贊美他人，永遠(yuǎn)不遲

He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary’s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, he had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.

我在明尼蘇達(dá)州莫里斯的圣瑪麗學(xué)校教書，他在我教的第一個(gè)三年級的班上。全班34個(gè)學(xué)生每一個(gè)都討我喜歡，但馬克·埃克隆卻是獨(dú)一無二的。他外表干干凈凈，是個(gè)樂天派，所以即便是他偶爾的調(diào)皮搗蛋，也依然討人喜歡。

Mark often talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving. "Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn’t know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.

馬克常常說個(gè)不停。我不得不一而再、再而三地提醒他，未經(jīng)允許不能講話。不過，令我印象深刻的是，每當(dāng)我不得已指出他的過錯(cuò)的時(shí)候，他都非常誠懇地對我說：“謝謝你指出我的問題，修女!”起初，我不知該作何反應(yīng)，但很快，我便習(xí)慣了一天聽到這句話好多遍。

One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice-teacher’s mistake. I looked at him and said, "If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!"

一天早上，馬克又一次講個(gè)不停，我終于不耐煩了，于是犯了個(gè)新老師才會犯的錯(cuò)誤。我盯著他說：“再說一個(gè)字，我就拿膠帶把你的嘴封上!”

It wasn’t ten seconds later when Chuck, another student, blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn’t asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it.

結(jié)果不到十秒鐘，另一個(gè)學(xué)生查克就脫口而出：“馬克又在講話了。”我并沒有讓任何同學(xué)幫我盯著馬克，不過既然我已經(jīng)當(dāng)著全班的面說過他再說話就要罰他，我得說話算話。

I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark’s desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. When I walked back to Mark’s desk and removed the tape, his first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister."

接下來的一幕我至今仍記憶猶新，仿佛就發(fā)生在今天早上。我走到講桌前，不慌不忙拉打開抽屜，拿出一卷膠帶，然后一言不發(fā)地走到馬克桌前，撕下兩截膠帶，在他嘴上貼了個(gè)大大的“X”，然后轉(zhuǎn)身走回教室前面。我瞟了瞟馬克看他有什么反應(yīng)，結(jié)果看到他朝我眨了眨眼睛。而當(dāng)我回到馬克桌前給他撕下膠帶時(shí)，他說的第一句話便是：“謝謝你指出我的問題，修女。”

One Friday, I asked the students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the paper.

在一個(gè)星期五，我讓同學(xué)們把班上除自己之外其他同學(xué)的名字寫在兩張紙上，名字與名字間留點(diǎn)空隙。然后我讓他們想想每位同學(xué)最好的地方是什么，并把這也寫下來。大家用那堂課剩余的時(shí)間完成了這項(xiàng)任務(wù)，到下課離開教室的時(shí)候他們把各自的兩張紙交給了我。

That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" I heard the whispers. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone!" "I didn’t know others liked me so much!" Then Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister."

星期六的時(shí)候，我分別把每位同學(xué)的名字各寫在一張紙上，然后把其他同學(xué)對他的評價(jià)列在上面。到了星期一，我把各人的單子分發(fā)給他們。很快全班同學(xué)臉上都揚(yáng)起了笑容。“真有這么好?”我聽見有人輕聲說。“我從不知道那會對別人有意義!”還有人說：“原來大家這么喜歡我啊!”而馬克說：“修女，感謝你的教導(dǎo)。”

No one ever mentioned those pieces of paper in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents.

后來再沒人在課堂上提起過這些紙，我也不清楚他們有沒有在課下與同學(xué)或者父母談?wù)撨^。

Soon I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome and more polite than ever. Maybe since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math", he did not talk as much in the ninth grade as he had in the third.

很快我就被調(diào)去教初中數(shù)學(xué)了。幾年的時(shí)間一晃而過，在我還未意識到的時(shí)候，馬克又出現(xiàn)在了我的課堂。他比以前帥氣了，人也更加彬彬有禮。也許是因?yàn)樗仨氄J(rèn)真聽我用“新數(shù)學(xué)”法講課，九年級的他不再像三年級時(shí)那樣愛講話了。

That group of students moved on.

就這樣，這一批學(xué)生畢業(yè)了。

Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. Mother gave Dad a side-ways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before saying something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven’t heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Vietnam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend."

幾年后的一天，我度假歸來，父母來機(jī)場接我。媽媽斜斜地瞟了爸爸一眼，只說了兩個(gè)字：“她爸?”爸爸清了清嗓子——但凡有要事宣布，他都會這樣。說：“埃克隆家昨晚打了個(gè)電話過來。”“是嗎?”我說，“好幾年沒他們的消息了，不知道馬克怎么樣了。”爸爸輕聲地回答道：“馬克在越戰(zhàn)中犧牲了，葬禮在明天舉行。他父母希望你能去參加。”

I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature.

我從未見過軍人躺在軍用棺材里的樣子。馬克看上去是那樣英俊，那樣成熟。

After the funeral, Mark’s mother and father found me. "We want to show you something," his father said. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening a billfold, he carefully removed two worn and frazzled pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the pieces of paper were the ones on which I had listed all the good things that Mark’s classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that." Mark’s mother said. "As you can see, Mark behaved better and better at school. It’s all because of you and your list."

葬禮結(jié)束后，馬克的父母找到了我。“我們想給您看一樣?xùn)|西，”他爸爸說，“馬克犧牲的時(shí)候他們在他身上找到了這個(gè)。我們想您可能認(rèn)得。”他打開皮夾，小心翼翼地取出兩張破損不堪的筆記本紙。很明顯，這兩張紙用膠帶補(bǔ)過、反復(fù)折疊過。不用看我也知道，這就是當(dāng)初那兩張紙，我當(dāng)時(shí)把馬克的同學(xué)們對他的表揚(yáng)都寫在了上面。“您所做的這些，我們感激不盡，”馬克的媽媽說，“您也看到了，馬克在學(xué)校里的表現(xiàn)越來越好。這都?xì)w功于您和您的這張單子。”

Mark’s classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It’s in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck’s wife said, "Chuck asked me to put this in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It’s in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists."

這時(shí)，馬克的同學(xué)們也圍了過來。查利靦腆地笑著說：“這張單子我現(xiàn)在還保留著，就在我家書桌最上面的抽屜里。”查克的妻子說：“查克讓我把這個(gè)放在我們的結(jié)婚紀(jì)念冊里。”“我的也在，”瑪麗蓮說，“就在我日記本里。”接著，另一個(gè)同學(xué)維姬從手提袋里取出錢包，給大家看那張已經(jīng)磨損了的紙。“我一直把這個(gè)帶在身上，”維姬眼睛一眨不眨地說，“我想我們都保存著自己的單子。”

That’s when I finally sat down and cried.

那一刻，我終于坐下大哭起來。

Sometimes the smallest things could mean the most to others. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget life will end one day and we don’t know when that one day will be. Compliment the people you love and care about, before it is too late.

有時(shí)候，即便是最微不足道的事情，對他人也可能意義非凡。在這個(gè)社會上，在熙熙攘攘的人群中，我們哪里還會記得某天人生終會走到盡頭，更不知道那一天何時(shí)到來。所以，趁一切都還來得及，去贊美你愛著、關(guān)心著的人吧!