My mom only had one eye. I hated her! She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support the family. There was one day during elementary school when my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed. How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out.

The next day at school one of my classmates said, “Your mom only has one eye!” I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and said, “If you’re only going to make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?” My mom did not respond. I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger, totally unaware of her feelings.

I wanted to get out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, and finally got a chance to go abroad for further study. Then, I got married with a local man. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts.

Years passed, and I didn’t hear from my mom ever since I had left home. Sometimes I would think of her but every time thinking of the embarrassment brought by her embarrassingly one-eyed look, I still hoped that life would stay the same way and she would never appear in my life again.

Then one day, my mom came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren. When she stood by the door, my children was scared to cry and ran to me. I calmed them down and asked my husband to lead them into the house.

I turned to her, looking at her weary face with more wrinkles and her gray hair. Obviously she was older and life surely didn’t treat her well. However, the uninvited visit still made me angry.

I asked her why she showed up at our front door uninvited.

I was saddened by the news she just shared, but what truly astonished me was what she told me next about her eye.

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. First she told them how the student made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon (勋带) imprinted with gold letters reading, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”

Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results and report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class, went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt.   Then he gave him two extra ribbons, saying, “We’re doing a class project on recognition. we’d like you to go out to find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon, so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what has happened.”

Later that day the junior executive went to see his boss. He told the boss that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, “Well, sure.” As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, “Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people.”

That night the boss came home to his 14 year old son and sat him down.

The surprised boy started to sob and he couldn’t stop crying.

Adam was kind and considerate, and always deeply cherished his wife Zoe. He knew how much she liked to do up her long waterfall-like hair and trim her long and delicate fingernails. He knew she loved strawberries in supermarkets. Meanwhile, Zoe married him without complaint; after all, she loved his diligence, honesty, consideration and gentle quality. In order to improve their lives, the couple joined the ranks of migrant workers and moved into the city.

The New Year flavor of the city was still alive, with spring wind blowing and frequent cold wave appearing, which blocked the smell of spring flowers. The city of the new century was abundant in prosperity and vitality, but it did not belong to them. Adam set up a bed and a mini coal stove in a building under construction where he worked as their temporary home; in a plot of land rented in front of a supermarket, Zoe occupied herself steadily by running a barbecue on a cart (推车).

Every day, she would push her cart out from her humble home, standing in the chilly wind as the morning mist rose. After the supermarket closed, she dragged herself back home, exhausted from her daily routine, but in the faith of love, she lived through each day with hope.

Most days, Adam got off work earlier than her, so he would pick her up at the supermarket and give her a hand. The cart demonstrated their love at that time. The happy and intimate couple walked home pushing the cart, with the street lights shining on the road. It was a beautiful scene that no one appreciated.

One day, when Adam got off work later than usual, he found Zoe sleeping soundly. She was so tired that when she rolled over, she did not even feel her hands sticking out of bed. In grief, he gently took her cold, calloused (长满老茧的), swollen, and red hands full of frostbite (冻疮), tears running down his cheeks.

That night, Adam turned over repeatedly, unable to sleep.

The next day after work, Adam purposely ran to a nearby shopping mall.