He was 9—in a Sunday school class of 8-year-olds. 8-year-olds can be cruel.

The third-graders did not welcome Philip to their group. Not just because he was older. He was “different.” He suffered from Downs syndrome and its obvious manifestations: facial characteristics, slow responses, symptoms of retardation.

One Sunday after Easter the Sunday school teacher gathered some of those plastic eggs that you can pull apart in the middle. The Sunday school teacher gave one of these plastic eggs to each child.

On that beautiful spring day each child was told to go outdoors and discover for himself some symbol of “new life” and place that symbolic seed or leaf or whatever inside their eggs. They would then open their eggs one by one, and each youngster would explain how his find was a symbol of “new life”.

So the youngsters gathered around on the appointed day and put their eggs on a table, and the teacher began to open them.

One child had found a flower. All the children “oohed” and “aahed” at the lovely symbol of new life. In another was a butterfly. “Beautiful,” the girls said. And its not easy for an 8-year-old to say “beautiful.” Another egg was opened to reveal a rock. Some of the children laughed. “Thats crazy!” One said. “Hows a rock supposed to be like a ‘new life?” Immediately the little boy spoke up and said, “Thats mine. I knew everybody would get flowers and leaves and butterflies and all that stuff, so I got a rock to be different.”

Everyone laughed.

The teacher opened the last one, and there was nothing inside.

“Thats not fair,” someone said. “Thats stupid,” said another.

The teacher felt a tug on his shirt. It was Philip. Looking up he said, “It's mine. I did do it. It's empty. I have new life because the tomb is empty.”

The class fell silent.

From that day on Philip became part of the group. They welcomed him. Whatever had made him different was never mentioned again.

Philip's family had known he would not live a long life; just too many things wrong with the tiny body. That summer, overcome with infection, Philip died.

On the day of his funeral nine 8-year-old boys and girls confronted the reality of death and marched up to the altar—not with flowers. Nine children with their Sunday school teacher placed on the casket of their friend their gift of love—an empty egg.

菲利普的彩蛋

那年他9岁，在一所周日学校上学。他所在的班级由8岁的学生组成。8岁的孩子也会很残忍。

这些三年级的学生不欢迎菲利普的加入，不只是因为他年龄稍大，而是因为他“与众不同”，他身患唐氏综合症，并有着明显的症状：面部畸形、反应迟钝、行动缓慢。

复活节之后的一个星期日，学校的老师收集了一些可从中间打开的塑料彩蛋。老师将彩蛋发给学生，每人一个。

在那个美丽的春日，每个学生都要到户外寻找“新生命”的象征，并将有代表性的种子、树叶或其它东西放进彩蛋里。他们将依次打开彩蛋，并解释为何他们所找到的东西象征着“新生命”。

于是，孩子们在约定的那天聚在一起，把彩蛋放到桌子上由老师逐个打开。

有个学生找了一朵花。所有的学生都对这朵美丽的生命之花赞叹有加。另一个学生找的是蝴蝶。“太美了！”女孩们惊呼。要知道，从一个8岁的孩子口中说出“美”这个字并非易事。另一个彩蛋里装的是石头。有的学生开始大笑。“简直是疯了！”有人说道，“石头怎么会是‘新生命呢？”有个小男孩立即表态道：“那是我的。我知道你们都会找花、树叶和蝴蝶之类的，我不想和你们一样，所以找了块石头。”

全班哄堂大笑。

老师打开最后一个彩蛋，但里面空空如也。

“不公平！”有学生愤怒地说。“太愚蠢了！”另一个学生说。

突然，老师感觉到有人在拉他的衬衫。是菲利普。他抬头看着老师，说：“这是我的。我真的找到了。虽然它是空的，但我有新生命，因为坟墓是空的呀。”

教室里顿时鸦雀无声。

从那天起，菲利普彻底融入了这个集体，他始受到欢迎，而他的“与众不同”再也没有人提起。

他的家人早就知道，菲利普将不久于人世，他那小小的躯体已是百病缠身了。那个夏天，终究没能敌过疾病感染，菲利普走了

在他葬礼那天，九个8岁的孩子见证着死亡，向祭台迈去，但他们没有带花。九个孩子和主日学校的老师一起，在他们朋友的骨灰盒上献上了爱的礼物——一个空的彩蛋。