Old John has worked as a school keeper in Hill Ford School. After walking into the school building every day, he cleans rubbish bins and bathrooms.

Last Friday, after he arrived at the school, instead of finding rubbish to clean up, he found almost 500 students lining in the hallway(大厅) with handmade cards and singing a happy birthday song to him. It was his 80th birthday. As he walked the long hallway, someone rushed to him and gave him a hug. They handed him so many cards as well and the cards filled several large boxes. Old John was touched by their expression of affection (关爱). He thanked them all. “It's the sixteenth year in this school. They're like my children,” Old John said.

On a regular day, students sometimes come up to find him and say they're not feeling well or other times to tell him about something that happened at break time. He knows most of he students at the school, but can't name each one. Some of them make him know them, like Faith, who often leaves her schoolbag in the canteen, and Lucy, who just wants a hug.

Carrie, a reading teacher said,“He won't brag(夸耀) on himself, but it doesn't matter what he's doing or where he is, he will stop what he's doing at any time to give all his attention and take care of a child if that child is having a bad day. "

He works circles around all the students, cleaning up the mess others don't want to touch. He doesn't expect a lot. Old John said he hadn't planned to do much for his birthday, so he was touched as the students had prepared the surprise celebration.

Over the weekend, he worked through the handmade cards at his house. One card from a student stood out to him. It read “Old John, you are the most loved one in our school…”.

If you choose only to complain and escape from a misfortune, it will always follow you wherever you go. But if you decide to be strong, the hardship will turn out to be a fortune on which new hopes will arise.

In an accident, a boy lost both his arms and his father------who was the main source of support for the family. Since then, he has had to depend on the arms of his younger brother. In order to take care of him, his younger brother became his shadow, never leaving him alone for years. Except for writing with his toes, he was completely unable to do anything in his life.

As the two brothers grew up together, they had their share of problems and they would often quarrel. Then one day, his younger brother wanted to leave, living his own life, as many normal people do. So he was heart-broken and didn't know what to do.

A similar misfortune happened to a girl, too. One night her mother, who suffered from chronic（慢性的）mental illness, disappeared. Her father went out to look for her mother, leaving her alone at home. She tried to prepare meals for her parents, only to overturn the kerosene (煤油) light on the stove, resulting in a fire which took her hands away.

Though her elder sister who was studying in another city, showed her willingness to take care of her, she was determined to be completely independent. At school, she always studied hard. Most of all she learned to be self-reliant (依靠自己).

One day, the boy and the girl were both invited to appear on a television interview program. The boy told the TV host about his uncertain future at being left on his own, while the girl was full of enthusiasm for her life. They both were asked to write something on a piece of paper with their toes. The boy wrote: My younger brother's arms are my arms; while the girl wrote: Broken wings, flying heart.

My dad is a car mechanic, which involves lots of heavy lifting, tightening, shaking, and banging. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would bake great bread, but he is and he does. The shop where Dad works is not equipped with enough workers, so there’s lots of pressure on Dad.

I’ve been feeling kind of stressed out myself since I found out I didn’t qualify for the swim team. Now I’ll have to wait a whole year to try out again; that might as well be a million years.

Dad knew I was feeling pressure. Last Saturday he said it was time for me to help in the kitchen. I couldn’t imagine what help I could offer. Still, I followed right behind him.

Dad gave me an apron, got out his enormous stainless-steel mixing bowl, and told me to stir while he added the ingredients. When I had stirred the flour and milk mixture into a thick lump (块), Dad had me turn it over onto the countertop. Then he showed me how to knead (揉) the dough (生面团), which took ten minutes and a surprising amount of energy.

Next came the most difficult and surprising part — doing nothing. We waited for more than an hour for the dough to slowly swell up and double in size. After that, we punched the risen dough down to let the air out, divided it in two and waited for another hour.

“It’s hard to resist putting the dough directly into the oven, but if you do, the bread will be tough. The most important lesson of all is learning to be patient,” Dad explained.

While we waited, we sat and talked. Silence is a blank space that begs to be filled. It’s like the dough — it swells up and fills a room with emptiness unless you punch it down with words. It felt good to be still and listen to each other. As the flour dust in the kitchen quietly settled, time seemed to slow down. The dough was going to rise at its own pace. As I accepted that, I stopped watching the clock and drumming my fingers on the tabletop. I started enjoying the quiet time with Dad. My father taught me how to bake bread, but I think I learned something more.