樹皮小船的啟示

Grandpa and grandson walked in a park and came to a pond. There were many children who drove their remote-controlled boats. Grandson looked at the shiny boats and how the children were racing them， making waves， chasing each other’s boats. It looked like so much fun. He could hear the laughter and shouts of the other children and his heart felt heavy. The two stood there for a good while， not speaking. The little boy knew there was no way his parents could afford to buy him such a boat. And Grandfather for sure had no chance of giving such a gift. His pension was so small that the boy’s mother had invited him to live with them. Grandpa looked at his grandson， saw the somber look on his face and felt the little boy’s envy. He looked around until his eyes fell on a bench right next to a big pine tree.

“Why don’t we sit here，” Grandpa said and started walking towards the bench. They walked together to the bench and sat down. The little boy sighed deeply， his eyes following the boats. “Grandpa， I would so like to have a boat like that，” he said quietly. “I know，” Grandfather patted the boy on the shoulders， “Sometimes life feels so unfair， I know.”

He bent over and picked up something from the ground. A big piece of pine bark had fallen from the huge tree by their bench. For a while both grandpa and grandson looked up into the deep green of the pine tree. Then Grandfather took a little pocketknife and started to carve the bark delicately. Grandson looked curiously at what he was doing. He carved the sides of the bark into the shape of a leaf; one end was pointed， the other was flat. Then， with the tip of the knife， he carefully carved a tiny hole in the middle of the bark. It was a perfectly round little hole， the boy noticed.

Grandpa raised his eyes from his work and looked around. “There—go and get me that twig on the ground， would you?” The boy hopped down from the bench and went to fetch the twig.

“Perfect，” the old man said， “straight and strong and not so dry that it would snap. Good! Now scoop some resin from the pine tree on the other end of the stick. Be careful not to get your clothes dirty!”

Grandpa had to make the tiny hole a bit larger， but soon he managed to put the stick into the hole. Some of the resin squeezed out from the hole， but Grandpa seemed pleased. Then he looked around again. “There! Bring me that twig! And some of that grass.” The little boy ran to the next twig， scooped up a handful of grass and brought it all to Grandpa. This was getting interesting. He edged in even closer and soon they were sitting there， both heads bent over what Grandpa was doing. First Grandpa cut the long twig into two. Then he made a small rope out of grass and used it to tie the first twig horizontally to the twig that was standing vertically from the bark. It formed a broad cross. Then he did the same with the other twig， this time he tied it to the base of the standing twig.

“I need you to promise you won’t tell your mother what I shall do now，” Grandpa winked at the boy.

“I promise!” The little boy said eagerly.

“Good!” Grandpa reached into his pocket and out came a handkerchief with some lace around it. The boy sniggered.

“Oh， I know，” Grandpa sighed， “as dear as your mother is to me， she doesn’t quite understand we men are not too keen on lace. But this time it comes in handy. Just look!”

Grandfather threaded the handkerchief to the mast using grass that fit nicely through the lace， first along the upperbeam， then the lower one. And suddenly they had a big bark ship with a beautiful white square sail.

“Now， let’s see how this floats!” Grandpa gave the ship to the boy. Together they walked to the water’s edge. The boy carefully lowered the boat into the water. A remote-controlled boat curved by， raising waves that splashed their boat wet. “Oh， no!” the boy cried.

“Wait!”Out of nowhere came a cool breeze and the sail caught the wind. First slowly， then faster the boat braved the open waters. It looked so different from all the battery operated boats that people started pointing at it from the shore. Some boats came near but not one collided with the bark boat. It floated like a feather on the waves. They stood there， for a long， long time， watching how the breezes carried the boat around the pond. And then， like a miracle， the winds drove the boat right back to them. The boy took the boat from the water and looked at Grandpa with eyes full of joy.

“Those expensive boats are great， aren’t they，” Grandpa said to the boy， “But I hope you remember one thing from all of this. When you looked at those other boats， they were steered by people like you and me. They collided with each other， they ran ashore. You saw how the batteries ran out on two of them， didn’t you?” The boy nodded.

“Our boat， on the other hand， was remote-controlled by another source entirely. One that never runs out.”

Grandpa smiled and ruffled his hair. “Our boat was remote-controlled by Nature. We humans make errors， we collide， we run ashore， our energies run out when we try to control everything. But when we give up our need to control and let Nature steer our boat， it’s a journey and a wonder to look at. Will you promise to remember this story all your life?”

“I promise!” the little boy said.

“And now I believe it is time to move on. I do believe someone is selling ice cream somewhere in this park， and I am sure you could use one.” “Yes! Yes!” The little boy jumped up and down， all previous sadness and envy gone. And so they walked away from the pond， the little boy holding the bark ship carefully in his arms.

爺爺和孫子在公園里散步，他們來到了一口池塘邊。許多孩子在那里玩他們的遙控小船。孫子看著那些亮閃閃的小船，看著那些孩子如何用它們比賽，激起浪花，小船彼此追逐著。場面看起來可真是樂趣十足。他可以聽到其他孩子的笑聲和叫聲，而他卻覺得心情沉重。

爺孫倆在那里站了好一會兒，卻一句話都沒說。小男孩知道他的父母絕對買不起這樣一艘小船給他。而爺爺無疑也沒有可能會送這樣一份禮物給他。他的養老金少得可憐，所以小男孩的母親請他來和他們一起住。爺爺看著他的孫子，看到他一臉的悶悶不樂，感覺到了小男孩內心的艷羨之情。爺爺四下打量，目光最終落在了一棵大松樹旁邊的長椅上。

“我們不如在這里坐一會兒吧，”爺爺邊說邊向那張長椅走去。他們一起走到長椅前坐下。小男孩深深地嘆了口氣，眼睛還緊盯著那些小船。“爺爺，我真想要一艘那樣的小船啊，”他輕聲說道。“我知道，”爺爺拍了拍小男孩的肩膀，說道，“有時候你會覺得人生很不公平，我知道。”

他彎下腰，從地上撿起某樣東西，是一大塊從他們那長椅旁的大松樹上掉下來的松樹皮。爺爺和孫子兩人都抬起頭盯著松樹那深綠色的樹冠看了一會兒。然后，爺爺掏出一把小折刀，開始精細地雕刻那塊樹皮。孫子好奇地看著他在做什么。他將樹皮的邊緣裁刻成一片樹葉的形狀，一端是尖的，另一端是平的。接著，他小心翼翼地用小刀的尖端在樹皮的中間穿了一個小孔。小男孩發現，這個小圓孔非常完美。

爺爺停下手里的工作，抬起眼睛四處張望。“那里——去把地上那段小樹枝拿給我，好嗎？”小男孩從長椅上跳下來，跑過去撿起那段小樹枝。

“很好，”老爺爺說道，“又直又硬，也不太干所以不會折斷。太棒了！現在用棍子的另一端從松樹上挖點樹脂。小心不要把你的衣服弄臟了！”

爺爺不得不把那個小洞挖大一點，不過很快他就成功把樹枝插進了小洞里。少量樹脂被擠出了小洞，不過爺爺看起來很滿意。接著他又四處張望。“那邊！把那根小樹枝遞給我！還有那邊的一些青草。”小男孩跑向另一根樹枝，又抓了一大把青草交給爺爺。這一切變得越來越有趣了。他靠得更近了，很快他們就并坐在那里，兩人都一頭扎在爺爺手中的活計上。爺爺首先把那根長樹枝劈成兩截，接著用草編了一小段繩子，并用它將第一截樹枝以水平角度和直立在樹皮上的那條樹枝綁在一起，做成了一個寬寬的十字形。然后他將第二截樹枝如法炮制，這一次他把它綁在了垂直樹枝的底部。

“我要你答應我絕不把我將要做的事告訴你媽媽，”爺爺對小男孩眨了眨眼睛。

“我答應！”小男孩熱切地說道。

“很好！”爺爺將手伸進口袋里，掏出一條四周鑲著一些蕾絲花邊的手帕。小男孩竊笑起來。

“噢，我知道，”爺爺嘆了口氣道，“盡管你媽媽對我照顧得無微不至，她還是不太了解我們男人其實對蕾絲花邊不怎么熱衷。不過這一次，它正好派得上用場。看著吧！”

爺爺將手帕綁在“桅桿”上，用青草正好能穿過蕾絲花邊，先是上面的橫梁，然后是下面的。突然之間，他們就有了一只大大的樹皮船，還帶著一張美麗的白色方帆。

“現在，我們把小船放入水中看看它好使不！”爺爺將小船遞給小男孩。他們一起走到池塘邊。小男孩小心翼翼地將小船放入水中。一艘遙控小船曲線行駛而過，激起的水浪濺濕了他們的小船。“噢，糟了！”小男孩叫道。

“等等！”這時不知從什么地方吹來了一絲涼風，小船被風吹動了。一開始很慢，然后小船越來越快地駛向開闊的水域。和所有那些靠電池運行的小船相比，這樹皮小船獨樹一幟，岸邊的人們都開始對它指指點點。有些小船駛到了它旁邊，但沒有一艘撞翻這只樹皮小船。它就像一根羽毛一般，漂浮在碧波上。他們站在那里，站了很長一段時間，看著那只小船乘著輕風在池塘中繞行。接著，微風帶著小船又奇跡般地恰好駛回到他們面前。小男孩從池塘里拿起小船，看著爺爺，眼中滿是欣喜。

“那些價錢昂貴的船都挺好的，是吧？”爺爺對小男孩說道，“但我希望你從今天這一切中記住一件事：你眼饞的那些小船其實都是由像你我這樣的人所操控的。它們會相互碰撞，它們也會擱淺。你也看到了其中兩艘在電池用完后是個什么模樣，對吧？”小男孩點了點頭。

“但是另一方面，我們的小船則完全是由另一種能量遙控著的。一種永遠都不會枯竭的能量。”

爺爺笑著揉了揉他的頭發，說道：“我們的小船是由大自然遙控的。當我們人類試圖控制一切時，我們屢犯錯誤，我們互相沖撞，我們擱淺岸上，我們的能量消耗殆盡。但是當我們放棄控制一切的欲求，并讓大自然操控我們的小船時，那便成了值得期待的旅程和奇跡。你能答應我一輩子都記得這個故事嗎？”

“我會的！”小男孩說道。

“現在我認為，是時候繼續向前走了。公園的某個角落里肯定有人在賣冰激凌，我知道你肯定想來一個的。”“是的！是的！”小男孩又蹦又跳，之前所有的難過和羨慕都被拋之腦后了。于是他們離開了那個池塘，而小男孩則一直小心翼翼地抱著那只樹皮小船。