The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her 5-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and said, “This is for you, Momma.”
The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction, but her anger flared[突然發(fā)怒] again when she opened the box and found it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh[嚴厲的] manner. “Don’t you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there’s supposed to be something inside the package?”
The little daughter had tears in her eyes and said, “Oh, Momma, it’s not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full.”
The mother was crushed[壓碎]. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bed for all the years of her life. Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems, she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, has been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family and friends. There is no more precious possession[所有物] anyone could hold.
從前,一位母親懲罰她五歲的女兒,原因是女兒浪費了一卷很貴重的金色包裝紙。當時經(jīng)濟很拮據(jù),當孩子用那金色的包裝紙包好一個盒子放在圣誕樹下時,媽媽就更生氣了。然而,第二天早上,小女孩拿著禮盒走到母親面前說:“這是送給你的,媽媽。”
母親為先前過激的行為感到內(nèi)疚。但當她把盒子打開,發(fā)現(xiàn)里面空無一物時,她再次發(fā)怒了。她厲聲對女兒說:“小姑娘,難道你不知道送禮物給別人時應(yīng)當在包裝盒內(nèi)放入東西嗎?”
女兒兩眼含淚,說:“噢,媽媽,它不是空的!我往盒子里送了很多飛吻,直到將它裝滿為止。”
母親崩潰了。她跪了下來,雙手抱住小女孩,懇求女兒原諒自己亂發(fā)脾氣。
后來,一場意外奪去了小女孩的生命。據(jù)說自那時起,女孩的母親終生把那個金色盒子放在床邊。每當灰心氣餒,或者面臨困境,她就會從盒子里取出一個假想的吻,回憶孩子放在盒中的愛。
從現(xiàn)實的意義看,作為人類,我們每一個人都獲得了這樣一個黃金盒子,里面裝滿了來自孩子、家庭和朋友的無條件的愛和親吻。沒有什么財產(chǎn)比這更珍貴的了。