根成长心绽放 成长之根
时间：2018-12-27 03:33:25 来源：柠檬阅读网 本文已影响 人 
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Hope. He didn"t look like any doctor I"d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was very nice.
When Dr. Hope wasn"t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life"s goal was to make a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant husbandry. He came from the "No pain, no gain" school of horticulture. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled1 them, and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out the weenie2 trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren"t watered had grown deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
So he never watered his trees. He"d plant an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he"d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree"s attention.
Dr. Hope went to glory3 a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I"d watched him plant some 25 years ago. They are strong now, big and robust.
I planted a couple of trees a few years back, carried water to them for a solid summer, sprayed them, and prayed over them. Two years of coddling4 has resulted in trees that expect to be waited on hand and foot5. Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and shake their branches. Sissy6 trees.
Funny things about those trees of Dr. Hope. Adversity and deprivation7 seemed to be benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I"ve been thinking that it"s
time to change my prayer.
This change has to do with the inevitability of cold winds that hit us. There is always a cold wind blowing somewhere. I know my children are going to encounter hardship, and I"m praying they won"t be naive.
So I"m changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not. Too many times we pray for ease, but that"s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep, so when the rain falls and the wind blows, we don"t be swept asunder8.
小时候,我有个老邻居叫霍普医生,他不像我所认识的任何一个医生,他从不因我们在他院子里玩耍而冲我们喊叫。在我的记忆中,他是一个非常和蔼的人。
霍普医生不工作时就种树。他家的院子有10英亩,而他的人生目标就是将其变成一片森林。
这位好医生在园艺方面有一套有趣的理论,他属于“不劳无获”的园艺学派。他从不给新种的树浇水,这显然与常理相悖。有一次我问他这是为什么,他说浇水会宠坏这些树,如果浇水,树就会一代比一代弱,所以得把它们的生长环境变得艰苦些,并尽早淘汰那些弱不禁风的树。
他还告诉我浇水是如何使树根变浅,那些没有浇水的树又是如何将根扎深以寻找水分。我将他的话理解为:深的树根是宝贵的。
所以他从不给他的树浇水。他曾经种了一棵橡树。每天早上,他不给它浇水,而是用一张卷起的报纸抽打它。“啪!噼!砰!”我问他为什么这么做,他说那样是为了引起树的注意。
我离家几年后,霍普医生就去世了。在经过他的房子时,我总会看看大约15年前我看着他种下的那些树。如今它们像花岗石一样坚固,枝繁叶茂、生气勃勃。
几年前我也种了几棵树。整整一个夏天我都坚持为它们浇水,为它们喷杀虫剂,为它们祈祷。两年的精心呵护造成这些树特别需要周到的照顾。每当寒风吹起,它们就颤抖起来,枝叶直打颤,这是些娇气柔弱的树。
霍普医生的树很奇怪,逆境和折磨带给它们的益处似乎是舒适和安逸所永远无法给予的。
每天晚上睡觉前,我都要看看我的两个儿子。我站在他们床边,看着他们那幼小的身体,以及那均匀的呼吸。我经常为他们祈祷,大都是祈祷他们的生活能一帆风顺。但近来我一直考虑应该把我的祈祷词做些改变。
这改变与不可避免的刺骨寒风有关,人生中总会有寒风吹过,我知道我的孩子将遇到困难,我祈祷他们不会幼稚而脆弱。
所以我改变了我的祈祷词。因为不管我们愿不愿意,生活总是艰难的。我们祈祷了太多的安逸,却很少得到满足。我们所要做的就是祈祷我们能永远将根扎深,这样我们就不会被雨打风吹所伤害。
注释:
①spoil vt.变坏,溺爱
②weenie adj.细小的,微小的
③go to glory(委婉)去世
④coddle vt.娇养,溺爱
⑤hand and foot 尽力地
⑥sissy adj.柔弱的,女人气的
⑦deprivation n.剥夺
⑧asunder adv.分离,成碎片
