I was sixteen years old and I loved music very much. I was dying to buy an album by my favourite band. However, the pocket money my parents gave me was just enough to get by. I didn’t have any extra money to buy the album (音乐专辑), which made me disappointed.

Luckily, I found that there were many opportunities for part-time work in my neighbourhood. There were so many old people who needed help. So, in order to buy the album I wanted, I decided to find a part-time job to earn money.

I chose the oldest person I knew, Mrs. Hudson, who was over eighty years old, and could not tend her garden anymore. She had flowers, a grass lawn, and some tomato plants. I knocked on her door, trying to build up enough courage to ask her for work. Fortunately, she answered that she indeed needed help in her garden.

That was a really hot summer day. My first job was to pull out weeds. I got down on my knees and began to pull them out one by one. The task was tiring and boring, and I soon became really tired. However, thinking of the album I wanted, I gathered all my energy and kept moving.

“If only I had a portable electric fan (便携式电风扇)!” I said to myself, wiping the sweat from my face. After several hours of hard work, I was paid ten dollars. It was less than I thought, but it was enough for the album.

After getting that ten dollars, I couldn’t wait to go to the supermarket to buy my favourite album. I believed it would be a memorable moment when I was able to buy what I liked through my efforts.

On the way to the supermarket, I was singing a song excitedly when I happened to see my mother who was working on the opposite side of the road. Actually, I had never seen how she worked before; I just knew she was a saleswoman.

My mother was handing out leaflets (传单) to passers-by.

I continued making my way to the supermarket.

For a long time, a boy wondered why his desk-mate was always the first in the class, but he could only rank (排名) the 21st.

At home, he asked his mom: “Am I more stupid than other kids? How can I always fall behind? I just can’t come up with an answer.” Mom was aware that her son’s self-respect had been hurt by the ranking system, but she didn’t know what to say to help.

She wanted to say that intelligence differs and that yes, her son’s friend really was the smarter boy. But that would so upset her son. Thank goodness she didn’t say it.

Her son and his friend went on to high school that year, though the boy tried as hard as he could, her son’s friend was still ahead of him. But she took pride in her boy for his hard work, sincerely proud. It was around this time that she decided to take him on a trip to the seaside. On the trip, she at last found an answer for him.

Today her son no longer cares about rankings. He doesn’t have to, for he himself is now the top of the class at the top national university. After university his teachers and classmates fully expect him to have a promising career.

Invited to speak to his old high school, he mentioned a valuable childhood experience. It was about that holiday his mother had prepared for them: “Once, on a trip to the sea, my mother and I were lying on the beach. She pointed to the sea and said to me: Do you see the seabirds fighting for food out there? When a wave comes near, the little birds rise quickly. The awkward seagulls (笨拙的海鸥) are far slower and have to struggle to get away from the wave. But these awkward birds prove to have the biggest, strongest wings, which allow the bird to travel the farthest when the season changes and they leave for foreign shores, leaving the little birds behind. Son, I have a feeling that you are one of those seagulls.”

When we are in the face of hardships, different attitudes toward life lead to different lives.

Austin lost his arms in an accident that claimed the life of his father — who was the main source of support for the family. Since then, he has had to depend on the arms of his younger brother. For the sake of taking care of him, his younger brother became his shadow, never leaving him alone for years. Except for writing with his toes, he was completely unable to do anything in his life.

One late night, he suffered from diarrhea (腹泻)and had to wake up his younger brother. His younger brother accompanied him into the toilet and then went back to the dorm to wait. But being so tired, his younger brother fell asleep, leaving him in the toilet for two hours till the teacher on duty discovered him. Although the two brothers grew up together, they had their own share of problems, which made them often quarrel with each other. Then one day, his younger brother became so angry that he wanted to separate from Austin, living his own life, as many normal people did. So Austin was heartbroken, and he was at a loss what to do in the future of his life.  

It was really a coincidence that a similar misfortune befell a girl, Ella, too. One night her mother, who suffered from chronic mental illness, left home. So her father went out to look for her mother, leaving her alone at home. She tried to prepare meals for her parents, accidentally starting a fire in the kitchen, which took her arms away.

Though her elder sister, who was studying in another city, showed her strong willingness to take care of her, she was determined to be completely self-reliant. At school, she always studied hard. Most important of all, she learned to be independent. Once she wrote the following in her composition: "I am lucky. Though I lost my arms, I still have legs. I am lucky. Though my wings are broken, my heart can still fly."

One day, the boy and the girl were both invited to appear on a television interview program.

They had both been through the same painful experience, but their different attitudes determined the nature of their lives.