1、121 Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed
2、applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farmhand?“ the farmer asked him. “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,“ answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, de
3、sperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the mans work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hands sleeping
4、 quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!“ The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.“ Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instea
5、d, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could
6、 blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew. 122 A Boy with a Mission In 1945, a 12-year-old boy saw something in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the pricefive dollarswas far beyond Reuben Earles means. Fi
7、ve dollars would buy almost a weeks groceries for his family. Reuben couldnt ask his father for the money. Everything Mark Earle made through fishing in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Canada. Reubens mother, Dora, stretched like elastic to feed and clothe their five children. Nevertheless, he opened the
8、 shops weathered door and went inside. Standing proud and straight in his flour-sack shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, But I dont have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time? Ill try,the shopkeeper smiled. Folks around here dont u
9、sually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while. Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out into the sunlight with the bay rippling in a freshening wind. There was purpose in his loping stride5. He would raise the five dollars and not tell anybody. Hearing
10、the sound of hammering from a side street, Reuben had an idea. He ran towards the sound and stopped at a construction site. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails purchased in hessian sacks from a local factory. Sometimes the sacks were discarded in the flurry of building, and Reub
11、en knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he found two sacks, which he took to the rambling wooden factory and sold to the man in charge of packing nails. The boys hand tightly clutched the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home. Near his house stood
12、 the ancient barn that housed the familys goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the tin beneath a pile of sweet smelling hay. It was dinnertime when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, w
13、orking on a fishing net. Dora was at the kitchen stove, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table. 123 The rabbits who cause all the trouble Within the memory of the youngest child there was a family of rabbits who lived behind a pack of wolves. The wolves announced that they did n
14、ot like the way the rabbits were living.(The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were 1iving,because it was the only way to live.)One night several wolves were ki11ed in an earthquake and this was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hin
15、d legs and cause earthquakes. On another night one of the wolves was killed by a bolt of lightning and this was a1so named on the rabbits, for it is well known that lettuce-eaters cause 1ightning.The wolves threatened to civilize the rabbits if they didnt behave, and the rabbits decided to move away
16、 to a desert island. But the animals, who lived at a great distance, shamed them, saying, “You must stay where you are and be brave. There is no world for escapists. If the wolves attack you, we will come to your aid a11 probability.“ So the rabbits continued to live near the wolves and one day them
17、 was a terrible flood which drowned a great many wo1ves. This was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that carrot-nibblers with long ear cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits, for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection. When nothing was heard
18、 about the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demands to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eaten and since they had been eaten the affair was a purely internal matter. But the other animals warned that they might possibly unite against the wolves unl
19、ess some reason was given for the destruction of the rabbits. So the wolves gave them one. They were trying to escape, sad the wolves, “and, as you know, there is no wor1d for escapists.“ 124 The other day as I talked with a friend I recalled a story that I heard this summer. “A compassionate person
20、, seeing a butterfly struggling to free itself from its cocoon, and wanting to help, very gently loosened the filaments to form an opening. The butterfly was freed, emerged from the cocoon, and fluttered about but could not fly. What the compassionate person did not know was that only through the bi
21、rth struggle can the wings grow strong enough for flight. Its shortened life was spent on the ground; it never knew freedom, never really lived.“ I call it learning to love with an open hand. It is a learning which has come slowly to me and has been wrought in the fires of pain and in the waters of
22、patience. I am learning that I must free the one I love, for if I clutch or cling, try to control, I lose what I try to hold. If I try to change someone I love because I feel I know how that person should be, I rob him or her of a precious right, the right to take responsibility for ones own life an
23、d choices and way of being. Whenever I impose my wish or want or try to exert power over another, I rob him or her of the full realization of growth and maturation. I limit and prevent by my act of possession, no matter how kind my intention. I can limit and injure by the kindest acts of protection
24、or concern. Over extended it can say to the other person more eloquently than words, “You are unable to care for yourself; I must take care of you because you are mine. I am responsible for you.“ As I learn and practice more and more, I can say to the one I love: “I love you, I value you, I respect
25、you and I trust that you have the strength to become all that it is possible for you to become - if I dont get in your way. I love you so much that I can set you free to walk beside me in joy and in sadness. I will share your tears but I will not ask you not to cry. I will respond to your needs. I w
26、ill care and comfort you, but I will not hold you up when you can walk alone. I will stand ready to be with you in your grief and loneliness but I will not take it away from you. I will strive to listen to your meaning as well as your word, but I shall not always agree. Sometimes I will be angry and when I am, I will try to tell you openly so that I need not
