佚名/Anonymous
“Joe? Is that you?”The woman speaking to me at the basketball game looked vaguely familiar.“Marci?”
“It Is you!”She exclaimed, smiling broadly.“Gosh, it’s good to see you again!”
It was good to see Marci, too.Off and on during the past few decades I’ve wondered about her.I almost tried to track her down a few years ago after talking to a mutual friend who had indicated that the last decade had been pretty rocky for Marci.So bumping into her at the basketball game was, at the very least, fortuitous.
We spent a few minutes catching up on the business of our lives—kids and careers, spouses and houses, education and recreation (it’s always a little disconcerting to see how few words are required to summarize 25 years of living ).We played a little“have you seen ...”and“did you know...”and we reminisced about the good old, bad old days.Then Marci grew quiet for a moment, looking out over the crowd milling about the concession area.
“You know, Joe,”she said,“I’ve always wanted to tell you...how...you know...how sorry I am for the way I treated you.”I squirmed.One does not like to remember when one has been unceremoniously dumped.
“It’s OK,”I said.“No big deal.”At least, I thought to myself, not now.“But I was such a jerk,”she continued.Yes you were, I thought.“We were both pretty young,”I said.
“I know,”she said.“But that’s no excuse for...”She hesitated, then continued.“It’s just always bothered me, remembering how mean I was to you.And I’ve wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.So...I’m sorry.”The smile on her face was warm and sincere.And there was something in her eyes—it looked a lot like relief—that melted any vestiges of icy resentment that may have built up within me during the years since she had slam-dunked my heart.
“OK,”I said.“Apology accepted!”Overcome by the sweetness of the moment, I reached an arm around her and gave her a quick hug.Just then, the crowd erupted with a huge cheer, and Marci and I both returned our attention to the game.By the time I looked over to where she had been, she was gone.But the warm, wonderful feeling of our brief exchange was still there, and continues to this day whenever I think about it.
We all carry bitter, discomforting memories of deeds done or undone, and words said or unsaid.And we all bear wounds—some slight, some not-so-slight—that have been inflicted upon us by others.The healing balm of forgiveness can soothe a troubled conscience and bring peace to an injured soul—even years after the fact.
Of course, it isn’t enough to just say“I’m sorry”and“You’re forgiven.”While there is indeed great power in those simple words, it is not available to those who are insincere, or who are only looking for a way to control, manipulate or exploit.But when those words are truly felt and sincerely expressed, they can open the door to miracles of the heart and soul—miracles of forgiveness.
Even at a basketball game.
“喬？是你嗎？”籃球賽上一個有些麵熟的女人問我。“瑪西？”
她大笑並驚叫道：“真的是你！天啊，再次見到你真高興啊！”
見到瑪西，我也很開心。過去的幾十年中，我也時不時地會想起她。幾年前，我聽一個我們都認識的朋友說，前十年裏瑪西過得很苦，當時我幾乎要去追尋她的下落。能在籃球賽上碰麵真是很幸運。
我們聊了幾分鍾的家常事，孩子和事業，愛人和家庭，教育和娛樂（僅用幾句話就概括了25年的生活，真是讓人感到有些不安。）我們用“你見過……”、“你知道……”詢問了對方一些問題，又回憶了過去美好和沮喪的時光。之後，瑪西沉默了一會兒，向地攤那邊擁擠的人群望去。
她說：“喬，你知道的。我總是想對你說……你不知道……當初那樣對你，我感到很難過。”我有些不知所措。
人是不願記住曾經被別人隨便拋棄的日子。
我答道：“我很好，不用把它放在心上。”至少我現在是這樣認為。“但是我曾經是那麽傻。”她繼續說。我心想，你確實是。“那時我們都太年輕。”我說。
“我知道，”她說，“但那不是理由……”她猶豫了一下，又接著說：“一想起那樣對你，愧疚感就折磨著我。我想跟你說’很抱歉’，所以……對不起。”她臉上的微笑溫暖而真誠。她的眼中好像有什麽東西——像一種信念，融化了我心中所有的怨恨。這些怨恨是在這些年裏積累起來的。
“好的，我接受你的道歉！”我說。瞬間的甜美包圍了我，我伸出一隻胳膊，快速地給了她一個擁抱。就在這時，周圍的人發出了一陣歡呼聲，我和瑪西把注意力轉回到賽場。當我再看她時，她已經走了。但是我們短暫交談的那種溫暖和美妙的感覺還在，這一天裏，我一想起這件事就感到溫暖和甜美。
我們都有痛苦和令人難過的記憶——做了或是沒有做的事，說了或是沒有說的話。我們都在忍受由他人所為帶來的傷痛，有些很小，有些則很嚴重。寬恕這一副良藥可以減輕良心的譴責，可以安慰受傷的心靈，即使事過多年。
當然，隻說“對不起”和“原諒你”是不夠的。雖然這些簡單的語句中擁有著強大的力量，但是對那些虛偽的人，隻想控製、操縱或是利用別人的人，這些語言是沒用的。然而，當這些話語經過了真實地體會和真誠地表達，就能夠打開心靈奇跡之門，這就是寬恕的奇跡。
即使是在籃球賽場上也是一樣。
1.bump into
固定詞組bump into經常用在口語中，表示“無意中遇到”。
例：How nice to bump into you！
碰到你真高興！
bump into還可以表示“撞上”，比如bump into the wall“撞牆”。
表示偶遇的說法還有：
come across
run into
2.reminisce about
reminisce about的意思是“追憶過去”，相當於think back。
例：Old friends like to reminisce about the“good old days.”
老朋友總喜歡談論那“美好的往昔”。
1.It was good to see Marci, too.__________during the past few decades I’ve wondered about her.I almost tried to track her down__________after talking to a mutual friend who had indicated that the last decade had been pretty rocky for Marci.
2.By the time I looked over to where she had been, she was gone.But the__________, wonderful feeling of our__________exchange was still there, and continues to this day I think about it.