One day, I was so angry with my parents that I left home, saying I would never return. I was upset because my parents refused to buy me a bike.

But in my anger, I didn’t even realize that I had taken both my father’s shoes and his wallet. As I made my way to the bus station, I felt some pain in my foot. I noticed that the shoe had a hole in it.

There were no buses around. Not knowing what to do, I looked in my dad’s wallet. To my surprise, there wasn’t much money inside. I also found a note from his manager which asked him to wear nicer-looking shoes to the office.

I remembered my mother asking him to buy a pair of new shoes, but he said the shoes he was wearing should last at least another six months.

I started to walk home. I then realized that when I had left, my dad’s motorbike wasn’t there. Thinking about that, I wanted to cry. I ran home as fast as I could.

When I got home, my dad was there waiting for me. I couldn’t help but cry. I hugged him tightly and said, “I’m sorry, Dad. I don’t need a bike.”

That’s when I realized just how much pain and hardship our parents go through sometimes, and how great their love for us is. Everyone should do a better job of remembering this from time to time.

Wang Daheng, Father of Chinese Optical Engineering

In 1949, the field of applied optical（光学）science didn't exist in China. Understanding its importance for national strength, the Chinese government paid much attention to optical research.

Wang Daheng, a respected optical physicist, devoted his whole life to this cause. He kept watching on the development of China's first optical glass, first electronic microscope, first laser device, and first large-size optical measuring equipment, and helped to found the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was called the father of Chinese optical engineering.

As a teenager, Wang Daheng often followed his father to the observatory and became greatly interested in the apparatus（仪器）there. In 1936, he graduated from Tsinghua University with a degree in physics. Two years later, he won a government scholarship to study in England. After earning his master's degree from Imperial College London in 1940, he began his doctoral studies in optical physics and technology.

In 1948, Wang gave up his established career and comfortable life in the West and returned to his motherland with the aim of empowering it（增强它的自主权）through science and technology. At the time China did not have the capability to produce optical measuring equipment on its own. In 1951, Wang was instructed to found an institute of fine mechanics and was appointed its first president. Within less than two years, Wang and his team produced the first group of China-made optical glass. Over the following six years, they went on to develop the country's first electronic microscope, first high-precision theodolite（经纬仪）, first optical range finder, and five other optical devices, laying the foundation for China's precision optical instrument industry. In 1961, they independently developed the ruby laser in China. In addition to scientific research, Wang advanced the study of optics in higher education.

Starting in the 1960s, Wang participated in optical research related to the development of nuclear bombs, missiles, and man-made satellites. In 1970, China successfully launched the Dongfanghong I satellite, of which Wang was one of the designers. When the satellite returned to Earth, the devices they designed brought back clear images of our home planet as seen from the outer space for the first time.

To close the technological gap between China and developed countries, Wang and three other scientists made the suggestion of drawing up a state hi-tech development plan in 1986, which led to the famous 863 Program.

In 1992, Wang and a group of other scientists called for the creation of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In the following years, he won many honors from the state. He passed away in Beijing aged 96 on July 21, 2011 after living a full and fruitful life.

Here was a warm story happening on a freezing cold winter night.

A blonde young lady pulled up at the Telegraph Center tollgate (收费站) and said to the staff working inside, “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me.” She handed over seven tickets with a big smile. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollgate were informed, “A lady up ahead has already paid your fare.”

It turned out that the young lady, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random (随机的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a store wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was very beautiful,” she said, explaining why she had taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, like a message from above. Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.

Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

“Here’s the idea,” Anne said. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies (幻想) include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady.

The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!