第8章 阴雨天的阳光

Sunshine on a Rainy Day

佚名/Anonymous

你是否经历过这样的一天，在这一天里事事不顺？不久以前我就有过这么一天，我感到气馁、厌烦，非常悲伤，我满脑子想的都是自己，毕竟没有人经历过我所经历的磨难。

我把我糟糕的心情告诉我的母亲，希望得到她的怜悯，母亲却说：“我听说杰米今天也不高兴，你为什么不做些饼干今天下午带给她呢？”我本来不想去做，但是我不愿再去想其他让我心烦的事情，所以我就去做饼干了，我把做好的饼干摆在一个小盘里，还做了一个画着太阳的卡片，在上面写了一句安慰的话。

那天下午我们去我的朋友家拜访，我去按门铃，很快，杰米出来了，她惊奇地看着我，她没有想到我会来看她。在她开口说话之前，我先说话了：“我听说你今天不高兴，就决定送你些东西，希望你高兴起来。”当时，我无法用语言描述杰米的表情，就好像阴暗的天空突然间被金色的阳光照亮，好像她阴郁的一天因我的拜访而变得充满阳光。

我回到车里惊奇地发现我的心情好多了，那一天我体会到一个真理，用詹姆斯·巴里的话来说就是：“给别人带去阳光的人，自己也会感到温暖。”

Have you ever had a day when everything seemed to go wrong， and nothing seemed to go right？ Not too long ago I was having one of those days. I was discouraged， weary， and plain sad. My focus was on me， me， me. After all， no one else was experiencing the same trials as I was.

I expressed my downcast state to my mother， hoping for some pity. Instead， she said， "I heard Jamie was having a difficult day， too. Why don't you make her some cookies and we will take them to her this afternoon？" I didn't really want to， but decided that I didn't want to go back to my other problems just yet. I made the cookies and arranged them on a little plate. Then I made a card with a sunflower on it and wrote a small note of empathy.

That afternoon we dropped by my friend's house. I went to the door and rang the bell. Soon， Jamie came to the door and looked at me in surprise for the unexpected visit. Before she could say anything I rushed， "I heard you were having a hard day and decided to bring you something. I hope your day goes better." The look that came over Jamie's face was one that I could never put into words. It was as if a darkened sky was suddenly lit with the golden rays of the sun； it was as if in that small act， her day was brightened.

I got back into the car and for some amazing reason， I felt a lot better myself. That day I experienced the truth that James Barrie attempted to describe："Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others， cannot keep it from themselves."