It was New Year’s Eve. Everyone in the city was getting ready for the three-day celebration, including the gardener of the King’s garden.

There was a large group of monkeys living in the garden. They always followed the advice of their leader, the monkey king.

The gardener wanted to celebrate the New Year’s holiday, just like everybody else, so he decided to hand over his duties to the monkeys.

He went to the monkey king and said, “My friend, would you do a little favor for me? New Year is coming. So I must be away for three days. Here in this lovely garden, there are plenty of fruits and berries and nuts to eat. You and your subjects may come and eat as much as you wish. In return, please water the young trees and plants while I’m gone.”

The monkey king replied, “Don’t worry, my friend! We will do a good job!” The gardener showed the monkeys where the buckets were kept. Feeling confident, he left to celebrate the holiday.

The next day, the monkeys filled up the buckets, and began watering the young trees and plants. Then the king of the monkeys addressed them, “It is not good to waste water. Therefore, pull up each young tree or plant before watering. Check it to see how long the roots (根) are. Then give more water to the ones with long roots, and less water to the ones with short roots. That way we will not waste any water, and the gardener will be pleased!”

Without a second thought, the other monkeys followed their king’s orders.

A man passing by was puzzled and asked, “Monkeys, what do you think you’re doing to the King’s beautiful garden?” They answered, “We are watering the trees and plants, without wasting water! We were commanded to do so by our monkey king.”

The last attempt of Ken Campbell to run could date back to high school. When his wife, Susan, injured her foot, she needed support to rejoin her running group, so Campbell went along to keep her company in the recovery.” We were just walking at the beginning,” he says, “I was heavy, and weighed over 90kg.” But as the weeks and months passed, the weight fell away, Susan recovered and Campbell’s abilities grew. At the age of 63, he ran 50km, and at 70, he completed a 100km ultramarathon.

So how does someone with no experience of running become an ultradistance runner in his 60s and 70s? Susan had run marathons before her injury, but for Campbell, the turning point came when Susan’s Fleet Feet running group started training near their home.

Campbell went out to visit Susan’s group, and “the paths were a terrible mess. It had been raining, and I was slipping, sliding and falling. But I thought, well, I like this a lot.” What he liked above all was the feeling of “being wrapped by the path, being hugged by the closeness of the plants and the nearness of the river”.

Running the 100km ultramarathon took Campbell 16 hours. When Campbell crossed the finish line, Susan handed hima100km sticker to display on the back of his truck. “It is a public statement that you are part of this community,” he says. “Wherever we park, I see a line of vehicles with their various stickers and I feel that we area community.”

Campbell suffered from arthritis before he started running, and was “waiting for knee replacement”, but for now, he no longer needs an operation. It can put an end to the running—but the “sense of wellbeing and achievement will carry me on forever”, he says, “If I can’t run, I will walk.”

Eddie was on a family trip on Hawaii’s Big Island when the terrible wildfires occurred in the island of Maui, killing 115 people and destroying the town of Lahaina. He overheard the disaster (灾难) while watching TV.

“It was Wednesday afternoon, we had the news on, and he asked me to turn it off because he said that made him too sad,” Eddie’s mother, Ami, told USA TODAY. “At that point, I realized he was really paying attention and listening, and we needed to actually solve it. I hadn’t really intended to tell him about it, because we thought he was still a kid. But what happened next proved that we were wrong.”

Ami shared how their family had stayed in Lahaina earlier that year. While it was difficult for Eddie to understand the disaster at a young age, he wanted to help people in any way he could.

Eddie shared the idea of starting a stand and giving all the money to support casualties. Ami and her husband immediately supported the idea and set up a lemonade stand on Saturday on their busy Seattle street.

The stand ran from 10 am to 6 pm. It sold lemonade, ice cream sandwiches and even some of Eddie’s toys. Lemonade was sold for a dollar each, but most people gave $5, $10 and $20 bills as part of their donation (捐赠) .

The family also posted videos on social media and told their friends and family. To their surprise, their one-day business found success quickly. Back-to-back cars would line up to buy and many donated online. The stand made over $17,000, including online donations.

Eddie had a great time in the whole process. Struck by how his generosity invited others to be generous, Ami and her husband are proud of Eddie’s creativity and generosity and happy to support his positive ideas.