Help Others， Help Yourself

Have you ever had a day when everything seemed to go wrong， and nothing seemed to go right? Not too long ago I was having one of those days. I was discouraged， weary， and plain sad. My focus was on me， me， me. After all， no one else was expe- riencing the same trials¹ as I was.

I expressed my downcaste² state to my mother hoping for some pity. Instead， she said， \"I heard Lily was having a difficult day too. Why don't you make her some cookies and we'll take them to her this afternoon?\"I didn't really want to， but decided that I didn't want to go back to my other problems just yet.I made the cookies and arranged them on little plate. Then I made a card with a sunflower on it and wrote a small note of empathy³.

That afternoon we dropped by my friends house. I went to the door and rang the bell. Soon， Lily came to the door and looked at me in surprise for the unexpected visit. Before she could say anything I rushed， \"I heard you were having a hard day and decided to bring you something. I hope your day goes better.\" The look that came over Lily's face was one that I could never put into words. It was as if a darkened sky was suddenly lit with the golden rays of the sun; it was as if in that small act， her day was brightened.

I got back into the car and for some amazing⁴ reason， I felt a lot better myself. That day I experienced the truth that James Barrie attempted⁵ to describe. \"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others， cannot keep it from themselves.\"

1 trial n .考验

2 downcast adj. 气馁的，沮丧的

3 empathy n. 安慰（话语）

4 amazing adj. 令人惊异的

5 attempt vt. 尝试，企图

你有没有过这样的一天，事事都不如人意，没有一件事让你开心?不久前，我就有过这么一天。我气馁、疲倦，悲伤挥之不去。我的注意力就是自己、自己、自己。毕竟，没有任何人在经历我所遭受的磨难。

我向母亲说出了沮丧的心境，希望得到一点同情。而她开口说的是：“我听说莉莉今天也不大开心。你为什么不做些曲奇饼，下午我们给她送去?”我并不想做曲奇饼，但决定还是暂时别回到自己的问题中去。于是，我做了曲奇饼，并把它们摆放到一个小盘子里。然后我还做了一张卡片，上面画了一朵向日葵，还写了几句安慰的话语。

那天下午我们去了我朋友莉莉的家。我走到门前按响了门铃。不一会，莉莉来开门，惊奇地看着我，没料到我们会到访。没等她开口，我先急急地对她说：“我听说你不开心，决定给你带点东西来。希望你能开心起来。”莉莉脸上浮现的表情是我无法用语言描述的。好像原来乌云密布的天空顷刻间雨过天晴，金光四射；好像就因为这么一个小小的举动，她的这一天就亮堂起来了。

我回到我们的车子里，也不知是什么奇妙的原因，我自己也感觉好多了。那天，我的经历正如同詹姆斯·巴里曾试图描述的：“给他人带去阳光的人，自己也会沐浴在阳光之中。”