IF YOU DON'T GET A RESPOND TO AN EMAIL YOU SEND ME WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS, WRITE TO ME AGAIN USING A SECOND (OR A THIRD) ADDRESS WHERE YOU CAN BE REACHED.

            I'VE JUST HAD AN INSTANCE IN WHICH I TRIED SIX TIMES TO SEND AN EMAIL TO AN ADDRESS THAT ALWAYS WORKED BEFORE, AND EACH TIME IT WAS RETURN AS BEING UNDELIVERABLE.

          .

(Written by Hu Ao)

          When I went to primary school, I was the youngest one in the class.  I was a little introverted, and so my school life wasn't going well.  I suffered from depression and hardly said a word.  There were almost 50 children in my class, and it was obvious that some would get a lot of love and others would get very little.  I was largely ignored.

          Every day I lived in my own world and didn't have a single friend.  Except for the lessons that the teachers taught, nothing was new.  I did the same old things every day - went to school, got back home, slept, watched TV.  It was a very boring life, and I never gave a thought about how I could change it.

          Then one day when I was in third grade, the teacher told us there would be a new math class in which students would learn how to do everything a different way.  She asked, "Who wants to take part in it?  Please raise your hand."

          Immediately several small hands were raised and mine was among them for I didn't want to be left behind.  The hands made a beautiful picture - like flowers that face the sun.  Everyone wanted to grow and make progress.

          The teacher did some quick mental arithmetic and said, "There are more children interested than we have room for so you'll have to compete by taking an examination."

          "What?  An examination?" I gasped.  The hand above my head became colder and colder.  Sweat seeped out of the palm of one of the hands, and it felt like a stinging needle as it slid down my arm.  I could feel my heart thumping faster, as the expression "take and exam" has always made me tense.

          As soon as I got home, I told my parents about the math class and asked them to go with me to get detailed information from the teacher.  They agreed, and the next day when classes were over they arrived at the school and found the teacher.

          She was a serious young woman and had just been working at the school for a few months.  She smiled at my parents when they introduced themselves, and said to me, "You shouldn't be here; why don't you go out and play."  Then she stooped to pull out a box from under the desk, found a soccer ball, and put it in my hands while giving me a signal with her eyes that it was time to leave.  I looked at her and then at my parents, and my mother said, "Be careful!"  So I went out, and the door closed behind me.

          It was just me and the ball in the passageway.

          I decided to go down the stairs and came to the garden.  It was late Spring, and the sight was very beautiful.  It looked as if someone had found buckets of color and poured them over everything.  Flowers were planted in artful, swirling patterns - great waves of pink, white, lemon yellow and saffron.  Each flower had its own characteristic but they all shared an active and very positive spirit that was very appealing.

          I stared at them - not knowing how much time had passed - and then suddenly decided to go back and listen to what the adults were saying.  It was an opportunity; I had to grasp it, and turning back, I ran up the stairs as quickly as possible.

          I quietly approached the classroom door and put my ear to it.  I heard, "Your child is not one of the better students so I think it will be hard for him to win a place."  It was the teacher's voice.

           At that moment my heart sank and turned cold.  My mind was blank, not knowing what to do  Should I give up?

          "But he has time, hasn't he?  You've said that the exam won't be given for two months."  It was my father talking.

          "Yes, that's true", she said, but he'll need to do a lot of hard work.  It will take him a lot of time..."

          "I think I can do that," I heard myself blurting out.

          The talking in the room stopped, and when the door was opened, the teacher saw me standing there.

          "We'll have to wait and see", was all she said.

          In the days and weeks that followed. I struggled to find a way to make my dream come true.  My parents didn't have time to help me so I had to rely on my grandfather and teacher Bao, my old friend.

          When the two months passed, I took the exam and passed it.  I was very proud of myself.

          I also learned from that experience how to move toward my goals.  It just takes one step at a time - even though many of them are baby steps - and when I added up all the bits and pieces I'd learned while working hard, I found that everything had changed.

          I had learned to face life confidently and optimistically.