I am a normal seventh-grader in Class 3 in the Dandelion School in Beijing.Here,I can focus on studying and carefully learn all there is to offer. I am very proud of this school.

　　 But before this, I was so different that no one would be able to guess what my past was like. Now, I like to play and laugh; how is this anything like what I was before? I definitely changed, changed under the nurture of love.

　　My hometown is Zun Yi town in Gui Jou province. From when I was born until I was five-years-old, my family was shadowed by violence: my parents fought every few days. I remember once, when I was four-years-old, my mother was sent to the hospital after being beaten by my father. All I knew was to bring my mother water when she was thirsty and food when she was hungry. It’s ironic that a child who needed someone to take care of was now taking care of someone else. When I was five-years-old, my parents finally divorced. I was put under my mother’s care, and from then on, I seldom saw my father. When I was seven-years-old and going to kindergarten, I would always see my classmates being picked up by their parents after the bell rang. But what about me? Since I went to school, my mom only dropped me off and picked me up once.

　　In my memory, I only remember how my mother liked to gamble. Everytime she went,she would be gone the whole night, but I was afraid to sleep alone at home. I could only stay with my mother at the gambling place all night, and in the morning I would put on my backpack and go to school by myself.

　　When I was in third-grade, my mother went to Beijing so I had to live at my uncle’s house. From then on, I knew I was different from my classmates. The outstanding student I was, began to blame my family and fate for not being fair. So I beat myself up and met a lot of bad people outside of school. They influenced me to go on inappropriate websites, smoke, and fight… The bad things I did didn’t amount to something uncontrollable because I was still so young.

　　After I entered middle school, I began to interact with those people more often. I skipped school, didn’t come home at night, and fought every day… During a mid-term exam, I placed fiftieth in my class and five-hundredth in my grade. All this didn’t make me realize my faults; instead, I blamed them all on my parents.

　　My friends and relatives at home couldn’t control me, so my mother decided to bring me to Beijing to go to school so I would be cut off from those bad people in society.

　　After arriving in Beijing, I stayed home for six months. Once when my mother was online, she ran across the Dandelion School. After visiting the school and learning more about it, she decided to enroll me. Before I entered school, I had no intention of changing my ways; nobody on this world cared about me anyways.

　　School started and I was placed into Class 3 of seventh grade. I was still mischievous like I was before so it was very difficult for the teachers to control me. But the teachers didn’t give up on me; instead, they always gave me another chance.

　　At this school, I first felt what love was like. The principal is a professor with parents who were in high positions in the government. She had returned from America. The principal could have been securely at home enjoying life, but she didn’t choose this path. Because she wanted to make sure we were being properly educated, she didn’t choose the good life. Instead, she went around society searching for people who would help us, no matter whether it was windy, rainy, freezing, or unbearably hot. This is the power of love, because the principal loves us. It is said that “learning to be bad is easy; learning to be good is hard.” But I’m really using all my strength to change who I am: I don’t smoke anymore, I try to force myself to not go to internet cafes anymore, and I don’t like beating people up anymore. I like studying a lot more now… Now whenever I do something, I don’t just think about what I want to do, but I also think about whether or not my actions will put to waste the hard work of people who have supported and loved me. Love’s strength is so great. Love is giving, and meeting its expectations is sweet.

　　When I grow up, I want to be like Principal Zheng and establish a school because I know there are other children like me who need help.

　　Under the love of Principal Zheng, us Dandelion School's children are sprouting and growing.

（Dandelion School, Seventh grade (Class 3), Yang Sheng Nan, fall semester of 2006）
(Translated by Diana)