From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankher Vedantam.

This is my unsung hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

Hello, I would like to thank my unsung hero.

He invited me to come over for Christmas because we're both...

We were my unsung heroes.

I just want to say thank you.

Over the course of making my unsung hero,

teachers have told us how they've used the podcast

to teach students about the power of gratitude.

That includes a teacher in Beijing named Stephen Snidero who teaches English as a second language.

He recently asked his students to write about their own unsung heroes.

This is one of those stories from a student named Angela.

In 2020, when she was just 10, Angela entered her first piano competition. She was excited, but once she went

into the waiting room, she started to doubt herself.

What if I played the wrong notes? What if I forgot the note? What if I just messed up? Then a competitor

of mine made me confident. She was the person before me to perform on the stage. Before it was my turn to go on to the stage and perform my peace, she looked at me and smiled with thumb up.

Her smile made the stage lighter and warmer to me.

She made me stop thinking too much and started to think that I can do that. Her smile made me think that the

stage is just right for me and the piano is just right for me.

Most importantly, that smile made me think that.

Today, I'm just right.

And I can perform on the state.

...