美文欣赏丨真正的美丽（True Beauty）

 

只要人人都献出一点爱，

世界将变成美好的人间。

这不仅仅是一句歌词。

A grandfather quipped① about his grandchildren: “My grandkids are four and six. The Pulitzer Prize② winner is four and the brain surgeon is six.”

 

Parents and grandparents are understandably proud of the quick minds and impressive talents of their little ones. But let me tell you about another quality, perhaps even more important, found in a little girl named Skylar.

 

I received a letter from a grandmother who told me about her four-year-old granddaughter Skylar. Ever since Skylar learned of Disneyland from TV, she saved her nickels and dimes③ in a piggy bank in the hope of visiting there someday. Her parents surprised her with a trip when she was four, however, and didn’t even require her to use her own money!

 

When Skylar returned it was Christmas time. She decided to buy presents with her savings. But she also learned from announcements on TV about a local homeless shelter called “The Road House”. She repeatedly asked her mother what “homeless” meant and why those children needed coats and warm clothes. She couldn’t seem to get the homeless off her mind.

 

Her mother took her to the store to buy presents. Instead of buying for herself or her family, however, she decided to purchase a warm coat, socks, gloves and crayons for a little girl in the shelter. She also wanted to buy a doll (a “baby”, as she called it), but when she discovered she didn’t have enough money, she left the doll behind.

 

When Skylar got home, she lined up her own much-loved “babies” and chose one she thought another child could also love. The baby went into a box with the other items she bought that day.

 

She could hardly wait for Christmas! Skylar was not thinking about Santa Claus or the presents she would be getting. She was thinking about going to the shelter and giving her carefully selected gifts to a homeless child.

 

On Christmas Eve, she and her family drove to the shelter where Skylar presented her Christmas box to a grateful little girl. She was so filled with joy at truly helping someone else, that her family decided to make the journey to the homeless shelter an annual tradition.

 

“Perhaps it’s good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart,”says Nobel laureate John Nash (A Beautiful Mind). Young Skylar has a beautiful heart. It is that quality，above all else, that makes beautiful people.

爷爷打趣地谈论着自己的孙子们：“我的孙子一个四岁，一个六岁，四岁那个是普利策奖获奖者，六岁那个是脑外科医生。”

父母和（外）祖父母们会因为小孩子们聪明伶俐、才华过人而感到自豪，这点是可以理解的。但让我告诉你一个名叫斯凯乐的小女孩身上的另一种品质，可能比上面提到的那两种品质还要重要。

我收到过一位奶奶的来信，在信中她告诉我，自从她四岁的孙女斯凯乐从电视节目中得知迪斯尼乐园之后，就开始把分分角角的钱攒起来放在小猪存钱罐里，期待着哪天到迪斯尼乐园玩。然而，就在她四岁的时候，父母带她去了一趟，甚至还不准她花自己的钱！这让她感到非常惊喜。

当斯凯乐回到家的时候已经是圣诞节了，她决定用自己攒的钱买礼物。但这时她从电视公告中得知了当地一个专为无家可归的人设立的收容所，名字叫“道路房屋”。她不停地问母亲“无家可归”是什么意思，为什么那些孩子们需要外套和保暖的衣服。“无家可归”这个词似乎在她的脑海中挥之不去。

母亲带斯凯乐到商店去买礼物，然而她却没有给自己或者家人买，而是决定为住在收容所里的一个小女孩买一件保暖的大衣、袜子、手套和蜡笔。她还想买一个洋娃娃（她称之为“小婴儿”），但是当她发现自己的钱不够时，又把洋娃娃放了回去。

回到家之后，斯凯乐把自己非常喜爱的“小婴儿们”排成一排，从中选出来一个她认为别的小孩子也会喜欢的，然后把那个洋娃娃连同她那天买的其他东西一起放到了一个盒子里。

她已经迫不及待地想要过圣诞节了！斯凯乐并不是在想圣诞老人或者自己会收到什么礼物，而是在想着要去那个收容所把自己精心挑选的礼物送给一个无家可归的孩子。

圣诞前夕，她和家人一起开车到那个收容所。斯凯乐把装好圣诞节礼物的盒子送给了一个小女孩，小女孩非常感激。真正去帮助他人使斯凯乐感到满心欢喜，于是父母决定每年都带她到那个无家可归的人居住的收容所去一次。

诺贝尔奖获得者约翰·纳什在《美丽心灵》中说过：“拥有美丽的心灵固然不错，但（上天）赐予我们的更好的礼物，是发现一颗美丽的心。”小斯凯乐有一颗美丽的心。这不仅仅是一种好的品质，更重要的是，它还会使人们变得美丽。

 

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