名著阅读之心灵鸡汤精选 Two Kinds of People
班级：____________学号：____________姓名：____________
心灵鸡汤精选Two Kinds of People
话题归类
阅读难度
词数
家庭教育
五星
821
【文章梗概】一冬天，作者冒着严寒，捡起了被风吹走的许许多多垃圾，正当作者要放弃去捡一个纸箱子的时候，他想起来父亲对他的教导。世界上有两种人，一种是伸手去做事的人，另外一种是观望的人。这个教导对作者的一生产生重大的影响，引导了他走向真善美之路。
Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.
~J.C. Watts
Our boys had taken the recycling bin out to the street the night before, because our morning
pickup was at the crack of dawn. The next morning, I discovered Old Man Winter’s cruel joke. The relentless South Dakota wind had turned cardboard boxes into winter’s version of tumbleweeds. They were scattered everywhere. I needed to run out and gather them before the collection truck pulled up. I zipped insulated coveralls over my PJs, added a parka and scarf, and then sealed myself up with 家庭教育文章mittens and a cap. I scurried out the door and zigzagged across the driveway like a chicken pecking for seeds.
In a few moments, I’d snagged the stray boxes and crammed them into the bin. It was a good thing. My face was quick to remind me that exposed skin in below-zero temperatures is not a good idea.
I was ready to dash back into the house when I spied it. One of the cardboard boxes had made its merry way to the park next door. I grimaced as I fought the temptation to leave it there. I stood frozen (figuratively and literally) as the words my father had spoken years before began to echo in my brain.
I could hear his voice as it carried over the sound of burgers sizzling from the heat of Kings
ford charcoalbriquets. In the background, cows were meandering and mooing as they made their way from the field to the stock tank. I sniffed the sweet smell of freshly cut alfalfa. I was sitting cross-legged on the picnic table as we made small talk. I asked him how his day at work had been.
He indicated it was fairly typical: conference calls, meetings, and paperwork. And then he caught himself and said that one interesting thing had happened. Someone in the hallway had walked past a piece of garbage.
He had my attention. What was so important about a piece of garbage? I thought.
He went on to describe the scenario. His place of business had rather long hallways. He said he noticed a wrapper at the end of the hall. He kept himself back and observed the number of people who walked past it. He could tell that some of the folks had seen it but chose not to stop. Eventually, someone picked up the wrapper and plopped it in the mouth of a waiting garbage can.
And then my dad said something that has stuck with me ever since.
“I learned today that there are two kinds of people in the world — the kind who, when they see garbage, will stop and pick it up… and the kind who won’t.”
He continued, “It made me realize that we all get to decide what kind of person we’re going to be — a person who leaves the world better than how they found it, or a person who doesn’t.”
Then he looked at me with a smile and his penetrating, blue eyes. I knew that he was asking me, without saying it out loud, “What kind of person will you be?”
It’s been forty years since that conversation. I’ve lost track of how many times his unspoken advice has affected the choices I’ve made. Some of those decisions were of major consequence; my career, my marriage, my callings… all of them were influenced by those words.
And yet, the truth is, those big decisions were shaped by hundreds of little choices that youth gave me the opportunity to make first:
Classmate being bullied? Stand up for him.
Money to spend? Save it up.
Litter in the street? Pick it up.
Want to give up? Pull yourself up.
Each time, I had a decision to make. And the backdrop for them all? “There are just two kinds of people in the world.”
Today, my father’s advice is finding its way into my kids’ lives. Their choices regarding vocation and how they conduct themselves in relationships, as well as being of service to others, are being influenced by that unspoken challenge: “What kind of person will you be?”
I’m grateful for his words, but even more for the way he modeled what it looks like to leave the world better than how you found it.
Oh, and that renegade cardboard box? You already know what happened. Despite having all the mobility of a Michelin Man bubbled in layers of clothing, I ran to the park, snagged the box and, with a grin as broad as my frozen face would allow, slam-dunked it into the bin!