I drove a taxi for extra money east of Toronto thirty years ago. Each time a taxi drove up to the front of the Greenwood Racetrack, a group of local kids would run along the sidewalk angling for position by the passenger door. One lucky kid, or rather, the most aggressive one, would open the passenger door and say “Good luck, Mister!” The man getting out of the cab would vaguely say thanks and throw the kid a quarter. It was a routine everybody knew.

Throughout the summer, one kid caught my eye. He was bigger than most of all the other kids but pushed away by even the smallest. He never made it but never gave up. One day, his chance arrived. As I was pulling up to the sidewalk, all the kids were pushing for a cab just ahead of mine. The boy saw me and walked toward my taxi. As I positioned the passenger door right beside him, he never paused and opened the passenger door, warmly saying, “Good luck, Mister!”

But the man neither said thanks nor flipped him a quarter. He pushed him aside so hard that the boy fell on the sidewalk. I knew it hurt him badly. I got out in less than 10 seconds, but the man was gone in the crowd. So I looked for the kid. I decided to give him $20 for the effort. By the time I spotted him he was far up ahead, walking away in the opposite direction through the crowd and his head hanging down. When I got the cab turned around I lost sight of him. I never saw him again. I’d like to find him one day and tell him that if only he had stuck around a little longer I would have given him a whole $20.

I learned from this kid that when things seem so hopeless that you are ready to give up, it’s the time when things are most likely to turn around for you.

This summer’s surprise hit at movie theaters across China was the re-telling of the ancient myth (神话) of Nezha. The animated film has taken in over four billion yuan at the box office and become one of the country’s most successful films ever. It proved that China could produce animation films comparable to those produced in Hollywood and Japan.

The film, directed by Yang Yu, was a massive undertaking from start to finish. He spent two years writing the script (剧本) and three more years making a film which required the efforts of 1,600 animators. But for Yang it was a labor of love and a way, as he said, he could prove to himself that he could change his fate and inspire others to change their fate as well.

“I used to suffer from a lot of prejudice after changing my career,” said Yang, who had studied pharmacology (药理学) at university and was “fated” to be a pharmacist. “Since then I have thought about making an animated film to encourage young people to persist in their dreams.”

Over the years, I have come across a few students who were labelled as “devils.” Some misbehaved simply because they were not mature enough. Others were disruptive (引起混乱的) and uncooperative when they were in a bad mood. They usually had family problems in the form of overly critical mothers or fathers that were too strict. For those students, a great deal of compassion and understanding was required to let them know they were not “fated” to be bad. As they grew up, they would have the power to change their circumstance.

If you have seen Nezha, you know what a terrific, entertaining film it is. But the film also imparts (传授) an important lesson: We should not judge ourselves or others too harshly(严厉地), so as not to allow those negative judgments to control our fate.

A jobless man applied for the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.

“You are employed,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start.”

The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail.”

“I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you do not exist. And a person who doesn’t exist cannot have the job.”

The man left with no hope at all. With only ten dollars in his pocket, he decided to go to the supermarket and buy 10kg tomatoes. He then sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home happily with 60 dollars.

The man realized that he could survive in this way, and started to go every day early, and return late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own delivery vehicles. Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商人) in the US.

He started to plan his family’s future and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker (经纪人) and chose a protection plan.

When the conversation ended, the broker asked him his e-mail. The man replied, “I don’t have an e-mail.”

The broker answered surprisingly, ‘‘You don’t have an e-mail, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”