第40章 振作起来，开始干吧

Accentuate the Positive， Eliminate the Negative

[加]D.迈克尔·雷诺/D.Michael Reynolds

有些人出生在充满爱和同情心的家庭，而有些人出生在令人难以忍受的环境中。无论一个人的生活多么艰辛，我都相信至少会有一个人积极地影响和鼓励他。对我来说，那个人就是我的祖母。

我能够写出许多人生准则，因为我的祖母（称为“奶奶”会更好一些）逐字逐句地、有目的地把许多准则教给我。然而，她常常在最后说：“孩子，我能把我所知道的和经历过的所有东西都告诉你，但是最终你要对你的选择负责。”在我们的生活中，最终还是要自己做出选择，无论好坏。不做选择，本身就是一种选择。选择的规则会控制一个人，但也会将责任赋予作出选择的人。

我推测一定有这样一种规则：“总是跟一个人在一起，你就会越来越像他。”因为当我和我的祖母在一起时，我就发现我们的想法非常相似（至少我这样认为）。在我14岁那年，我去探望祖母，我在家里惹了麻烦（我认为不是我的错），祖母听我诉说。过了一会儿，她开始劝导我，我就听着。令我惊奇的是，我说出了她想要对我说的话：“您知道的，祖母，无论怎样管教孩子，只要他不明白其中的道理，一切都是徒劳。”她非常高兴在我们讨论之后，我能有自己的见解。我任由祖母对我夸奖了一番。我想她是运用了一个准则：“强调积极，排除消极。”还有《圣经》中的话：“所见即所想。”我认为这是一条真理，因为我的祖母确实当面夸我。

当我感到绝望或是希望落空时，祖母的话就会在我的耳边萦绕：“孩子，内心垮了才是真的垮了。”“心中要永存希望——总会找到答案……如果你去寻找，你就会发现，其实答案就在你心里。”这些准则总结起来就是：“振作起来，开始干吧！”

现在，我们中的许多年轻人，更倾向于以一位有钱人的身份来解决人生中的许多问题。我们总是不想动脑筋来解决自己的问题，但我们一旦这样做了，就会发现一个非常重要而有趣的规则：“年轻人的使命就是好好生活和学习，让明天的世界更美好。”

While some people are born into loving and caring families， others are born into seemingly impossible environments， but no matter how hard a person's life， I believe there will always be at least one person who will positively influence and encourage them. For me， that person has been my grandmother.

There are many laws of life that I could write about because my grandmother (better known as "Mamma" ) literally and purposefully teaches these laws to me. However， she always ends with， "Son， I can tell you all I know and all I've experienced， but ultimately you are responsible for your choices." Ultimately， we all make our own choices in life—good or bad. Not making a choice is a choice in itself. The law of choice puts one in control， but it also places responsibility on the one making the choice.

I guess there must be a law that says you become like those you hang around because when I'm with my mamma， I can see how much we think alike (at least I'd like to think so). We were "visiting" one day when I was about fourteen years old. I had gotten into trouble for something at home (which I'm sure wasn't my fault)， and Mamma listened to me talk and talk. After a while， she began to share with me， and I listened. Then to my surprise， I heard myself say something to her that she might have said to me. I said， "You know， Mamma， no matter how a child is disciplined， it will do no good unless the child receives the correction that is in the discipline." She was so pleased to hear the insight that after discussing the aspects of what I had discovered on my own. I allowed her to "brag" on me a while. I think she uses the law of "accentuate the positive， eliminate the negative" or as the Bible says in Numbers 14， "what you see is what you get." I hope that that's a true law because my mamma sure says wonderful things about me—to me.

When I'm feeling hopeless or feeling completely frustrated， I hear Mamma's words "Son， you're not whipped until you're whipped inside，" and "nothing is hopeless—there's always an answer… If you look for it， you'll find it inside yourself." These laws simply say， "Get up and get going！"

Now， most of us teenagers prefer answers to life's problems in the form of a financially generous person. We don't always want to use our minds to solve our problems， but when we do， we find a very important and wonderful law that says， "Youth is for living and learning to make tomorrow's world a better place."