I am a mother of three children and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was social study. The last class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

Soon after we were given the project, my husband, my youngest son, and I went out to McDonald’s one cold March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back way. I turned around and found there standing behind me were two poor homeless men with a horrible “dirty body” smell. The short gentleman, close to me, was “smiling”. His beautiful sky-blue eyes were full of light as he searched for acceptance. The second man played with his hands uneasily as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation(救赎). The short man just asked for a coffee because that was all they could afford.

I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray(餐盘).I then walked around the corner to the men’s table. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman’s cold hand. He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said “Thank you”.

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down, my husband smiled at me and said, “That’s why God gave you to me, Honey. To give me hope.”

On the last evening of class, I turned in “my project” and the instructor read it. Then she looked up at me and said, “Can I share this?” I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and we all knew that we need to heal people and to be healed.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE. “LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS--NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.”

Four friends live in a small town and play basketball together. Lane is new to the town. He, s really good at basketball. “If anyone in this small town beats me on the court (球场), I’ll eat my hat.” He really thought no one could beat him at basketball.

One night after shooting hoops, the four friends were in a restaurant. As Lane talked about how great he had played, the owner of the restaurant came over with their food.

The old man smiled. “I used to shoot a lot,” he remembered fondly. “It’s quite a game.” The friends agreed with him. They had a great conversation with the old man about how basketball had changed over the years.

Lane, however, was upset. “It’s nice that you played once. But basketball is a game for young people like me,” he said.

“That’s the truth,” the old man laughed. “My tired old legs could never go up and down the court.”

“Yeah, restaurant work is more suited to an old person.” Lane said.

Lane said “an old person” as if it were a bad phrase. Lane’s friends were embarrassed at his behavior. The old man just smiled.

“Well, there is one thing that I can still do quite well. I can shoot a mean free throw.” He added, “In fact, I might even beat you, young man.”

Lane laughed at this. His friends, who knew the old man better than Lane, said nothing. Lane invited the old man to a friendly free-throw competition the next day.

“If you beat me at free throws, I’ll...” Lane paused, not knowing what to bet.

The owner thought of it for him. “If you lose, you must wait tables in my restaurant for a week.”

Lane agreed and they shook on it. They arranged to meet at the basketball court the next day at noon. The town is that small. At the appointed time,   spectators (观众) filled the seats around the basketball court.

Lane went first. He made 24 excellent free-throw shots. But he missed his 25th throw.

The old man walked slowly over to the free-throw line. He sank shot after shot, all of them perfect.

The old man was still shooting to the roar of the crowd when Lane left the court with his tail between his legs.

At first Lane was too embarrassed to go into the restaurant. But finally, he swallowed his pride and apologized to the old man. The old man graciously (和蔼地) gave Lane an apron, then watched as the young man waited on his first customer.

Brian was a funny student. He loved watching comedies（喜剧） best and hoped to become a comedy actor one day.

When he heard about the talent show to be held at this school, Brian decided to take part in. He had never acted on stage before, and he was very excited. But some students laughed at him. “You are not funny but silly，” Ken, one of his classmates, said to his face. “No one will like what you do，” another boy also said to him, loudly.

Brian couldn’t understand why they were so unkind to him. For a moment, he thought about giving up the show. But he remembered how much his friends liked his jokes, and also his teachers said he was very funny. So he decided to prepare for the show.

Brian did a great job at the talent show. Everyone loved his performance, and he won the first prize! His teachers and friends were proud of him. Even so, Ken told Brian that he was not funny, and that he would never be successful. Brian didn’t understand why Ken said so, but he realized that it had nothing to do with him. He confidently continued to work towards his goal.

As the years went on, Brian met more people like Ken. “You’ll do a terrible job，” they said to him. Luckily, most people encouraged him and some helped him to become even funnier. He got a lot of opportunities to perform in movies. He was even invited to appear on television. His fans thanked him because his comedies made them feel good when they were unhappy.

Now Brian is a big comedy star! He is doing what he loves best. He never feels stressed like those unkind people, and he laughs all day long!