2020.03.18(星期三)

短篇小說將改變您的思維方式

總有一個故事可以轉移人們的思考方式。- J 羅琳

古老的故事-熟悉的故事。 每個告訴他們的人和情況都略有不同，但是核心課程仍然相同。

世界上是有差異的

   每個星期天的早晨，我都會在家附近的公園裡慢跑。公園的一個角落裡有一個湖。每次我在湖邊慢跑時，都會看到同一位老婦人坐在水邊，旁邊有一個小鐵籠。

  在過去的那個星期日，我的好奇心得到了我最好的滿足，所以我停止了慢跑，走向了她。當我走近時，我意識到金屬籠子有三隻未受傷的烏龜在底部慢慢行走。她的膝蓋上有第四隻烏龜，她用海綿刷仔細擦洗。

  你好，我說。 我每個星期天早上在這裡見到你。如果您不介意我的打擾，我很想知道您對這些烏龜在做什麼。

  她笑了。她回答：我正在清理他們的貝殼。海龜殼上的任何東西，例如藻類或浮渣，都會降低其吸收熱量的能力並阻礙其游泳能力。隨著時間的流逝，它還會腐蝕並削弱外殼。

  哇！真是太好了！我大叫。

她繼續說道：我每個星期天早上花幾個小時，在這個湖邊放鬆身心，並幫助這些小傢伙出去。這是我自己獨特的改變方式。

  但是，大多數淡水龜的一生中沒有藻類和浮渣嗎？我問。

  是的，可悲的是，他們做到了。她回答。

我搔頭。那麼，您是否認為您的時間可以花費得更好？我的意思是，我認為您的努力是全力以赴的，但是世界各地的湖泊中都生活著淡水龜。這些海龜中有99％沒有像您這樣的好人來幫助他們清理外殼。因此，沒有冒犯……但是，您在本地所做的努力究竟能真正起到作用？

  女人大聲咯咯笑。然後，她低頭看著自己腿上的海龜，從殼中擦掉了最後一塊藻類，然後說：寶貝，如果這個小傢伙可以說話，他會告訴你我改變了世界。

道德：您可以改變世界-也許不是一次全部改變，而是一次改變一個人，一隻動物和一件善行。每天早晨醒來，假設自己所做的事會有所作為。

Short Stories that Will Change the Way You Think

“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”

 - J.K. Rowling

These are old stories – familiar stories.  The people and the circumstances differ slightly for everyone who tells them, but the core lessons remain the same.

 All the Difference in The World

Every Sunday morning I take a light jog around a park near my home.  There’s a lake located in one corner of the park.  Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.

This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her.  As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap.  There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap.  She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.

“Hello,” I said.  “I see you here every Sunday morning.  If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.”

She smiled.  “I’m cleaning off their shells,” she replied.  “Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim.  It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.”

“Wow!  That’s really nice of you!” I exclaimed.

She went on: “I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out.  It’s my own strange way of making a difference.”

“But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?” I asked.

“Yep, sadly, they do,” she replied.

I scratched my head.  “Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent?  I mean, I think your efforts are kind and all, but there are fresh water turtles living in lakes all around the world.  And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells.  So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?”

The woman giggled aloud.  She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, “Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.”

The moral:  You can change the world – maybe not all at once, but one person, one animal, and one good deed at a time.  Wake up every morning and pretend like what you do makes a difference.  It does.