他替我死
【作者:取材自Catechetical Help 顧美芬譯】剪下一方暖和--喻道小故事 2013.02.17
A farmer was found kneeling at a soldier’s grave near Nashville, Tennessee. The cemetery caretaker came to him and said, “Why do you pay so much attention to this grave? Was your son buried here?” “No,” he said. “During the war my family were all sick. I was drafted , but I could not leave my wife and children. One of my neighbors came over and said, ‘I will go for you; I have no family.’ He went in my place. He was seriously wounded and taken to the hospital, but soon died. I come here often that I might remember this simple truth, ‘He died for me.’”
The story is told of the pelican that dwells in the remote regions of Africa. The mother pelican loves her tender young and cares and toils for their good. She brings them water from distant watering holes and fishes the seas for their food. In times of severe famine, the pelican feeds her young with her own blood; by feeding them, however, she dies.
字彙
draft徵兵，募兵。
Pelican鵜鶘（相傳以胸血餵雛鳥，是慈悲的象徵）
美國田納西州的納許維爾附近軍人公墓中，有位農夫跪在那裡。墓園的管理員走過來問他說，「你為什麼對這個墳墓這麼慇勤照管，是不是你兒子埋在這裡啊？」他說「不，打仗的時候我全家人都病了，我被征召入伍，但我無法離開妻小。我的一個鄰居過來對我說，『我沒有家人，我替你去。』他就代替我去了。後來他嚴重受傷入院，不久就過世了。我常常來就是要記得這個簡單的事實，『他替我死了。』」
這故事說到住在非洲遙遠地方的鵜鶘。母鵜鶘愛雛鳥，辛苦照顧牠們。牠從遠處的水塘取水給雛鳥喝，從海裡抓魚給祂們當食物。在飢荒嚴重時，鵜鶘用自己的血餵養雛鳥，然而因為如此，母鵜鶘就死了。
思考與應用
1.你經驗過別人對你很大的付出嗎？除了父母或配偶，還有誰？
2.我們也許無法一次付上生命，但可以每天付出一些時間與愛，你想要給誰？
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