Might delete later”. But that was ________ the beginning. From posing in a tight top and ________ a blonde wig (假发), to dancing around in a pair of shorts and a tank-top (背心), it seemed like there was nothing the 43-year-old wouldn’t do to ________.

Over the course of two weeks, Madelynn Sumpter’s Instagram following ________ from around 2,700 to 12,700, at the time of this writing, so she should probably ________ her parents for their ________ punishment. The only question is “Can she ________ dad Larry’s creativity?”. She’ll have to give it a(n) ________ as many of her social media fans are already ________ her to “bring dad back”.

“We always ________ our kids!” Tawnya Ford said, adding that her husband routinely ________ their kids from school dressed as a mascot (吉祥物). From this ________, the girl finally understood her parents’ ________ are another kind of love.

Owen was born just as Hurricane Katrina ________ the Gulf Coast. Days later, Owen became ________ill. Those weeks taught me something about the ________ of strangers.

All catastrophes (灾祸) are personal. Some in the Gulf Coast sought survival. Some sought to ________others. At the hospital, we watched our son Owen sleep. Despite the tubes dripping, he still slept his baby sleep. My wife asked for the pastor (牧师). I ________ the doctor. She prayed for him. I held the CAT scan up to the light and searched for answers. No one can know what you will feel in a time of need, but I learned that in this ________ time, the people our family depended upon most were people we had never ________.

We depended upon strangers who knew their ________ was to help others. We depended upon the nurses who _________after our son so well, who watched me hold him through the night. We depended upon the hostel that gave us a place to ________ near the hospital, upon the doctors and clerks and ambulance drivers. We depended upon a ________made to helping others.

This commitment is a web that ________ us together in hard times. By the time we took Owen home, the worse effects of Katrina were ________. I watched the images from the Gulf Coast, images of communities, lives and families whose fabric (基本结构) had been ________.

I thought of the web of strangers that had helped my family. I can only hope this web will be ________ enough, so that it will hold and care for many and we can all depend upon the kindness of strangers.