The Trouble Tree

陳忠富

The carpenter① I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him cost an hour of work， his electric saw quit， and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home， he sat in stony silence. On arriving， he? invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door， he paused briefly at a small tree， touching the tips of the branches with both hands.

After opening the door， he underwent② an? amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed③ in smiles， and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward， he walked me back to my car. We passed the tree， and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh， thats my trouble tree，” he replied， “I know I cant help having troubles on the job， but one thing for sure， troubles dont belong in the house with my wife and the children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning， I pick them up again.”

“Funny thing is，” he smiled， “when I come out in the morning to pick them up， there arent nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.”

Then Ive learned that there are a lot of troubles in our lives， but the problem is whether they control you or you control them.

我請(qǐng)了一個(gè)木匠幫我整修一幢農(nóng)舍。他來(lái)工作的第一天簡(jiǎn)直糟糕透頂。一個(gè)癟了的輪胎他居然花了一個(gè)小時(shí)才補(bǔ)好。接著他的電鋸也壞了。而現(xiàn)在他的老爺小卡車也發(fā)動(dòng)不起來(lái)了。當(dāng)我開(kāi)車送他回家時(shí)，他坐在車?yán)锵駢K石頭一樣一言不發(fā)。到了他家，他便邀請(qǐng)我進(jìn)去坐坐。當(dāng)我們走到門口時(shí)，他在一棵小樹(shù)前停下，伸出雙手觸摸了一下樹(shù)枝的末梢。

進(jìn)門后，他就像換了個(gè)人似的，曬黑的臉上到處綻放著笑容。他抱了抱兩個(gè)孩子，又吻了吻他的太太。然后，他送我出門，我們走過(guò)那棵小樹(shù)。好奇心驅(qū)使我忍不住問(wèn)他為什么要摸那棵樹(shù)。

“噢，那是我的煩惱樹(shù)，”他回答：“我知道，自己在工作時(shí)會(huì)不可避免地遇到麻煩，但有一點(diǎn)是肯定的，煩惱不能帶進(jìn)這座妻子和孩子們所在的房子，所以每天晚上我回家前都把它們掛在這棵樹(shù)上，到了早晨，再把它們摘下來(lái)?！?/p>

“有趣的是，”他笑了起來(lái)：“當(dāng)我早晨出門去摘它們的時(shí)候，煩惱已經(jīng)沒(méi)有我前一天晚上掛上去的那么多了?！?/p>

于是，我明白了，在我們的生活中總是有許許多多的煩惱，但問(wèn)題在于究竟是你控制情緒，還是讓它們來(lái)控制你。