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Breaking free of self-imposed shackles

The article Wang Chun-li, student of Taipei Municipal Binjiang Junior High School, wrote about the thoughts she derived from reading Five People You Meet in Heaven saying the work is sincere and moving. The article won first place in the junior high school category.

Wang was diagnosed with congenital malignant scoliosis when she was about to enter puberty. The news dealt a devastating blow to the young girl. She wept and wept, in denial about her illness. For two years, she was unable to accept what had happened to her.

She was greatly impacted by the book after reading it. She began to see the world in a very different light. Eddie, the main character in the book, loses one leg in a war. He becomes very angry and unhappy. After he dies, he meets five people in heaven. They tell him how their paths crossed and the lessons Eddie will learn from them.It isn't until Eddie dies that he realizes he missed the good parts in life because of the anger and resentment he felt as a result of his misfortune.

Eddie's story greatly impacted Wang, who found herself behaving like Eddie after being struck by her illness. She didn't want to leave the world with regret like Eddie. So she stopped feeling sorry for herself and was grateful to be alive.

Learning to reflect upon our behavior and shownig our love for others

Yu Ren-jie, student of Li-Ren Elementary School in Taichung, realized that he should show she cared about the poor after reading the Adventure to Hotel Star by Lian Jia-en. He found that he was fortunate to live without having to worry about food and clothing. And he took it for granted. That made he rethink his behavior.

The book was written by Lian Jia-en, who volunteered to perform his mandatory military service in Burkina Faso in Western Africa, about his life there. In his two years there, he collected over 70,000 clothes from around the world, encouraged more than 5,000 people to pick up rubbish scattered everywhere, and exchanged the rubbish for clothes. In addition, he helped young people to start their own businesses, raised money to dig wells to improve their drinking water supply, and founded orphanages to care for children.

Yu said that these children were so poor they didn't have enough clothes to cover their bodies and clean water to drink, while, on the other side of the planet, he owned brand-name sneakers and clothes, was picky about what he ate - a stark contrast.

Inspired by Lian's spirit, Yu started a campaign named "Listen! The Stars are Making a Wish" in the school, urging fellow students to skip one meal and help the needy with the money saved. Many fellow schoolmates have so far responded to his campaign. The $10,000 plus raised will be donated to Taiwan Fund for Children and Families.

Jenny Ko, Member of the Student Affairs Standing Committee, Ministry of Education, said that though we cannot decide how long we live, we can decide its breadth; though we cannot change the weather, we can change our mood; though we cannot predict what will happen tomorrow, we can make good use of today. Through reading and writing, the participants turned negative thinking into energy and began taking action. They wrote down their thoughts about life and shared them with others. This is the best life education and worthy of emulation.