【赫临译笔】爱你，儿子 - 心云驛站

阿尔年轻时是个熟练的陶工，有一个妻子，两个好儿子。一天夜里，大儿子胃疼得厉害。阿尔和妻子认为这只是普通的肠胃不适，没当回事。但那个孩子就在那天夜里去世了。

一想到如果他早点意识到病情的严重性，大儿子的死亡本可以避免，阿尔总是感到内疚。雪上加霜，不久，他的妻子也离开了他，把六岁的小儿子丢给了孤单的他。阿尔经不住双重的打击和痛苦，他借酒精消愁，成了酒鬼。

随着酗酒的进展，阿尔逐渐失去了田产、房子等所有财产。最后，他孤独地死在一个小酒吧里。听到阿尔的死讯，我想：“真是一条完全浪费的生命，一个彻底的失败者。”

时光荏苒，我开始对自己早期做出的不确切的判断做出重新评价。我认识阿尔的儿子厄尼，现在他已长大成人。他是我见过的最善良，最体贴，最富爱心的人。看见厄尼和孩子们之间的爱，我想这种善良和关爱一定来自某个地方。

我没听厄尼过多地谈论他的父亲。一天，我鼓足勇气问他父亲究竟做了些什么，使他成为这样一个与众不同的人。厄尼平静地说：“我小时候，每天晚上，阿尔都会来到我的房间，给我一个吻，并说：‘我爱你，儿子。’一直到我十八岁离开家为止。”

我一想到一直认为阿尔是个失败的人，泪水就涌了出来。他没有留下任何物质财产。但他却是一个善良可爱的父亲，他给儿子留下了最宝贵的爱。

As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter with a wife and two fine sons. One night, his older son developed a severe stomachache. Thinking it wasonly some common intestinal disorder, neither Al nor his wife tookthe condition very seriously . But the boy died suddenly that night.

Knowing the death could have been avoided if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, he always felt he was guilty. To make matters worse, his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with hissix-year-old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were morethan Al could stand, and he turned to alcohol for help. In time Al became an alcoholic.

As the alcoholism progressed, ALbegan to lose everything he possessed -- his land, house, etc. Finally Al died alone in a small bar. Hearing of Al's death, I thought, "What a totally wasted life! What a complete failure! "

As time went by , I began to revalue my earlier rough judgement . I knewAl's now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring , most lovingmen I have ever known. I saw the love between Ernie and his children, thinking that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere .

I hadn't heard Ernie talked much about his father. One day, I worked up my courage to ask him what on earth his father had done so that he became such a special person. Ernie said quietly, "As a child until I left home at 18,Al came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, "love you,son."

Tears came to my eyes as I realized what I had been a fool to judge Al asa failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he had been a kind loving father, and left behind his best love.

丛中笑发表于 2014-5-24 19:36
"我爱你，儿子!"这是每位父亲应当儿子的最好财富！这就是爱的伟大！ ...

ヮ成熟、羙° 发表于 2014-5-25 20:40
是的，父亲的伟大不在于为孩子留下什么遗产，而是教会了孩子有爱心。 ...