Hansel Enmanuel, a 19-year-old basketball player, has drawn attention after videos spread quickly showing his awesome skills, like making 3-point shots and dunking (灌篮) with ease. All with just his right arm. It looks almost effortless when he plays. However, it’s not. It never has been.

Enmanuel was 6 when he was climbing a wall. It fell over him, bricks and blocks on his left arm. He was rushed to the hospital, but the doctor couldn’t save his arm and it was cut off several inches below the shoulder. It was a dark time for Enmanuel and his family.

Slowly, things got better for the little boy. He still remembers the first time he tied his shoes. Just 7, Enmanuel was waiting for his mother to do it for him, but she was busy cooking. “I was like, never mind, I’m going to start,” he said in a recent interview. “I told myself let me try. I was trying. Then I made it.” “So I was excited, excited like crazy,” he added.

Small things became huge victories. Months after that, Enmanuel tried basketball, too. But it’s not an easy path. His missing arm left him lacking balance. Every time he tried to run, he’d crash to the ground, falling on debris (碎片) covered across the courts he played on. These falls left him with numerous scars (疤痕). In the interview, Enmanuel pointed to the scar after scar down the length of the leg, reminders of a hard time that has brought him to excellence in basketball skills.

Enmanuel first dunked at 14, and it wasn’t long before his popularity grew with the views on his videos. But it wasn’t the highlight videos that interested his coach, Corey Gipson. He liked Enmanuel’s attitude and the way he carried himself on the court. “Hansel is a very tough person,” Gipson said. “When you see him on the floor, you just see an unstoppable force that doesn’t take anything for granted (理所应当).” “I’m not special,” Enmanuel said. “I’m not different than nobody. The only difference is that I’ve got one arm, but that’s not different.”

I went to the dark end of the warehouse and pressed my forehead against the wall, thinking again if this was the way for the rest of my life: working on a brainless, low-paying, dead-end job after two years out of school. I was sleepless again that night.

The next morning, I found several new guys on the job — temporary workers obviously. One of them caught my eye. He was older than the others and wearing a uniform: smartly pressed trousers and a work shirt, complete with his name, Jim, embroidered (刺绣) on the pocket.

I watched him all that day and the rest of the days he worked with us. He was never late or early. He worked at a steady, unhurried pace. He was friendly to everyone he worked with, and the other workers liked him, too. He didn’t try to show anybody up. He did what was asked of him, no more, no less. He didn’t gossip or complain or argue. He just did the job — common labor —with more personal dignity. His attitude and every action showed that he was a professional. Labor might be common; he wasn’t.

When the temporary work was finished, Jim left for another job, but the impression he made on me didn’t. I started setting my own standards. I worked like a businessman fulfilling a contract just the way Jim had done. To my surprise, the managers noticed my new productivity and promoted me. A few years later, I promoted myself to a better-paying job with a different company. And so it went. Eventually, many companies and many years later, I started a business of my own.

Whatever success I’ve had has been the result of hard work and good luck, but I think the biggest part of my luck was the lesson I learned from Jim so long ago. Respect doesn’t come from the kind of work you do; it comes from the way you do the work.

As a kid, I was a devoted fan of a TV show, Sesame Street. During my preschool years, I watched the show every single day and continued to watch it as much as possible through elementary school. It felt like spending an hour with my best friends. It was also a primary source of learning and having fun during my childhood.

The show's characters always made me feel like I belonged. Maybe that's because along with its educational part, the show paid attention to the fundamental ideas of kindness and acceptance. Sesame Street was a community where everyone was welcome and where problems were addressed with love and warmth.

Growing up in a small US midwestern town without much diversity（多样化）, characters like Miles and Maria—who stood for cultures other than mine—made me feel that it was okay to be different.

Besides helping me learn numbers and ABCs and understand different cultures, Sesame Street was deeply woven into my childhood. The theme song（主题曲）was basically the theme song of my young life. Every kid I knew dressed up as a character from the show at least once for Halloween. I remember my mum singing Ermie's famous "Rubber Duckie" song to me each night at bath time. Then I would go to bed with my beloved Cookie Monster.

As Sesame Street celebrates its 50th anniversary, I'm so glad I can pass its value down to my kids. I'm planning to take my kids to see Sesame Street Live for the first time in a few weeks. I just hope they remember Sesame Street being an important part of their childhood just as it was for mine.