I was shopping at a department store and had just boarded the down escalator when I noticed a woman standing to the side. She looked about 65, and her expression told me she was scared. I turned toward her and asked, “Do you need help?” As the escalator continued moving I heard the woman reply softly, “I’m afraid.” There was a hint of incredulity in her voice. “Want me to come back and get you?” I called to her. She nodded. But by the time I reached her, the woman had reconsidered. “I don’t think I can do it,” she said. I was suddenly aware that I had made a far greater investment than I expected. “I know we can do it,” I said. “I can hold on to you.” She looked down at the beast. Then her eyes came back to mine, looking doubtful. “This has never happened to me before,” she said, as much to herself as to me. I felt that her sudden fear had to do with the escalator’s mechanical nature, its basic inhuman untrustworthiness. I took her arm. “Shall we?” She made a little sound of alarm as we stepped on, but we’d passed the point of no return. She relaxed slightly as the stairs moved us downward. “I don’t understand this at all,” she said. As we neared the bottom, her grip tightened again, but we did fine. “I’m so grateful...” she began. “ It was nothing,” I said. “I was happy to do it.” Happy, yes. I do very little to help others. I am busy caring for a family and working full time. For a brief moment, I had a flash of insight into why someone would become a nurse or a social worker or a minister. When I helped the woman, I felt pure and whole, purposeful. It was a happier moment than I’d had in weeks.
一次简单的善意帮助却带来了出乎意料的领悟。
我到一家百货商店买东西，就在我踏上自动扶梯刚要下楼时，突然注意到扶梯边站着一位妇女。她看上去差不多有65岁，从她脸上的表情可以看出她很害怕。于是我转向她问道：“需要帮忙吗?”自动扶梯载着我向下移动着，我只听到她用低低的声音回答：“我很怕。”声音中流露出一丝迟疑。“要我回来帮你吗？”我冲着她叫道，她点了点头。我又回到了楼上，可老人却改变了主意。“我不行。”她说。直到这时，我才突然意识到这件事并不像我原想的那样简单。“我们能行，”我说，“我会搀扶着你。”她低下头，看着那个庞然大物，随后她转回来，看着我，目光中满是疑虑；“我以前从未遇到过这种情况。”她说道，既像是在对我，又像是在自言自语。
我觉得老人这种突如其来的恐惧与自动扶梯的机械性质有关——它归根结底是非人性的东西，很难给人以安全感。我拉起她的胳臂，问道：“可以吗？”我们迈上扶梯时，她轻轻地尖叫了一声。然而，既然我们已踏上了扶梯，也就不能再回头了。直到扶梯载着我们下行了一段，她才略微放松下来。“我一点也不明白这种东西，”她说。我们接近扶梯底部时，她又一次紧紧抓住我，但我们顺利走下了扶梯。“我不知怎么谢你才好……”她开口说道。“这没什么，”我说，“我很高兴这样做。”我很高兴，的确如此。平时我很少帮助别人，整日忙于工作和照顾家庭。就在这一刹那，我突然明白了为什么有人会去做护士、社会工作者或者牧师。在我帮助这位妇女的时候，我感到我的生活是纯粹、完整和有意义的。这是我几周来最高兴的时刻。
Twelve Sincere Smiles 12次真诚的微笑
A passenger told an air hostess that he needed a cup of water to take his medicine when the plane just took off. She told him that she would bring him the water in ten minutes.
Thirty minutes later, when the passenger’s ring for service sounded, the air hostess flew in a flurry. She was kept so busy that she forgot to deliver him the water. As a result, the passenger was held up to take his medicine. She hurried over to him with a cup of water, but he refused it.
In the following hours on the flight, each time the stewardess passed be the passenger she would ask him with a smile whether he needed help or not. But the passenger never paid heed to her.
When he was going to get off the plane, the passenger asked the stewardess to hand him the passengers’ booklet. She was very sad. She knew that he would write down sharp words, but with a smile she handed it to him.
Off the plane, she opened the booklet, and cracked a smile, for the passenger put it, “On the flight, you asked me whether I need help or not for twelve times in all. How can I refuse your twelve sincere smiles?”
That’s right! Who can refuse your twelve sincere smiles from a person?
飞机刚刚起飞，一位乘客向空姐要一杯水吃药。空姐告诉他等飞机起飞后10分钟就为他送来。
30分钟后，客人要求服务的铃声响了，空姐慌了神，原来在忙碌中她忘了为客人送水，耽误了客人吃药。她马上给客人送去一杯水，但客人拒绝了。
在此后几小时的飞行中，空姐每次经过客人都要微笑着问客人需要什么服务，但客人从不理睬她。
要下飞机了，客人叫空姐拿来留言簿，空姐很伤心，她知道客人要写下批评的话，但她仍微笑着把留言簿递给了客人。
下了飞机，空姐打开留言簿，她笑了，因为客人写道：“在飞行中，你微笑着问我需不需要服务，一共有12次，我怎么能拒绝你12次真诚的微笑呢？”
是啊，谁能拒绝别人12次真诚的微笑呢？
Love Is Everything有爱就有了一切
The winter cold hung in the air like a frozen dinosaur trying to thaw from his glacier and walk across the earth. Breath iced like a tiny morning mist upon a meandering river. The sounds of the city rising and spilling into silence as the night began to claim its citizens for sleep.
Blowing on gloved hands that seemed to have little effect on cold hands that ached with chill. Long hours hanging pressed clothes, pulling tickets and ringing up the customers. The last of the packaged hot chocolate gone and only the longing need for home and a pot pie to warm her.
It was payday and she cashed her check. Two Santas and one Salvation Army captain and she were minus ten dollars but what did it matter? She had a place to sleep, something decent to eat, and she had Drew.
Drew with his kindness, his caring and his humor to lighten her day. Thanksgiving was nigh and they were collecting early for the hungry and the children that would have no Christmas without them. She was so much more lucky than most of them but perhaps not as lucky as those that scurried in the Wednesday night sleet, shopping early before the pickings became slim. Life was not always easy but sometimes it could always be safe.
She had Drew, and Smat, the ugly little terrier that nobody wanted. She had comfort and warmth in the apartment. She had dinner for tomorrow thawing in the small turkey and the little Thanksgiving bonus from her boss.
But most of all, she had love. It was the most important of all.
冬天的寒冷在空气中纠缠不去，就像被冰冻的恐龙想要从冰河里解冻出来走到地上一样。呵气就像蜿蜒的河面上微薄的晨雾，城市的喧嚣升起又归于沉静，夜晚开始宣布它的臣民应该入睡了。
往带着手套的手上呵气好像也没有什么效果，冻僵的手冷得发痛。工作的那几个小时很漫长，熨平的衣服要挂起来，标签要拆下来，还要给顾客打电话。最后一个盒装的热巧克力喝完了，只渴望着回家，吃一块热馅饼来暖和一下。
今天是发薪日，她把支票兑换成了现金。路遇两个圣诞老人和一个救世军领队，她的钱减少了十元，但这又怎样呢？她有地方睡觉，有像样的东西吃，而且她还有德鲁。
德鲁的亲切、爱心和幽默总能照亮她的每一天。感恩节近了，他们早早地开始为那些饥饿的人筹款，孩子们过圣诞节也少不了他们。她要比这些人幸运得多，当然可能比不上那些在周三雪夜赶着去购物的人，他们要早早把东西买好以免货物变少而无法挑选。生活并不总是很容易，但总是很安全。
她有德鲁，还有那条丑得没人要的小猎狗斯迈特；她有公寓里的舒适和温暖；她有明天的晚餐（小火鸡正在解冻着呢）；她还有老板给的一小笔感恩节奖金。
而且她还有爱，这是所有事情中最重要的。
