A well-known speaker started his speech by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200 people, he asked, “Who would like this $ 20 bill?”

Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you. But first let me do this.” He crumpled(揉搓) the bill. He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still, the hands of stayed in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?” He dropped it on the ground and started to grind(碾压) it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. “Who still wants it?” The hands did not move.

“My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I do to the money, you will still want it because it is still worth $20.”

“Sometimes we feel like we are worthless because we did something wrong or the situation is not good. But no matter what has happened, you will never lose your value and you are still priceless to those who love you. They care about you because you are special to them.”

“The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by who we are.”

Stephen used to work in a company. Unfortunately(不幸地), he got serious heart disease(疾病). He couldn’t work for a long time. Thinking he could still do something for others, he decided to be a volunteer at a Children’s Hospital. Stephen loved children very much. With his love, he did his job well. Sometimes some children died of illness. At that time, he would tell these sad parents that he would soon be with their children in heaven(天堂) and he would take care of them. His words seemed to help those parents.

There was a girl who could not walk because of a disease. She couldn’t do anything and she was very sad. What was worse, the doctors said that they could do little for her. Stephen decided to try to help her. He started visiting her, bringing paints, brushes and paper. He put the brush in his mouth and began to draw. He didn’t use his hands at all. Only his head would move. He always told her that she could do anything she wanted.

At last she began to draw with her mouth. She and Stephen became friends. By and by, the little girl was getting better and better. She was allowed to leave the hospital. One day to Stephen’s great surprise, she walked to see him on her own feet! She gave him a picture she had drawn. At the top, it read: “Thank you for helping me walk. It’s all because of your love.”

Love can sometimes be more powerful than doctors and medicines. Love makes our world more beautiful and colorful. Stephen died a few days after the girl gave him the picture.

It is hard to think about how a girl spends her life when only the head and hands are able to move. Xu Ruiyang is a girl from Kunming. She got ill at the age of 2. At that time the doctor said that she could only live for a few years.

Hearing that, her parents were heartbroken, but after crying, they still tried to teach her lots of things. Some easy things, like opening a book or putting up the hands, are difficult for Xu. She has to use her head, mouth and hands to do these things.

When she started learning to write, she couldn’t even take a pen at first. But after hard work, she could finally write about 500 Chinese characters (汉字) before being a primary school student．

Thanks to her parents, Xu is a sunny girl. “If we are not able to make her live longer, we can make her life wider (更宽的),” said Xu’s father. They travelled across China and more than 20 other countries all over the world. During these trips, she met many new friends and became full of hope for life. Now Xu is a student at Sichuan International Studies University. “Life is short and problems are always there,” said Xu. “But I’ll make good use of my time and be a happy person.”