I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled(摸索) in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches; they had taken those. I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. I called out to him, "Have you got a light?" He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette.

As he came close and lit the match, his eyes unconsciously locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.

I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension too.

"Do you have kids?" he asked.

"Yes, here, here."

I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too. Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.

My life was saved by a smile, yes, the smile—the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn't be enemies. We couldn't have hate or envy or fear.

Dear Teachers and Parents,

This June, during Financial Literacy Month, we have some to share.

In 2015, a free online financial education course named FutureSmart was introduced to middle school students, specifically targeting this group at a time in their lives when financial habits take hold and grow.

Fast forward to today, FutureSmart, available in English and Spanish, has reached over 13,000 schools across all 50 states. More than two million students have completed the course, with almost half coming from low-to-moderate income families.

But we aren't stopping there. We promise to reach four million more students by the end of 2025.

Why? Because this moment calls for brave action. Never before have money management and investment decisions been so easy to conduct at any time or place through the use of a smartphone. It is time to offer students more critical financial literacy education to encourage them to make good financial decisions on a daily basis as they make their way through a complex world.

From weighing opportunity costs to delaying instant satisfaction for long-term financial gain, FutureSmart educates our youth using hands-on simulations (模拟) to introduce concepts like daily financial decisions and the rewards of long-term planning. Teaching young learners how to build solid financial foundations is an important step in building financially healthy communities.

Although our work is far from complete, we know that FutureSmart works. And it works exceptionally well.

In the largest study of its kind, supported by the MassMutual Foundation and EVERFI, the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute (UMDI) recently concluded that 90% of students saw a statistically significant and educationally meaningful increase in knowledge after taking the FutureSmart course.

What's more, these results were consistent across all student demographics including race, age, gender, school year, and socioeconomic status.

We have a long way to go to reach every single middle school student, but we welcome the challenge. Together, our teams have started a movement to provide equal access to financial education, and we invite others to join us.

Visit getfuturesmart.com to learn more and see how you can bring FutureSmart to the young people in your life.

MICHAEL FANNING         RAY MARTINEZ

Head of MassMutual US          President and Co-Founder of EVERFI

People who give, live longer, studies have shown. Now, a new study by University of Michigan researchers shows that why people volunteer — not whether they volunteer — is what really counts.

For the study, Konrath and colleagues analyzed data collected in 2008 and 2012 aiming at the same random samples of 3,376 people. Overall, they found that just 2.3 percent of those who once worked as volunteers had died, compared to 4.3 percent of non-volunteers. They further found that how much people volunteered mattered as well — only 1.8 percent of regular volunteers died, compared with 2.5 percent of occasional volunteers.

But what really made a difference were people's motives for volunteering. The researchers asked people to rate how important they found various reasons for volunteering, and they found that the more important people rated reasons such as feeling pity for people in need, the more likely they were to be alive. Those who rated motives related to personal benefit as more important were more likely to have died, and just as likely to die as those who didn't volunteer at all. These reasons included volunteering because they enjoyed the social contact, to escape their own problems, or to explore their own strengths.

Konrath says the current findings suggest it may be a poor idea to encourage people to volunteer because it's good for them. "Volunteering is increasingly being encouraged in schools and organizations. Some groups say that it's okay to want benefits for yourself, and encourage people to think of volunteering as an exchange for personal interests. Some groups emphasize the health benefits received through volunteering." Konrath added, "Of course, it's reasonable for volunteers to expect benefits for themselves. But the potential health benefits of volunteering are significantly reduced if self-benefit becomes a person's main motive."