吹泡泡

I stood on my grandmothers front porch with my son. He had a bottle of bubbles. You know the type; its basically the soapy water with a plastic loop on each end. You dip the loop in the bottle， pull it out， and blow it to make bubbles.

My son understood the principle but failed in trying to blow bubbles. He would dip and dip and blow and blow， but alas， no bubbles.

He handed me the bottle and loop and asked me， “Daddy， can you make bubbles？”

I hadnt blown bubbles in years. I am a chemist by education. I have prepared several shampoos， so I understand surface tension and related foaming characteristics of ?surfactants. Surfactant is just a big fancy word for a soap or detergent.

All that knowledge was useless when I was trying to blow bubbles from a loop filled with soapy water. I was having no more success than my son.

I would dip and blow， no bubbles; the soapy film on the loop would just pop without releasing any bubbles.

After several attempts， I changed my way.

Instead of blowing on the loop of soapy water， I gently breathed on it. My son cried with delight as a big beautiful bubble came out and floated away.

He grabbed the loop， dipped and blew. No bubbles.

I explained to him， “Son， you cant blow hard. You must ever so gently breathe on the loop to make bubbles.”

He held back his desire to make big bubbles by blowing hard and followed my advice.

Big bubbles.

There are some things that you can get with force， but there are other things that only come with the gentleness of a soft breath. Too often， we try to force love or real respect. It wont come. It just breaks before the bubble can ever form because we try to put too much force on it.

The closer something is to higher spirit， the more it is like bubbles; it cant be forced and is more often found in the soft things of life.

You have a bottle of bubbles and you have been blowing trying to get them out.

Blow beautiful bubbles; breathe easy.

我和兒子站在祖母家的前廊上。他手上拿著一瓶泡泡水。一說大家都知道，就是那種兩頭都有塑料圈的小玩具，一般里面裝的都是肥皂水。把塑料圈浸到瓶子里蘸肥皂水，拿出來，就可以吹出泡泡。

兒子其實是明白這個原理的，但是吹了半天卻徒勞無益。他蘸了又蘸，吹了又吹，可就是一個泡泡也吹不出來。

他把瓶子和圈圈遞給我問：“爸爸，你能吹出泡泡來嗎？”

我已經好多年沒吹泡泡了。我是一名受過系統教育的化學師，配制過好幾種洗發水，因此對表面活性劑的表面張力和相關的發泡特性有所了解。其實表面活性劑就是肥皂或洗滌劑的代名詞，只是聽起來“高大上”一些。

當我試圖從蘸有肥皂水的塑料圈往外吹泡泡時，那些所謂的化學知識都變得毫無價值。跟兒子一樣，我也吹不出任何泡泡。

我將塑料圈浸在瓶中，然后往外吹，還是沒有泡泡;塑料圈上的肥皂薄膜還沒放出泡泡就破掉了。

經過幾次嘗試，我換了種方法。

我不再對著塑料圈上的肥皂水猛吹，而是輕輕呼氣。果然，一個美麗的大泡泡出現并緩緩飄起，兒子高興得尖叫起來。

他抓住塑料圈，蘸上肥皂水，猛吹，依然沒有泡泡。

我耐心地向他解釋道：“兒子，不能用力吹，只有輕輕地朝它呼氣，才能吹出泡泡。”

他克制住希望吹出大泡泡的強烈欲望，聽從我的建議，不再那么用勁。

大泡泡出現了。

有些東西可以通過強力獲得，但有些東西往往只能通過溫柔的巧勁取得。我們經常試圖通過強迫他人來獲得真愛和尊重，但往往事與愿違。這就好比吹泡泡，如果我們用力過猛，泡泡還沒形成就會破掉。

越接近精神層面的東西，就越像吹泡泡：拼盡蠻力往往難以實現目標，而生活中的柔術卻常能出奇制勝。

你有一瓶泡泡水，并且你一直在努力把泡泡吹起來。

（然而只有）輕輕呼氣，才能吹出美麗的泡泡來。

dip v. 蘸;浸

tension n. 拉伸;張力;緊張，煩躁

release v. 放開;松開;放出

attempt n. 企圖;試圖;嘗試

delight n. 高興;愉快;快樂

float v. 飄動;漂移;浮動