Two very uplifting stories in today's UK papers:

[Joe Chi Minh]

The first, about Andrea Jaeger, the former child tennis star,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=560743&in_page_id=1879

and the other, was about a young woman who had been addicted to shopping, until she visited a sweatshop in India. She went in a group of six participants in a BBC documentary on sweatshops.

(snip) It was bleak and dirty, with a lot of poverty. We went to work in sweatshops and lived with the wrokers in shanty towns. The sweatshop was very noisy and small. Several people who worked there lived there too. They slept under their machines.


(snip) At night we stayed with the workers, The housing was very basic, but what really stood out was how close the family were. The teenage daughter went out and worked two jobs to pay for everything. Seing how much they did for each other and how much they loved each other made me realsie how selfish I was. I never used to think about my family and I'd never had that closeness with them. It made me see how much I wanted things to change. I wanted my parents to be proud of me.

After a month, I returned to England and almost immediately, things were different, starting with me spending more time with my mum
and dad. Being with Indian families made me respect and appreciate my parents. Now I cherish spending time with my family."

(snip) When I was in India some of the children had such big dreams, it made me realise you should follow your own. Now I'm hoping to get a scholarship to drama school. Instead of wasting my money on things I don't need, I want put it towards bettering my education and my life. I'm also organising a charity event to raise money to pay a teacher for a chldren's refuge we visited in Mumbai. For the first time in my life, I am actually happy. I appreciate things I've got, like friends and family. I've stopped being so selfish and I try to consider other people's feelings over my own. (snip) The trip has been been life-changing. I won't ever forget it.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. she learned the secret

What matters is our relationships with others. When we are able to help others, we are ourselves enriched.

[Joe Chi Minh]

2. "The worst thing was walking in after a match when somebody had lost.

I didn't feel good about beating people."

Great Republican she'd make, wouldn't she! What a loser!