Belief in Good

Belief in Good

by Linda M. Easterbrooks
Maine, USA

Last week, I went to a huge chain store. It’s so big I usually end up overwhelmed before finding what I’m looking for; even the parking lot is bigger than I’d like. When I go, I park beside a stray shopping cart so I can put Phillip, who is two years old, into the shopping cart and have Teresa, who is five, walk beside me into the store. When we reach the entryway, we swap to a two-child cart so they can both ride.

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Courage and Compassion

Courage and Compassion

by The Husband
Maryland, USA

It began as many mornings do — far too early and far too dark. I slipped out of bed, anxious to shower and leave without waking my wife and baby. These early mornings were necessary if I was to beat the traffic through Baltimore and D.C. into northern Virginia.

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Brothers On the Pile

Brothers on the Pile

by James Washington
New York, USA

My name is Jimmy; I’m a professional firefighter in New York. In my many years of service I have worked at only three firehouses, and we treat each other like family. When we hear 5-5-5-5 ring out, we know that a brother or sister firefighter has died in the line of duty.

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Remembering Their Smiles

Remembering Their Smiles

by Connie Cushing
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

I was shocked, to say the least, by the news I saw on 11 September, 2001. We turned the television on about one minute into the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster. I know this is devastating for New Yorkers who work and live in the city, and for Americans who mourn the loss of fellow countrymen.

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A Toast for the Poet

A Toast for a Poet

By Margaret Dolphin
California, USA

In October 2000 I wrote a poem for my best girlfriend because we’ve been through a lot together. We met when my daughter and her son were in the same Head Start program. For fun, I submitted my poem to an online poetry contest. I never heard back from them, but I didn’t expect to.

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Change of Outlook

By Jennifer Hoeneise
Michigan, USA

I participated in an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) in 2001 through Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. In ASB, participants travel someplace during spring break to do volunteer work. Education is a primary focus of ASB; before break we learn about the issue we will volunteer with.

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An Unexpected Return

An Unexpected Return

by Jason Knight
Florida, USA

It was a rainy Wednesday evening not much different from any other. After leaving work, I stopped at the supermarket to pick up the developed pictures I had taken on a cruise a few days ago, then went home.

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Privileged to Help

Privileged to Help

by The Sassy Texan
Texas, USA

I want everyone to know how my small town reacted to help Hurricane Katrina survivors. We’re an hour outside Houston, three hours from Louisiana. When hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in September 2005, we had no idea it would affect our community.

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Unforgotten Sacrifice

Unforgotten Sacrifice

by Maddy Jonas
New York, USA

In June of 1993 I had just graduated from Towson State University, outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I got a job waiting tables at a restaurant near the college. Money was tight and the only place I could afford to live was a local motel that rented rooms by the month.

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Two-Wheeled Samaritans

Two Wheeled Samaritans

By John Craggs
Hants, United Kingdom

It was about 2:00 a.m. and the six-volt lighting on my old motorbike and sidecar was barely coping with the cold, wet darkness. Then I nearly beat into the back of a Mini car parked — unlit — under a flyover bridge. My first reaction was ‘Stupid Idiot!’. I was a 50,000-mile-a-year man back then (much of it at night) and I didn’t suffer fools gladly.

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