Be Thankful Even When Life Hurts

王志剛

每個人都會有一段異常艱難的時光，生活的壓力，工作的失意，學習成績的下降……挺過來的，人生就會豁然開朗；挺不過來的，時間也會教你怎么與它們“握手言和”，所以你不必擔心、恐懼。

Have you ever met any difficulties in your life？ How did you get past them？

Alan had just moved to a big city to start a new job. Hed never lived in a big city before. It didnt take long for the stress of city life to get to Alan. The crowds（人群）， the noise， his heavy workload（工作量）... it all weighed on him until he felt like giving up. He found no joy in anything—life just hurt.

But one day， as Alan was on his way to work， he saw a homeless man on the street. Hed never seen a homeless person before. He stopped and had a short chat with him. All of a sudden， he opened up about his life and complained about the difficulties he was facing. The man patiently（耐心地） listened the whole time. Then Alan asked him a question.

“I hope you wont be offended（冒犯）， but I was wondering ... how did you end up homeless？” Alan asked.

“I was in a war. I saw many of my friends die. I got badly injured and couldnt find a job when I came home. While I was gone， my wife decided to leave me. I lost everything. Life hurt so much，” the man said.

“But Im grateful for every single day that Im alive. My life might be hard sometimes， but when I see something as simple as a sunrise， or as touching as a young man who is facing the pain of life， I remember that even when life hurts， it is worth living.”

Alan came to his senses（恍然大悟）. Compared to losing ones friends in a war， getting injured and becoming disabled， his own problems seemed less difficult to deal with. If this man could still see the bright side of life after all hed been through， then maybe he could， too.